4/17/23: April 2023 Update for Suggested Single Audit Procedures Related to NSLDS Enrollment Reporting

Published on https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2023-04-17/april-2023-update-suggested-single-audit-procedures-related-nslds-enrollment-reporting

• POSTED DATE: April 17, 2023
• AUTHOR: Federal Student Aid
• ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID: GENERAL-23-24
• SUBJECT: April 2023 Update for Suggested Single Audit Procedures Related to NSLDS Enrollment Reporting

Federal Student Aid (FSA) is issuing this Electronic Announcement to update our expectations of auditors evaluating institutional compliance with enrollment reporting requirements in light of the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS ) issues previously identified in our Jan. 12, 2023, Electronic Announcement (Suggested Single Audit Procedures Related to NSLDS Enrollment Reporting). The guidance in this Electronic Announcement applies to audits of institutions with fiscal years ending after Feb. 28, 2023.

In our January 2023 Electronic Announcement we identified system issues that began July 19, 2022, that impacted institutions’ ability to comply with enrollment reporting requirements. FSA resumed sending enrollment reporting rosters to schools on their established schedules beginning March 1, 2023. The Department recognizes that institutions were not able to be in full compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements from July 19, 2022, through Feb. 28, 2023, and would not expect auditors to include enrollment reporting data due during that period in their evaluation of an institution’s compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements during a single audit. However, any required enrollment reporting data due prior to July 19, 2022, and after Feb. 28, 2023, should be evaluated by auditors performing single audits of participating institutions.

For impacted single audits of public and private-nonprofit institutions performed in accordance with the 2021 or 2022 Compliance Supplements, the following revised Audit Objective and Suggested Audit Procedures should be used for the Student Financial Assistance Cluster’s Special Test 4, Enrollment Reporting. With Office of Management and Budget approval, these revised objectives and procedures will be included in the 2023 Compliance Supplement as well.

Audit Objectives

Determine whether the institution is notifying ED of changes in student enrollment information at the Campus Level and Program Level in a timely and accurate manner, for periods during which the institution was required and able to comply with enrollment reporting requirements.

Suggested Audit Procedures

1. Identify a population of Pell and Direct Loan students from the institution’s records that had a reduction or increase in attendance levels impacting enrollment status, graduated, withdrew, dropped out, or enrolled but never attended during the audit period and for whom the institution was required to report such change in enrollment status from the beginning of the institution’s fiscal year up to the last regularly scheduled Enrollment Roster prior to July 19, 2022 and/or from the last regularly scheduled Enrollment Rosters after Feb. 28, 2023 up to the fiscal year end. From the population identified, select a sample of students and compare the data in the student’s NSLDS Enrollment Detail to the students’ academic files and other institutional records and verify that the institution is accurately reporting the significant Campus-Level and Program-Level enrollment data elements that ED considers high risk.
2. For instances in the sample tested in procedure a. above where a Direct Loan was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the institution, and the student 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 a student who is enrolled at the institution and who received a loan under Title IV has changed his or her permanent address, determine whether the institution reported the change in its next updated Enrollment Roster file.
3. Have the institution access the NSLDS website and create the Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report (SCHET1) or access the Enrollment Submittal Tracking Page. For regularly scheduled roster files during the audit period with “Date Sent” prior to July 5, 2022, and/or after Feb. 28, 2023, compare the dates the roster files were sent to the received dates to verify that the institution responded to the roster files within 15 days.

For impacted proprietary school compliance audits performed in accordance with the 2016 OIG Audit Guide, Guide For Audits of Proprietary Schools and For Compliance Attestation Engagements of Third-Party Servicers Administering Title IV Programs, OIG issued Dear CPA Letter CPA-23-01: Modified Enrollment Reporting Testing Due to National Student Loan Data System Issues to provide a revised objective and revised procedures for Enrollment Reporting testing.

1/12/23: Suggested Single Audit Procedures Related to NSLDS Enrollment Reporting

Published on https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2023-01-12/suggested-single-audit-procedures-related-nslds-enrollment-reporting-updated-april-17-2023

• POSTED DATE: January 12, 2023
• AUTHOR: Federal Student Aid
• ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID: GENERAL-23-04
• SUBJECT: Suggested Single Audit Procedures Related to NSLDS Enrollment Reporting

Federal Student Aid (FSA) is issuing this Electronic Announcement to summarize the issues that arose following the July 2022 implementation of the modernized NSLDS Professional Access website and to communicate our expectations of auditors evaluating institutional compliance with enrollment reporting requirements in light of those issues.

As FSA prepared for the retirement of the current National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS ) website and the launch of the enhanced website, FSA temporarily paused data reporting to NSLDS. Batch reporting was accepted until July 19, 2022, and online updates and submittal spreadsheets were accepted until July 20, 2022. Due to issues encountered following the conversion, data reporting and data processing did not resume as scheduled, which impacted institutions’ ability to comply with enrollment reporting requirements through the date of this Electronic Announcement. During this time, there was a period when institutions were encouraged not to provide updates or had their submissions canceled, as well as periods when regular enrollment reporting rosters were suspended along with enrollment history update functionality. There was also a period during which processing of received updates was paused.

The Department issued Electronic Announcements between June and November 2022, detailing enrollment functionality and identified issues. The Electronic Announcements stated that institutions should retain copies of the announcements as documentation for audit purposes. See recent Electronic Announcements from Nov. 23, 2022, Nov. 14, 2022, and Oct. 7, 2022. The Oct. 7, 2022, Electronic Announcement has links to all previous Electronic Announcements (refer to the section titled “Published Information”).

Institutions have not been able to comply with enrollment reporting requirements for the period July 19, 2022, through the date of this Electronic Announcement. Therefore, for institutions with fiscal years ending through Feb. 28, 2023, auditors would not be expected to include any enrollment reporting data due from July 19, 2022, through Feb. 28, 2023, in their evaluation of the institution’s compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements. Institutions were expected to be in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements for all other periods within their fiscal year.

For impacted single audits of public and private-nonprofit institutions performed in accordance with the 2021 and 2022 Compliance Supplement, the following revised Audit Objective and Suggested Audit Procedures should be used for the Student Financial Assistance Cluster’s Special Test 4, Enrollment Reporting. No later than March 1, 2023, FSA will issue additional audit guidance for institutions with fiscal years ending after Feb. 28, 2023.

Audit Objectives

Determine whether the institution is notifying ED of changes in student enrollment information at the Campus Level and Program Level in a timely and accurate manner, for periods during which the institution was required and able to comply with enrollment reporting requirements.

Suggested Audit Procedures

1. Identify a population of Pell and Direct Loan students from the institution’s records that had a reduction or increase in attendance levels, graduated, withdrew, dropped out, or enrolled but never attended during the audit period and for whom the institution was required to report such change in enrollment status from the beginning of the institution’s fiscal year up to the last regularly scheduled Enrollment Roster prior to July 19, 2022. From the population identified, select a sample of students and compare the data in the student’s NSLDS Enrollment Detail to the students’ academic files and other institutional records and verify that the institution is accurately reporting the significant Campus-Level and Program-Level enrollment data elements that ED considers high risk.
2. For instances in the sample tested in procedure a. above where a Direct Loan was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the institution, and the student 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 a student who is enrolled at the institution and who received a loan under Title IV has changed his or her permanent address, determine whether the institution reported the change in its next updated Enrollment Roster file.
3. Have the institution access the NSLDS website and create the Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report (SCHET1) or access the Enrollment Submittal Tracking Page. For regularly scheduled roster files during the audit period with “Date Sent” prior to July 5, 2022, compare the dates the roster files were sent to the return dates to verify that the institution returned the roster files within 15 days.

For impacted proprietary school compliance audits performed in accordance with the 2016 OIG Audit Guide, Guide For Audits of Proprietary Schools and For Compliance Attestation Engagements of Third-Party Servicers Administering Title IV Programs, OIG will be issuing a Dear CPA Letter to provide a revised objective and revised procedures for Enrollment Reporting testing.

11/14/22: NSLDS Professional Access – Upcoming November Enrollment Roster Dissemination

Published on https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2022-11-14/nslds-professional-access-upcoming-november-enrollment-roster-dissemination-updated-jan-6-2023

• POSTED DATE: November 14, 2022
• AUTHOR: Federal Student Aid
• ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID: GENERAL-22-85
• SUBJECT: NSLDS Professional Access – Upcoming November Enrollment Roster Dissemination

As the financial aid community is aware, we needed to suspend National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS ) Enrollment Roster processing after our dissemination of August Enrollment Rosters. We want to again acknowledge our appreciation of schools’ patience and understanding as we worked through issues that arose following our July 2022 implementation of the modernized NSLDS Professional Access. We are now ready to resume NSLDS Enrollment Roster dissemination and announce availability of the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide.

Dissemination and Correction of Off-Schedule November Enrollment Rosters

During the week of Nov. 14, 2022, we will send off-schedule November Enrollment Rosters to schools’ Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes.

The off-schedule November Enrollment Rosters will include the most current enrollment status information we have in NSLDS.

• For Schools Serviced by the National Student Clearinghouse – The most current information will be based on National Student Clearinghouse updates submitted to us over the past several weeks.
• For Schools Not Serviced by the National Student Clearinghouse – The most current information will be based on a school’s response to the August Enrollment Roster or to subsequent enrollment status updates made by the school online or via spreadsheet.

As required by regulations, any errors on a school’s Enrollment Roster must be corrected by a school within 10 days of receiving its Error/Acknowledgement file. We are providing relief to schools in complying with this requirement because we are 1) sending the November Enrollment Rosters off schedule and 2) planning to resume sending enrollment rosters per regular schedules in December 2022.

• For Schools Scheduled to Receive December Enrollment Roster Dec. 1 – 10 – A school on this schedule is not required to make corrections to the off-schedule November Enrollment Roster. The school is required to check its December Enrollment Roster to ensure any errors no longer exist. If errors do exist in the December Roster Response file, the school must make corrections within the required 10 days.
• For Schools Scheduled to Receive Enrollment Rosters After Dec. 10 but Within Next 60 Days – We understand that it will take a school on this schedule longer than 10 days to make corrections to the off-schedule November Enrollment Roster because of the Thanksgiving holiday. The school is required to make corrections to the off-schedule November Enrollment Roster as soon as possible prior to receiving its next Enrollment Roster.

Availability of NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide

We are pleased to announce the availability of the updated NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide, a comprehensive document containing step-by-step instructions for NSLDS enrollment reporting. The November 2022 update includes visuals to assist users with the modernized website. Minor updates were also made to the Appendices. Refer to the “What’s New?” section for a complete description of updates made since the guide’s last publication (September 2021).

The updated NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide is available in the NSLDS User Resources section of the Knowledge Center website.

Contact Information

If you have questions, please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 1-800-999-8219 or nslds@ed.gov.

10/7/22: NSLDS Professional Access – Additional Information About the Modernized Website #10

Published on https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2022-10-07/nslds-professional-access-additional-information-about-modernized-website-10

• POSTED DATE: October 07, 2022
• AUTHOR: Federal Student Aid
• ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID: GENERAL-22-76
• SUBJECT: NSLDS Professional Access – Additional Information About the Modernized Website #10

Through a series of Electronic Announcements published since June 2022, we have provided Federal Student Aid’s (FSA’s) professional partners with transparent information before and after we implemented the modernized National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Professional Access on July 25, 2022. That enormous initiative included overhauling underlying system platform and architecture and standing up a new contact center to support daily operations and customer service. We continue to appreciate the financial aid community’s patience, understanding, and assistance with our ongoing validation and fine-tuning of this important undertaking.

In this announcement, we provide further updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.

For more information, please refer to the sections below.

Updated Information for NSLDS Enrollment Functionality

We know that processing issues with NSLDS Professional Access since July have significantly affected a school’s ability to adhere to institutional enrollment reporting requirements—especially at this time of the school year. We continue to focus on all issues impacting our professional partners and remain diligent in our efforts to resolve the issues as expeditiously as possible.

Without diminishing the importance of accurate and timely reporting of students’ enrollment status information to NSLDS, we are continuing our suspension of NSLDS enrollment reporting rosters and all compliance notifications. As such, schools continue to be unable to comply with enrollment reporting requirements. Schools, school servicers, and enrollment providers should retain copies of this announcement and our Aug. 31 announcement as documentation for audit purposes. The Print button at the top left of each announcement can be used to print a formatted version of the announcement to paper or PDF.

After enrollment reporting functionality is fully operational, we will provide schools, school servicers, and enrollment providers with guidance for documenting the period of disrupted operations. Below is a summary of the enrollment-related issues identified to date.

Open Issues

• New! Enrollment Reporting Documentation for Auditors: We are researching identified issues with the Enrollment Reporting Summary Report (SCHER1). Schools have historically provided this report to auditors as documentation of timely enrollment reporting during a specified fiscal year. Given the issues with the SCHER1 report, this is a good time for schools to transition to using Enrollment Submittal Tracking information as their documentation for auditors. There are two options for obtaining this information—the Enrollment Submittal Tracking webpage and the Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report (SCHET1).
  

  Enrollment Submittal Tracking Page

  To access this webpage, select Enrollment Submittal Tracking from the dropdown menu under the Enrollment tab of the NSLDS Professional Access website. A user should complete the query fields—Retrieve School Location, Date Processed Begin Date, and Date Processed End Date—as directed on the screens, and then click on Apply. Once generated, the user can view the report data online or click on the Export to CSV link to save the report data in Excel format.

  Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report (SCHET1)

  Another option would be to download the Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report (SCHET1), which is available on the NSLDS Reports Tool. It provides an on-demand Excel-formatted report with enrollment submittal tracking information for the requested time period at the file-level and school-level.

• Updated! Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal Errors: A school preparing to submit an Enrollment Spreadsheet via the NSLDS Professional Access Website has the option to complete a preliminary file-level check before submitting the file for the required system-level checks.
  

  Validate

  This check is optional and does not need to be completed. If a school chooses to complete this check by clicking on Validate, file-level edits are run to confirm column completion and readiness for upload. This optional check does not compare the contents of the spreadsheet to the data within NSLDS.

  Validate and Submit

  This check is required and must be completed. Upon clicking on Validate and Submit, the spreadsheet contents are validated against the data within NSLDS. This validation could take a while to complete. Completion is signified by the appearance of a message stating that the file has been processed. If no errors were identified, only the processing completion statement will appear. If errors were identified, a link to a results file will appear with the processing completion statement. Upon receipt of the results file, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center for assistance with resolving the errors and proper resubmission.

• Updated! Enrollment History Update Functionality Suspension: We continue to research issues impacting Enrollment History Update functionality. Until we resolve these issues, we must continue to suspend Enrollment History Update functionality. Schools, school servicers, and enrollment providers can continue to submit updates to current enrollment information via the Enrollment Maintenance page and the Update Enrollment page on the NSLDS Professional Access website. However, updates to historical enrollment records cannot be submitted during the functionality suspension.

• Updated! Enrollment Rosters: We continue to prepare for roster dissemination. We will inform the community when we are ready to do so.
• Roster Schedule Preferences: We identified inconsistencies with roster schedule preferences within NSLDS Professional Access affecting a small number of schools. We have identified the cause of the issue and are working to fix it as soon as possible.
• Online Alerts: Messages are appearing on the NSLDS Professional Access website alerting a school that it has been more than 65 days since the school last reported enrollment or that a school is otherwise late in responding to a roster. Schools should disregard these messages as they are not applicable at this time.
• Program Duplication: We identified an issue with enrollment processing that is causing a student’s program to appear in duplicate and the certification of that student’s enrollment to be disallowed. We have identified the cause of the issue affecting a small number of schools and are working to fix it as soon as possible.

Resolved Issues

• Online Warning Messages: Some messaging previously appeared on the NSLDS Professional Access website warning that a school was delinquent or otherwise non-compliant with enrollment reporting requirements. That online messaging was released inadvertently and subsequently removed from the website.
• Enrollment Roster Headers: As previously reported, after we disseminated outstanding July and August Rosters we discovered an inadvertent error related to the rosters sent to enrollment providers who manage different OPE IDs. We corrected the issue to prevent it from happening going forward. In addition, we recreated and resent corrected versions of the July and August Rosters in response to enrollment provider requests.

• Cancellation of Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittals Made July 20 – Aug. 8: All spreadsheet submittals during this period were canceled and show as Failed on the NSLDS Professional Access website. We emailed affected schools about the canceled spreadsheets on Aug. 11. It was necessary for affected schools to re-upload the spreadsheets for processing.

Updated Information for NSLDS Postscreening

Updated! We have continued to complete postscreening for the 2022-23 award year on a weekly basis since early September. During the week of Oct. 10, 2022, we will begin weekly postscreening for the 2023-24 award year. If a school has questions about postscreening results, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center so we can research the situation.

Issues Identified Since Launch

We provide the following information about issues that have been identified since launch. We are focused on the issues, remain diligent in our efforts to resolve them, and continue to appreciate the patience of our professional partners.

Open Issues

• Perkins Submittal Files: We are delayed in processing Perkins Submittal Files for schools that use a commercial Perkins servicer. We are working this backlog as expeditiously as possible.
• Reopening! TRNINFIN Files: There has been an increase in the number of schools contacting us about school
  submissions of TRNINFIN files, Financial Aid History requests, and Transfer Student Monitoring inform files. We have reopened our investigation of this issue and will share our findings as soon as possible. In the meantime, a school waiting to receive a response or that has questions about a response it receives should continue to contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center so we can research the situation.
• Updated! School Portfolio Report Files: We have continued to send School Portfolio Report files (SCHRPFOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. When files are sent from the wrong mailbox, customers receive error messages directing them to contact CPS/SAIG Support. Because this is a known issue and we are in the process of resolving it, we ask that customers refrain from contacting CPS/SAIG Support for this reason. We will notify the community when we resend these files from the correct TG mailbox.
• New! Borrower Demographics – Fixed Width Report Files: We have sent Borrower Demographics – Fixed Width Report files (DEMOFWOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. When files are sent from the wrong mailbox, customers receive error messages directing them to contact CPS/SAIG Support. Because this is a known issue and we are in the process of resolving it, we ask that customers refrain from contacting CPS/SAIG Support for this reason. We will notify the community when we resend these files from the correct TG mailbox.
• Updated! Reports: We diligently continue efforts to clear the backlog in sending reports that are delivered via Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) to schools. We are processing such report requests 24 hours per day with the expectation of full resolution by the end of October. If a school needs more current data after reviewing a report, please submit a new request. If a school does not receive a requested report by the end of October, please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center so we can research the situation.
• Updated! Aggregate Limits: We identified issues during our post implementation validation period that caused the NSLDS prescreening process to incorrectly flag a student as exceeding one of the aggregate loan limits. We recently implemented fixes for these issues and expect that the aggregate calculations for a student will be corrected in the first October postscreening during the week of Oct. 10, 2022.

Resolved Issues

• Resolved! Printing: Previously, the internal formatting parameters of the NSLDS Professional Access website made printing webpage content using a computer’s browser print function prohibitive because the amount of content that printed on each page was limited to such an extent that thousands of pages generated for printing. We updated print parameters throughout the website, and schools can now use a computer’s browser print function to print webpage content needed for documentation purposes.
• ISIR Comment Code 132: As we previously reported, we corrected the NSLDS prescreening process that was incorrectly flagging a student as being in default on a federal student loan when the student is the beneficiary of a parent’s PLUS loan that is in default. The erroneous status no longer reflects as a Defaulted Student warning icon on the NSLDS Professional Access website. On Aug. 19, 2022, we resolved the ISIR Comment Code 132s produced across the 2022 and 2023 award years (~5,000 records) by processing and sending NSLDS Postscreening Reason Code 99 records to affected schools.
• Perkins File Level Edits Files: We previously sent Perkins File Level Edits files (SHSNTFOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
• Transfer Student Monitoring Files: We previously sent Transfer Student Monitoring files (TRNINFOP, TRLTRPOP, and TRALRTOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
• School Perkins Loan Error Files: We previously sent School Perkins Loan Error files (SLDERROP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
• Access: During the period Aug. 5 – 8, we experienced an issue affecting access to the NSLDS Professional Access and FSA Partner Connect websites by loan servicer and guaranty agency authorized users. We communicated resolution of this issue on Aug. 8; however, to resolve it, we needed to revert the Participation Management Database to a previous version. As such, any transactions completed from Thursday, Aug. 4 through Saturday, Aug. 6 will have to be re-entered into the system. We emailed impacted users associated with those transactions.
• Access: During the period July 25 – Aug. 3, we experienced intermittent server issues that prohibited authorized users from logging in to the new NSLDS website. We resolved the server issues as of Aug. 3, and authorized users have not experienced access issues for this reason since then.

NSLDS Professional Access Resources

Published Information

We previously provided information about the new NSLDS Professional Access on June 24, 2022, July 15, 2022, July 22, 2022, July 25, 2022, Aug. 3, 2022, Aug. 8, 2022, Aug. 11, 2022, Aug. 15, 2022, Aug. 19, 2022, Aug. 25, 2022, Aug. 31, 2022, Sept. 2, 2022, Sept. 9, 2022, and Sept. 22, 2022.

In addition, we published a new NSLDS Reports for Schools Guide. This resource provides detailed information to help school users better understand the reports that are available, the various report formats, and how to request each type of report.

User Resources

• Contact Information: If you have questions, please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 1-800-999-8219 or nslds@ed.gov. We will continue to update NSLDS user resources, including user guides and documentation. For a period of time, some resources will contain images and instructions that do not correspond to the updated website. However, in most cases users may continue to refer to the guide or reference until an updated version is available because the resource describes an existing process that has not changed. Please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center using the contact information below if you have questions about a particular user resource.
• Training Videos: As a reminder, a library of brief training videos for NSLDS Professional Access users is available on the FSA Training Center. Each narrated walk-through focuses on frequently-used functionality and provides users with a high-level review of the website’s key features. To view the complete list of topics and to access the training videos, log into the FSA Training Center, choose Systems Training from the main menu bar, and then select NSLDS Training.

8/19/22: NSLDS Professional Access – Additional Information About the Modernized Website #5

Published on https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2022-08-19/nslds-professional-access-additional-information-about-modernized-website-5

• POSTED DATE: August 19, 2022
• AUTHOR: Federal Student Aid
• ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID: GENERAL-22-60
• SUBJECT: NSLDS Professional Access – Additional Information About the Modernized Website #5

We have provided additional information for users of the modernized National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) Professional Access website since it became available for Federal Student Aid’s (FSA’s) professional partners on July 25, 2022. The initiative has been referred to as a modernization of the NSLDS Professional Access website; however, it was in fact a complete transition and overhaul of underlying system platform and architecture as well as the implementation of a brand new contact center to support daily operations and customer service. We want to thank the financial aid community for bearing with us and our new contact center during the past weeks and over the next weeks as we validate and fine tune this enormous and important undertaking.

In this announcement, we provide further updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.

For more information, please refer to the sections below.

Updated Information for NSLDS Enrollment Functionality

We continue to finalize enrollment functionality in the modernized NSLDS Professional Access and would like to update several key pieces of information for users:

Catching Up

• We continue to make significant process catching up with the processing of batch enrollment files. However, we are aware that some schools have not received Error Acknowledgements related to those files and are diligently working the issue. If a school is still waiting to receive acknowledgement of a batch enrollment file, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center so we can research the situation.
• As previously reported, we sent all outstanding July and August Rosters to schools. After dissemination, we discovered an inadvertent error related to the Rosters we sent to enrollment providers who manage different OPE IDs. In most cases, the Enrollment Roster Header includes a school’s OPE ID in the File Content ID (an optional field); however, the Rosters we sent included “SERVICER” instead of the school’s OPE ID. There has been no change to the Roster layout, and we will implement a fix for Rosters we disseminate going forward. It is okay for affected enrollment providers to send OPE ID in Headers and Trailers despite the inadvertent error. If an enrollment provider wants to receive corrected versions of affected Rosters, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center so we can make that happen.
• All Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittals made from July 20 through Aug. 8 have been canceled and show as “Failed” on the NSLDS Professional Access website. We emailed affected schools about the canceled spreadsheets on Aug. 11. An affected school must re-upload the spreadsheet for processing and can do so now.

Going Forward

• Schools can now submit batch enrollment files, upload Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittals, and perform online enrollment reporting updates via Enrollment Maintenance on the NSLDS Professional Access website.
• We are continuing our suspension of all NSLDS enrollment reporting compliance notifications, including Late Roster notifications. We will notify the community when we are ready to resume the notifications.

Reports and Guide

• NSLDS enrollment reports targeted to be available on July 25, as described in the July 22, 2022 Electronic Announcement, are now available on the NSLDS Professional Access website.
• We will notify the community when the forthcoming NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide is available.

Updated Information for NSLDS Postscreening

We continue to complete our post implementation validation of postscreening functionality. We regret the additional delay, but it is necessary to continue to hold postscreening. We expect to resume postscreening during the week of Aug. 22 and will notify the community when we are ready to do so.

Issues Identified Since Launch

We would like to provide the following information about issues that have been identified since launch. We regret the inconvenience any issues have caused and appreciate your patience and understanding while we resolve them.

Being Worked

• ISIR Comment Code 132: As we previously reported, we corrected the NSLDS prescreening process that was incorrectly flagging a student as being in default on a federal student loan when the student is the beneficiary of a parent’s PLUS loan that is in default. The erroneous status no longer reflects as a Defaulted Student warning icon on the NSLDS Professional Access website. To resolve the ISIR Comment Code 132s produced across the 2022 and 2023 award years (~5,000 records), we will process and send NSLDS Postscreening Reason Code 99 records to affected schools by the end of this week (the week of Aug. 15). In the meantime, schools should disregard ISIR Comment Code 132, check the student’s default status online, and continue with processing once the school confirms the student’s status.
• TRNINFIN Files: We are delayed in responding back to school submissions of TRNINFIN files that identify students for which the school needs more information and/or students the school wants us to add to its Transfer Student Monitoring inform file. We are working this backlog as expeditiously as possible.

• Reports: We are delayed in sending reports that are delivered via Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) to schools. We are working this backlog as expeditiously as possible. In the meantime, a school could request a report on-demand via the website; however, we acknowledge that the on-demand option may not provide the data in the format a school needs.
• Aggregate Limits: During our post implementation validation period, we have identified a couple issues that are causing the NSLDS prescreening process to incorrectly flag a student as exceeding one of the aggregate limits. We are working to fix the issues as soon as possible.

Resolved

• Perkins File Level Edits Files: We previously sent Perkins File Level Edits files (SHSNTFOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
• Transfer Student Monitoring Files: We previously sent Transfer Student Monitoring files (TRNINFOP, TRLTRPOP, and TRALRTOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
• School Perkins Loan Error Files: We previously sent School Perkins Loan Error files (SLDERROP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
• Access: During the period Aug. 5 – 8, we experienced an issue affecting access to the NSLDS Professional Access and FSA Partner Connect websites by loan servicer and guaranty agency authorized users. We communicated resolution of this issue on Aug. 8; however, to resolve it, we needed to revert the Participation Management Database to a previous version. As such, any transactions completed from Thursday, Aug. 4 through Saturday, Aug. 6 will have to be re-entered into the system. We emailed impacted users associated with those transactions.
• Access: During the period July 25 – Aug. 3, we experienced intermittent server issues that prohibited authorized users from logging in to the new NSLDS website. We resolved the server issues as of Aug. 3, and authorized users have not experienced access issues for this reason since then.

NSLDS Professional Access Resources

Published Information

The information we have previously provided about the new website includes the following:

• June 24, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Describes features of the enhanced website.
• July 15, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Announces an online training video library, changes to the spreadsheet submittal process, and upcoming user resources.
• July 22, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Provides information about NSLDS Reports and the new NSLDS Reports for Schools Guide. This resource provides detailed information to help school users better understand the reports that are available, the various report formats, and how to request each type of report.
• July 25, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Announces the launch of the website and provides information about NSLDS enrollment functionality.
• Aug. 3, 2022 Electronic Announcement—First in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS
  enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
• Aug. 8, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Second in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
• Aug. 11, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Third in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
• Aug. 15, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Fourth in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.

User Resources

We will continue to update NSLDS user resources, including user guides and documentation. For a period of time, some resources will contain images and instructions that do not correspond to the updated website. However, in most cases users may continue to refer to the guide or reference until an updated version is available because the resource describes an existing process that has not changed. Please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center using the contact information below if you have questions about a particular user resource.

Training Videos

As a reminder, a library of brief training videos for NSLDS Professional Access users is available on the FSA Training Center. Each narrated walk-through focuses on frequently-used functionality and provides users with a high-level review of the website’s key features. To view the complete list of topics and to access the training videos, log into the FSA Training Center, choose Systems Training from the main menu bar, and then select NSLDS Training.

Contact Information

If you have questions, please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 1-800-999-8219 or nslds@ed.gov.