Finding 514453 (2024-002)

Federal Program Information: Federal Direct Student Loan Program (ALN#: 84.268), Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN#: 84.063) Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Campus Level Enrollment Reporting Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and FFEL loan programs via the NSLDS (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the SFA 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; Perkins 34 CFR 674.19(f)). The administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy and timeliness of the enrollment information reported by institutions. Institutions must review, update, and certify 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 which the financial aid administrator can access for the auditor. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” both of which need to be reported accurately and have separate record types. Condition: The University failed to timely report student enrollment changes for 6 out of 25 selections. Cause: Insufficient internal control and administrative oversight with respect to Campus Level enrollment reporting compliance requirements. Effect or Possible Effect: The University was not in compliance with the Campus Level enrollment reporting compliance requirements. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For 6 out of 25 students selected for testing, the student enrollment status was not reported timely to NSLDS. Identification of Repeat Finding: There was a similar finding, 2023-002, identified during the prior year. Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures to ensure Campus Level enrollment reporting is submitted timely. Views of Responsible Officials: Methodist University will enroll in the National Student Clearinghouse G from DV Process, which will eliminate the need to transmit a Graduates Only file. The student enrollment record will be updated to a graduated (G) status based on the transmission of the Degree Verify file only (see process workflow graphic below). Additionally, we will review the G status records generated from the Degree Verify file to ensure that the status was accurately applied to each student's enrollment record. Any status not applied will be updated manually by an office team member. Our goal for enrollment in this program is 12/13/2024 in order to pilot for the fall 2024 degree conferral date. Lastly, we will update our end-of-term processing documents to remove the NSC Graduates Only file transmission and add the updated enrollment status review component once the Degree Verify file has been transmitted and processed by the NSC.