Finding Text
Finding 2024-005 Enrollment Reporting
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Federal Direct Student Loans
Assistance Listing #: 84.268
Questioned Costs: None
Condition
For four (4) of ten (10) (40%) of students tested, the Chicago Theological Seminary did not accurately report student data to NSLDS. Incorrect data included enrollment effective dates and program enrollment status.
Criteria
Federal regulations and related guidance governing Title IV student aid programs require schools to report the enrollment of students who receive federal student aid (U.S. Department of Education, National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Enrollment Reporting Guide, November 2022, Chapter 2).
Cause
Updating NSLDS is a manual process for the Seminary that requires the input of the Registrar and Financial Aid Manager to complete. As these are manually processed, the deficiencies found are related to human error.
Effect
Not reporting student status changes accurately and in a timely manner could affect determinations that guarantors, lenders, and servicers of student loans make related to in-school status, deferments, grace periods, and repayment schedules.
Recommendation
The Seminary should strengthen review processes of any data in NSLDS. Rather than looking for changes occurring within student data from Campus Café, a review of the data that is already in NSLDS may help with identifying and correcting any human errors made within a timely manner.
Views of Responsible Officials
The Seminary will strengthen its review process of data in NSLDS to ensure enrollment effective dates and program enrollment information is accurate for each student.