Finding Text
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN 84.268)
Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting – Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035). Although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the Student Financial Assistance Cluster, a student may have a FFEL loan from previous years that would require enrollment reporting for that student (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); FFEL, 34 CFR 682.610; Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). Institutions must review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment information. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” each with separate record types requiring accurate reporting. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process.
Institutions are responsible for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party servicer. Institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) (OMB No. 1845-0002) mailboxes sent by ED via NSLDS. After the institution submits the Enrollment Reporting roster to NSLDS, NSLDS evaluates the Enrollment Reporting roster and provides the institution an Error/Acknowledgement file. If errors are identified, institutions have 10 days to correct the errors and resubmit to NSLDS.
Condition: Program Level: Significant data elements were inaccurately reported for certain students.
Additionally, error records were not corrected within the required timeframe.
Cause: Administrative oversight and insufficient internal control.
Effect or Potential Effect: The University was not in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 22 of 40 program level status changes tested, the University did not accurately report one or more significant data elements to NSLDS.
Error records from 2 Error/Acknowledgement files received during the fiscal year were not corrected within the required timeframe.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: This is a repeat of Finding 2022-003.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures and internal controls over enrollment reporting to ensure students’ enrollment statuses are accurately reported to NSLDS.
Views of Responsible Officials: The Registrar’s Office is continuously cross-training all team members so duties are cross-checked, shared by at least two team members, and completed in a timely manner. The reports used by this office will be reviewed on a frequent basis to ensure information is being reported as it was intended. The team will also meet with other departments on a frequent basis to ensure information is shared in a timely manner and continue to train on the regulations and policies between our institution, Clearinghouse, and NSLDS to ensure accurate reporting of information.