Finding Text
FINDING 2022-001 ? Special Tests and Provisions ? Enrollment Reporting ? Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance "See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table" Criteria: The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) is the Department of Education?s (ED) centralized database for students? enrollment information. It is the University?s responsibility to update this information timely and accurately when the enrollment status of a student that has received federal aid changes. The University currently contracts with a third-party servicer and has elected to receive an Enrollment Reporting roster file every 30 days from NSLDS. At a minimum, institutions must certify the enrollment status of all students included on the roster file within 15 days of receiving the roster file. If errors are identified, the University has 10 days to resubmit a corrected response. Unless the school expects to complete its next roster within 60 days, the school must notify the lender or the guaranty agency within 30 days, if it discovers that a student who received federal aid either did not enroll or ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis (34 CFR section 685.309). Condition/context: We selected a sample of students identified by the University as having received some Federal assistance and who either withdrew from the University or graduated from the University during the year ended June 30, 2022. Our sample consisted of 12 students out of a population of approximately 92 that were identified as withdrawn during the year and a sample of 28 students out of a population of approximately 205 that were identified as graduates. We then compared the enrollment information and withdrawal or graduation date per the University?s records to the information reported to NSLDS. We believe this to be a representative sample of the population. We noted exceptions with one student enrolled in the College of Nursing who had withdrawn and whose status change was not reported within the required time frame. Questioned costs: No questioned costs were identified as part of this finding. Effect: Enrollment status is utilized by students, ED, the Direct Loan program, lenders, and other institutions to determine in-school status. NSLDS also uses the newly submitted enrollment data to recalculate a student?s 150% limit for direct subsidized loans to determine if loss or protection of the subsidy should occur. Therefore, enrollment reporting could result in incorrect future eligibility for undergraduate aid, as well as impact future subsidy loss or protection related to the 150% limit. Cause: There was a delay in communication from the College of Nursing to the department responsible for updating enrollment statuses to NSLDS which resulted in an aggregate delay of 25 days. Repeat finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: We recommend that the University develop additional communication protocols when a student is determined to have withdrawn to ensure that communication is made timely to NSLDS. Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: Management agrees with the recommendation and has developed a corrective action plan to use Microsoft Forms to notify service units of withdrawals. The Dean (or designee) of each program will update the report and indicate the effective date which will notify the financial aid department and allow them to timely update reporting enrollment.