Finding Text
Criteria or Specific Requirement
Enrollment information, including the effective date of separation from the institution, must be accurately reported within 30 days whenever attendance changes for a student, unless a roster will be submitted within 60 days. The changes include reductions or increases in attendance levels, withdrawals, graduations, and approved leaves-of absence. It is the institution’s responsibility, as a participant in the Title IV aid programs, to monitor and report these changes to the National Student Loan Data System (“NSLDS”).
Condition
Of the ten students selected for enrollment reporting testing who graduated, all ten students tested were not reported to NSLDS within the maximum 60-day window. This was not a statistically valid sample.
Cause
This was overlooked by the School while switching processing systems. There were no 'late transmission' notifications as the 'Graduates Only' report did not repeat in the Spring/Summer 2024 transmission schedule.
Effect
A student’s enrollment status determines eligibility for in-school status, deferment, grace periods, and repayments, as well as the government’s payment of interest subsidies. The notification of student status changes to NSLDS will cause a student to enter into a grace period and determine a repayment date and, therefore, accurate and timely notification of student status to NSLDS is important.
Questioned Costs
None noted.
Context
The auditor selected 40 students to test enrollment and examined if the student had a change of address and whether there was an indication of graduating or withdrawing from the School either voluntarily or for academic purposes. We examined all applicable documentation to determine the date of any such change in status to conclude whether the School was in compliance with the reporting requirements for the student changes in status.
Identification as a Repeat Finding
This is not a repeat finding.
Recommendation
We recommend the School implement a policy where the student roster is reviewed within the required 60 days and that all changes in student status be identified and reported timely with the Department of Education. This will ensure that the requirement to notify the NSLDS is done timely and in compliance with the requirement.