Finding Text
Federal Pell Grant Program, ALN 84.063
Federal Direct Student Loans, ALN 84.268
U.S. Department of Education
Program Year 2023-2024
Criteria or specific requirement – Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting (34 CFR 690.93(b)(2); 34 CFR 682.610; 34 CFR 685.309). Institutions are required to report enrollment information.
Condition – The University’s processes did not ensure timely and accurate student status reporting to National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
Questioned costs – $0
Context – Out of the population of 580 students with changes in enrollment status, a sample of 25 students were selected for testing. Our sampling method was not, and was not intended to be, statistically valid. There were 14 attributes tested for each student with at least one status change.
Campus-Level Records:
1. OPEID Number
2. Enrollment Effective Date
3. Enrollment Status
4. Certification Date
Program-Level Records
5. OPEID
6. CIP Code
7. CIP Year
8. Credential Level
9. Published Program Length Measurement
10. Published Program Length
11. Program Begin Date
12. Program Enrollment Status
13. Program Enrollment Effective Date
Other Records
14. Student changed his or her permanent address
The University reported the incorrect Program Begin Date for 4 students.
The University did not report one status change for 3 students who had multiple status changes.
The University did not timely report status changes for 3 students.
Effect – The University reported incorrect dates and statuses for students’ status changes and did not report the status changes timely.
Cause – The University’s processes did not ensure status changes were reported timely and accurately.
Identification as repeat finding, if applicable – 2023-002
Recommendation – The University should update their controls to ensure changes in students’ enrollment status are reported in a timely and accurate manner.
Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions –
The Deputy Registrar from the Office of Student Records (OSR) is responsible for enrollment reporting to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). The university uses a servicer, National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) to complete the reporting requirement. Enrollment data is scheduled to be transmitted to the NSC every thirty days to ensure timely reporting to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). The University has consistently met this 30-day reporting to NSC.
The audit noted four students had incorrect program start dates in NSLDS from April 2022 and August 2022, each off by one day. The University’s Student Information System (SIS) reflects the correct program start dates, indicating a potential issue in the data transmission between NSC and NSLDS. In July 2022, several announcements were made concerning the technical issues with NSLDS which prevented reporting for periods of time, including “NSLDS Professional Access – Documentation of Enrollment Reporting and Post screening Delays for Audit Purposes” published on August 31, 2022.
The audit noted three errors related to timely reporting. The university’s SIS records indicate these records were reported to NSC within the 30-day timeframe. However, these records were not transmitted from NSC to NSLDS timely.
The Deputy Registrar is currently collaborating with the NSC Compliance division to determine the cause of these discrepancies and how best to correct the records in NSLDS. A response from NSC is anticipated by October 31, 2024.
The audit also noted three students who were less than full-time that were not reported to NSC or NSLDS. The Deputy Registrar is researching the SIS system rules to determine the root cause of these errors so they can be corrected. The Deputy Registrar will ensure the reporting rules will be corrected by November 30, 2024, and will ensure any less than full time students are corrected in NSLDS by December 30, 2024.
To enhance the enrollment reporting process, the Deputy Registrar, Registrar, and Director of Financial Aid will meet with NSC staff and IT staff to establish a method for comparing monthly data submitted to NSC with the data in the NSLDS system. This will help identify any discrepancies for immediate correction. This project is expected to be completed by December 30, 2024.