Finding Text
Finding 2023-001: Enrollment Reporting - Significant Deficiency
ALN: 84.268 Federal Direct Loan Program
Award Year: July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Pass-Through Entity: Not applicable
Criteria: Title IV regulations (34 CFR 685.309(b)) require that upon receipt of an enrollment report from the Secretary, institutions must update all information included in the report and return the report to the Secretary: (i) in the manner and format prescribed by the Secretary; and (ii) within the timeframe prescribed by the Secretary. Unless it expects to submit its next updated enrollment report to the Secretary within the next 60 days, an institution must notify the Secretary within 30 days after the date the institution discovers that: (i) a loan under Title IV of the Act was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the institution, and the student has ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis or failed to enroll on at least a half-time basis for the period for which the loan was intended; or (ii) a student who is enrolled at the institution and who received a loan under Title IV of the Act has changed his or her permanent address.
Condition: For one of the twenty-five students tested, their effective date of status change at the campus level did not agree to that at the program level. For three of the twenty-five students tested, the effective date of the status change at both the campus and program levels did not match the date in which the University determined that their status changed.
Cause: For one student, the registrar mistakenly entered the wrong date within their system, which was then transferred to NSLDS at the campus level. This date did not match that at the program level, which was correctly reported. For three of the twenty-five students tested, these students changed status between terms, in which case the effective date of their status change should have been reported as the first day of the semester with the status change, in line with University policy. However, the Registrar erroneously reported a different effective date, which in each case was within two weeks of the date that should have been reported, but ultimately did not match the date exactly.
Effect: The accuracy of Title IV student loan records depends heavily on the accuracy of the enrollment information reported by institutions. If an institution does not review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, effective dates of the enrollment status, and the anticipated completion dates, then the Title IV student loan records will be inaccurate.
Questioned Costs: None.
Recommendation: It is recommended that the University review policies and procedures in place to resolve reporting issues in a timely manner to facilitate compliance with Title IV regulations.
Management Response: Each error was corrected within the system. Going forward, the reports submitted to NSLDS will be closely reviewed to ensure effective dates for student changes are appropriately reported.