Finding Text
2022?003 ? NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster CFDA Numbers: 84.268 ? Federal Direct Student Loans Award Period: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 Type of Finding: Other Matters Finding related to Compliance and Significant Deficiency in Internal Controls over Compliance. Criteria or Specific Requirement: Institutions are required to report, certify, and correct enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035) (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). 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. Institutions must return the roster within 15 days of receipt, and correct errors within 10 days of receipt. 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: During our testing of the Direct Loan and Pell Grant programs, we selected the annual SCHER 1 report and a sample of 40 students to test for timeliness and accurate reporting of student status changes to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). During our testing, we noted 11 instances of noncompliance related to the SCHER1 report, and 34 of 40 students tested had one or more instances of noncompliance, as noted below: I. Eleven instances where the Institution did not correct errors within the required ten days. When the errors were reported back to the servicer, the resubmission of the records were not corrected and ultimately rejected again. II. Thirty-one instances where the student's program begin date reported to NSLDS did not agree to the Institution's records. 34 CFR 685.309 (b)(1) and 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2) III. Twenty instances where the student?s program enrollment effective date was incorrectly reported to NSLDS. 34 CFR 685.309 (b)(1) and 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2) IV. Three instances where the student's change in statuses were not certified and/or received by NSLDS within the required sixty days. 34 CFR 674.19(f)(2) Questioned Costs: None Context: Out of a sample of 40 students selected for testing, and 1 SCHER1 report for the requirements noted above, we noted the exceptions as described above. Cause: The University?s processes and controls did not ensure that student status changes were properly reported to NSLDS and errors corrected timely. Effect: The NSLDS system is not updated with the student information which can cause over awarding should the student transfer to another institution and the students may not properly enter the repayment period. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the Institution review its reporting procedures to ensure that students? statuses are accurately reported to NSLDS as required by regulations. In addition, we recommend the Institution work with its servicer to determine a procedure is in place to ensure all rejected records are properly reported to NSLDS within 10 days of the initial roster certification and upload. Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: See Corrective Action Pan prepared by the University.