Finding 387348 (2023-002)

Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name - Student Financial Assistance Cluster - Federal Pell Grants ALN 84.063 and Direct Student Loan Program ALN 84.268 Federal Award Identification Number and Year - Various Pass-through Entity - None Finding Type - Significant deficiency Repeat Finding - No Criteria - Changes in a student's status are required to be reported timely and accurately to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) within 30 days of the change or included in a student status confirmation report sent to NSLDS within 60 days of a status change (Pell, 34 CFR Section 690.83(b)(2); Direct Loan, 34 CFR Section 685.309(b)). Condition - The University did not report certain students' status changes timely to NSLDS. Questioned Costs - None Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed - N/A Context - Of the 40 students tested, the University did not report status changes timely to NSLDS for six students who withdrew, ceasing to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis. For all six students, accurate status changes were reported within 75 days of the effective date. Cause and Effect - The University did not have a control in place to ensure that the timing of reporting of status changes to a third-party service provider, National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), was effectively designed to ensure that reporting from NSC to NSLDS resulted in compliance with the 60 day requirement. As a result, certain student changes were not reported to NSLDS within the required timeframe. Recommendation - The University should implement controls to ensure all student status changes are reported timely to NSLDS. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan - Management agrees with the finding. The University has implemented a change in the reporting timeline to ensure that there is adequate time between reporting to NSC and their reporting to NSLDS. In addition, the University will monitor reporting of status changes to NSLDS.