Updated: May 8, 2026

According to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), active students who have at least less than half-time status for the required term and are not withdrawn are considered continuously enrolled during non-required academic terms. For this reason, NSLDS has provided specific criteria for non-required term enrollment reporting.

The Clearinghouse recommends your institution have a policy for reporting non-required terms to us that addresses these key points. NSLDS requires schools to:

• Report enrollment files for non-required academic terms (e.g., summer), like they do for regular terms occurring during the academic calendar.
• Certify a campus-level withdrawn (W) status for any student who is not expected to return for the next required academic term and is therefore considered withdrawn (W) from the school.
• Report the active enrollment status of any student who drops all courses for a non-required term (e.g., summer) but is expected to return for the next required term (e.g., fall).

Reporting Guidelines for Non-Required Academic Term (e.g., summer)

• Typically, a student is not withdrawn (W) during a non-required term if 1) the student is in an active status for the prior required term and 2) is expected to return for the next scheduled required term.
• Please note that your school is not expected to track a student’s intent to return for subsequent enrollment. “Expected to return” is the default, and NSLDS guidance stipulates that a school anticipate return unless otherwise notified. In other words, students are “expected to return” for Fall enrollment unless they have graduated or formally withdrawn (stated an intent not to enroll in the next required term).
• Typically, if your financial aid office completes a return to Title IV (R2T4) or post-withdrawal disbursement (PWD) that is effective during a non-required term, you should report the student’s withdrawn status and accurate effective date to the Clearinghouse. This ensures consistency between campus-level and program-level reporting and helps support timely loan servicing and updates for federal grant recipients.

IMPORTANT: Understanding Error Flags to Ensure Compliant Enrollment Status Effective Date Reporting

• Students are considered continuously enrolled during non-required terms, unless they were marked as Withdrawn (W) in the preceding required term. This makes it especially important to ensure the enrollment status effective dates for the academic term that follows a non-required term are accurate.
• Enrollment file Error Resolution on the Web (ERW) has warning logic that flags records that may need a different enrollment status effective date than is provided on the incoming file. The ERW warning flag(s) compute an effective date based on NSLDS guidelines to help ensure consistent tracking of continuous enrollment. When a warning is triggered, you must acknowledge the computed date, revert to the original enrollment effective date on the incoming file, or adjust it during the enrollment reporting and withdrawal process as determined by the institution.
• These warning flags are described in this Compliance Central update, Warning Codes 292 and series 1861-1866 and 1901-1906.

Recommended Best Practices When Updating Enrollment Statuses for Non-Required Academic Terms

Reporting a Less than Half-Time status with an effective date during a non-required term (e.g., summer) via Student Look-Up’s online update will result in the updated status being sent to NSLDS on the roster process. Unlike incoming summer files, this type of update bypasses the roster logic and certifies the updated status as-is. Please keep this in mind when making updates to ensure alignment with enrollment reporting compliance expectations.

Scenario: Student is at least Half-Time during a required term (e.g., spring) and Less than Half-Time during a non-required term (e.g., summer)

In alignment with NSLDS reporting expectations, students who are at least Half-Time in a required spring term and reported as Less than Half-Time on a Summer-First or Summer-Subsequent file are certified to NSLDS with their spring status on the roster process.

Summer and Other Non-Required Term Enrollment Reporting Scenarios for Federal Compliance

These tables illustrate best practices your institution should follow when submitting enrollment reporting to the Clearinghouse during a non-required term (e.g., summer). These practices help meet “continuous enrollment” federal reporting guidance for the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and ensure proper federal loan servicing.

The Clearinghouse applies specific logic when responding to NSLDS rosters during non‑required terms to help ensure the correct continuous enrollment treatment is reported. In addition, we incorporate validations for the next required academic term (e.g., fall) in Error Resolution Report on the Web (ERW) to support compliance with these requirements.

It is important that you schedule and send non-required term enrollment files (summer first, summer subsequent, and/or non-compulsory file types) to the Clearinghouse. This supports enrollment reporting consistency for students who take no courses or who are enrolled less than half time (L) during a non-required term.

Student A: Full-time spring / No courses in summer / Full-time fall (NSLDS expects spring effective date to be reported in the fall)

Student B: Full-time spring / Less than half-time in summer / Full-time fall (NSLDS expects spring effective date be reported in the fall)

In each scenario:

• The first three columns display the enrollment status and effective date for the student in spring as the required term, summer as the non-required term, and fall as the next [consecutive] required term.
• The last column (“Data Reported from Clearinghouse to NSLDS”) lists the status and effective date the Clearinghouse sends to NSLDS, determined based on:
  1. Student’s prior required-term status (e.g., spring),
  2. Student’s non-required term enrollment activity (e.g., summer), and
  3. If the student is expected to return for the next required term (e.g., fall).
• Institutions should report students who are separated from the school, not graduated, and not returning in the next required academic term (e.g., fall) as withdrawn to the Clearinghouse.

Key:

• SSD = Campus Status Start Date
• PSED = Program Status Effective Date
• = Student enrolled

Students with active spring enrollment status, expected to return in the fall

Spring End-of-Term Enrollment	Summer Term Enrollment		Fall Term Enrollment	Data Reported by Clearinghouse to NSLDS
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	No courses Do not include the student in the summer file sent to the Clearinghouse		Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	SUMMER: Spring F status, 1/12/25 SSD/PSED recertified, and sent to NSLDS FALL: F status with the same 1/12/25 SSD/PSED as spring reported to comply with NSLDS’s continuous enrollment guidance
Half time (H) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Less than half time (L) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report L status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse		Half time (H) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	SUMMER: L status is suppressed. Spring H status, 1/12/25 SSD/PSED recertified FALL: H status with same 1/12/25 SSD/PSED as spring
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Half time (H) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report H status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse		Full time (F) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: H status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is FALL: F status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Half time (H) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report H status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Drops to Less than half time (L) SSD: 7/5/25 PSED: 7/5/25 Report L status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Full time (F) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: H status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is. L status is suppressed. H status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED recertified FALL: F status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Half time (H) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report H status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Drops ALL Summer classes effective 7/22/25 Do NOT report Withdrawn (W) Continue to report H status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Half time (H) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25	SUMMER: H status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is and continues to be reported throughout the summer term FALL: H status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED (same as summer) continues to be reported
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/2 Program 1 PSED: 1/12/25 Program 2 No enrollment	Less than half time (L) SSD: 5/25/25 Program 1 PSED: 5/25/25 Program 2 PSED: 5/25/25 Report L status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse		Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 Program 1 PSED: 1/12/25 Program 2 PSED: 8/9/25	SUMMER: Campus level & Program 1 – L status is suppressed. Spring F status, 1/12/25 SSD/PSED recertified. Program 2 – L status, 5/25/25 PSED is sent to NSLDS FALL: F status sent with same 1/12/25 SSD/PSED from spring. Program 2 – F status, 8/9/25 fall PSED reported as-is
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Less than half time (L) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25		Less than half time (L) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: L status suppressed. F status, 1/12/25 SSD/PSED recertified FALL: L status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is

Students with active Spring enrollment status, not returning for Fall term

Spring End-of-Term Enrollment	Summer Term Enrollment		Fall Term Enrollment	Data Reported by Clearinghouse to NSLDS
Half time (H) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	No courses. Withdrawn (W) from spring term, effective 5/10/25 Report W status, 5/10/25 SSD/PSED to Clearinghouse		Not Enrolled	W status, 5/10/25 SSD/PSED reported as is to NSLDS
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Half time (H) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report H status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Withdrawn (W) from school, effective 7/1/25 Report W status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Not Enrolled	SUMMER: H status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is. W status, 7/1/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is

Scenarios where continuous enrollment guidance does not apply

Spring End-of-Term Enrollment	Summer Term Enrollment	Fall Term Enrollment	Data Reported by Clearinghouse to NSLDS
Less than half time (L) SSD: 1/15/25 PSED: 1/15/25	Half time (H) SSD: 6/4/25 PSED: 6/4/25 Report H status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Less than half time (L) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: H status, 6/4/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is FALL: L status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is
Full time (F) SSD: 1/12/25 PSED: 1/12/25	Withdrawn (W) from school, effective 6/4/25 Report W status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Half time (H) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: W status, 6/4/25 SSD/PSED sent to NSLDS FALL: H status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is
Not enrolled	Less than half time (L) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report L status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Full time (F) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: L status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is FALL: F status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is
Withdrawn (W) effective spring SSD: 3/5/25 PSED: 3/5/25	Less than half time (L) SSD: 6/3/25 PSED: 6/3/25 Report L status in the file sent to the Clearinghouse	Full time (F) SSD: 9/2/25 PSED: 9/2/25	SUMMER: L status, 6/3/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is FALL: F status, 9/2/25 SSD/PSED reported as-is