When reporting enrollment to the National Student Clearinghouse, it’s critical that you ensure your submissions reflect accurate, complete enrollment data consistent with Federal Student Aid (FSA) guidance. This includes reporting both enrollment status increases and decreases correctly. Doing so supports federal compliance, mitigates preventable federal aid audit finding risk, and avoids downstream loan servicing issues. Failure to report graduated (G) enrollment statuses accurately and in a timely manner is a common contributor to federal audit findings and borrower record discrepancies.
FSA requires that an enrollment status change to graduated (G) be reflected in enrollment reporting. Once an institution determines the student completed a program per institutional academic policies, it must report the graduated (G) enrollment status at the appropriate campus and/or program level(s).
Program level data are programs reported in your enrollment reporting submissions to the Clearinghouse. In the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide, a program is defined by the unique combination of the OPEID, CIP code, CIP Year, Credential Level, and Program Length. Students who complete a program should be reported with a status change to graduated (G) at the program level for the completed program(s). If students complete all current programs and are no longer enrolled, it is compliant and good practice to also report graduated (G) at the campus level in your enrollment reporting.
Important! If your school uses our G from DegreeVerify (“G from DV”) feature …
Please review and resolve the “G Not Applied” list promptly after each DegreeVerify file is processed to help ensure timely reporting of graduated (G) enrollment statuses.
A DegreeVerify file is separate from and in a different format than a Graduates Only enrollment file. They are used for verification purposes and are not part of the data flow from the Clearinghouse to NSLDS and loan servicers. Graduates Only enrollment files, however, are used for compliance reporting to NSLDS and loan servicers.
A student’s enrollment record is not automatically updated to graduated (G) in the Clearinghouse’s enrollment database when we process a DegreeVerify file. As part of the “G from DV” process, our system creates a “G from DV” Graduates enrollment file when the DegreeVerify file is processed. Error resolution may be required before the enrollment file is processed and made available for data flow to NSLDS and loan servicers.
The graduated (G) enrollment status is applied to the student’s enrollment record only when there is 100% confidence in the match between the DegreeVerify data and the enrollment record. For less than 100% matches, the records are available on the Data Reporting Dashboard under Degree Transmission History via the processing detail link in the “G Not Applied” list.
These resources can help you report graduated (G) enrollment statuses to the Clearinghouse:
- Graduated (G) Status Reporting Guide
- How to Report a Student as Graduated at the Campus or Program Level
- Does your school participate in DegreeVerify and use G from DegreeVerify? Explore our G from DegreeVerify page to learn how to efficiently and effectively manage Graduated (G) enrollment status reporting.
If you have questions or need assistance with Enrollment Reporting, please contact our Compliance & Data Operations team at schoolops@studentclearinghouse.org or 703.742.4880.
For help with federal enrollment reporting compliance and audit questions, please contact our Audit Resource Center at auditresource@studentclearinghouse.org.