Finding Text
U.S. Department of Education 2022-001: NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Assistance Listing Number: 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: P007A210605- 2022; P033A210605- 2022; P063P211182- 2022; P268K221182- 2022 Award Period: July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance and Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: In accordance with 34 CFR 685.309(b) and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Enrollment Reporting Guide published by the Department of Education, schools 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. In addition, schools must report enrollment status changes within 30 days of becoming aware of the status change or in its next scheduled enrollment submission if the scheduled submission is within 60 days. In addition, 2 CFR 200.303, nonfederal entities receiving federal awards are required to establish and maintain internal controls designed to reasonably ensure compliance with federal laws, regulations and program compliance requirements. Condition: During our testing of 40 students, which is a statistically valid sample, we noted 7 instances of late reporting of student status changes, 4 instances where the effective date of a student status change was improperly reported at the campus-level record, 10 instances where the effective date of a student status change was improperly reported at both the campus-level and program-level record, and 1 instance where student?s was not reported for Fall 2021 at both the campus-level and program-level records. Questioned costs: None. Context: Twenty-eight exceptions were noted out of the 40 students tested, which is a statistically valid sample. Cause: The District?s internal controls were not designed to detect the errors. Effect: Inaccurate information is reflected on the NSLDS database. A student?s enrollment data protects the rights of borrowers by ensuring that loan interest subsidies are based on accurate enrollment data, ensures loan repayment dates are accurately based on the last data of attendance, allows in-school deferments to be automatically granted using NSLDS enrollment data, and provides vast amounts of critical data about the effectiveness of Title IV aid programs, including completion data. Repeat Finding: Yes, see Finding 2021-005 Recommendation: We recommend the District review its report procedures to ensure that the enrollment and program information is accurately reported to NSLDS as required by regulations. Views of responsible officials: Management concurs with the finding and plans to correct the finding.