Finding Text
Finding 2023-001 – Return of Title IV Funds – Enrollment Reporting
Repeat Finding: No
Federal Program Title – U.S. Department of Education
Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Federal Pell Grant Program: 84.063
Federal Direct Student Loans: 84.268
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants 84.007
Federal Award Year 2022-2023
Condition
For eight out of ten students tested (80%) who withdrew from the College, the students' status change at the campus level and program level was not reported to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) within the 60 day requirement.
Criteria
CFR section 685.309 and 690.83(b)(2) requires the College to notify the NSLDS within 30 days of a change in student status or include the change in status in a response to an enrollment reporting roster within 60 days of the student’s date of determination of withdrawal.
Uniform Grant Guidance (2 CFR 200.303) requires nonfederal entities receiving Federal awards establish and maintain internal controls designed to reasonably ensure compliance with Federal laws, regulations, and program compliance requirements. Effective internal controls should include procedures to ensure that enrollment status changes are reported timely.
Questioned Costs
There were no questioned costs related to testing of enrollment reporting.
Cause
Certain reports submitted by the College to the NSLDS contained formatting errors that needed to be cleared by the College before they could be processed. The College did not clear the errors timely and therefore missed the 60-day requirement to report students’ status changes at the campus and program level.
Prevalence
Frequent. Eight out of ten students selected for testing.
Effect
Failure to report status changes timely is noncompliance with Federal regulation and could result in loss of future funding.
Recommendation
We recommend the College implement monitoring procedures which will promptly notify the financial aid office of any errors in submission of the enrollment data to the National Student Clearinghouse. A system of monitoring procedures and/or controls will ensure the College is reporting any status changes to the lender in a timely manner and resolving any errors in submissions. The College should implement a review process to ensure all submission errors are addressed by the financial aid office in a timely manner.
Views of responsible officials
We agree with this finding. See corrective action plan.