Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Name: Student Financial Aid Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.063, 84.268
Federal Award Identification Number and Year: P268K242432-2023, P063P222432-2023
Award Period: August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2023
Type of Finding:
• Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance
• Material Noncompliance (Modified Opinion)
Criteria or specific requirement: 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). 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 verify 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 information. 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. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process.
Condition: The University could not provide documentation that the enrollment status reported in NSLDS was in agreement with the University’s records.
Questioned costs: There are no questioned costs.
Context: The University is in the process of winding down operations, and is no longer providing educational services, and no longer has access to the NSLDS system.
Cause: The University no longer has access to the NSLDS system, and therefore could not provide documentation that the enrollment status reported in NSLDS was supported by the University’s records.
Effect: The University failed to comply with the stated criteria.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend that the University consider any NSLDS access and documentation requirements necessary to ensure compliance with the stated criteria.
Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.