Finding Text
Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans Program
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Award Year: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023
Criteria: Per 34 CFR Section 685.309, institutions with direct loan programs
must complete and return to the National Student Loan Data System
for Students (NSLDS) within 30 days the enrollment reporting roster
file provided by NSLDS, unless the school expects to complete the
next roster within 60 days, then they must return it within 60 days. The
institution must update changes in student status, report the date the
enrollment status was effective, enter the new anticipated completion
date, and then submit changes electronically to the NSLDS, for the
purpose of providing complete and accurate data to lenders regarding
enrollment status so they may properly determine when repayment of
the loans should begin. Any errors in enrollment information identified
and returned by NSLDS in an Error/Acknowledgment file should be
corrected and resubmitted within 10 days. Institutions are responsible
for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party
servicer.
Condition and Context: During our testwork over 40 students that withdrew or graduated
during the period, we identified six students for which the University
did not accurately and report timely the enrollment status of each
student to NSLDS and one student for which the University did not
correct and report the enrollment status to NSLDS within 10 days after
they appeared in the Error/Acknowledgment file.
Cause and Effect: The University’s control failed in detecting that untimely and inaccurate
information was reported to NSLDS.
Questioned Costs: None noted.Whether the
sampling was a
statistically valid
sample: The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid
sample.
Repeat Finding: Yes.
Recommendation: We recommend that the University enhance its internal controls to
ensure all information submitted to NSLDS is reviewed for accuracy on
a timely basis.
View of Responsible Officials: University of Massachusetts Global concurs with this finding. The
University utilizes the services of National Student Clearinghouse to
report student status data to the NSLDS. There were 6 students
reported as graduated beyond the 60 days, and 1 student with an error
that was not corrected within 10 days. To address this, the Office of
the Registrar now has access to NSLDS to ensure that what is
reported to NSC is also updated accurately in NLSDS. The Office of
the Registrar will also change the reporting dates so that it best aligns
with the conferral dates. In addition, the Office of the Registrar will
have an additional QA process so that any time status changes are
compared against the NSC report that is generated and submitted.