Finding Text
Finding 2023-001 - Enrollment Reporting
Federal Programs: Federal Direct Student Loans, Federal Pell Grant Program
Federal Award Number: 84.268, 84.063
Federal Award Year: June 30, 2023
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Pass-Through Entity: Not Applicable
Repeat Finding: 2022-001
Criteria: Title IV regulations (34 CFR 685.309(b)) require that upon receipt of an enrollment report from the Secretary, institutions must update all information included in the report and return the report to the Secretary: (i) in the manner and format prescribed by the Secretary; and (ii) within the timeframe prescribed by the Secretary. Unless it expects to submit its next updated enrollment report to the Secretary within the next 60 days, an institution must notify the Secretary within 30 days after the date the institution discovers that: (i) a loan under Title IV of the Act was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the institution, and the student has ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis or failed to enroll on at least a half-time basis for the period for which the loan was intended; or (ii) a student who is enrolled at the institution and who received a loan under Title IV of the Act has changed his or her permanent address.
Condition: The change in student status for 59 of the 60 students tested was not reported to the National Student Loan Data Systems (NSLDS) within 30 days or included in a response to a roster file within 60 days.
The sample was not a statistically valid sample but was determined using Chapter 21 - Audit Sampling Considerations of Uniform Guidance Compliance Audits of the Government Auditing Standards and Single Audit Guide.
Cause: The College's procedures for reporting all student status changes were not appropriately followed in order to allow for timely reporting to NSLDS as a result of turnover within the Registrar’s office during the year. For graduate reporting, the system had flagged students by their anticipated graduation date resulting in students not being reported to NSLDS appropriately.
Effect: The accuracy of Title IV student loan records depends heavily on the accuracy of the enrollment information reported by the College. If an institution does not review, update and verify student enrollment statuses, effective dates of the enrollment status and the anticipated completion dates, then the Title IV student loan records will be inaccurate and could affect student loan repayments.
Questioned Costs: None.
Recommendation: The College should review their policy on enrollment reporting to NSLDS to ensure all status changes during the year are reported in a timely and accurate manner.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The Director of Financial Aid and the Registrar are working to resolve the issue that resulted in these delayed enrollment changes being submitted to NSLDS due to turnover. The Office of the Registrar has identified the errors in the National Student Clearinghouse reporting. They have worked internally with our IT department to pinpoint the errors resulting in delays in submission to the National Student Loan Database Systems (NSLDS) via the National Clearinghouse. The Office of the Registrar is presently completing data review and clean-up. Once this is completed The Office of the Registrar will submit overdue files to the National Clearinghouse in conjunction with the Senior Director of Information Technology to ensure all technical requirements are met. These updates and alignments should bring late reporting to zero. The goal is to have no findings in 2025