These instructions will guide you through reviewing the student-level data your institution submitted for the 2024 and 2025 FVT/GE reporting cycles. Performing this review will help you determine whether all the students your institution intended to report were successfully included in the data submitted to NSLDS or whether any records were unintentionally excluded.

Common causes of record exclusions include file formatting issues, as well as potentially incorrect Invalid Flag field selections (column AH). Excluded records are not sent to NSLDS, which may result in incomplete reporting. To determine whether any excluded records were intentional or require corrective action, please follow the steps below.

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Important: Contact the Clearinghouse Before Making Changes

Complete the review steps below, but do not correct, reupload, regenerate, or resubmit a report unless directed to do so by the Clearinghouse.

Before You Begin

You will need to review each reporting year referenced in the “Action Requested: FVT/GE Incomplete Institutional Reporting for Prior Cycles” email your institution received from the Clearinghouse. The impacted reporting years are 2024, 2025, or both 2024/2025.

To review previously submitted FVT/GE data, you will need:

• The affected award year file(s)
• Access to your institution’s FVT/GE Dashboard
• A secure location where you can save and retrieve downloaded files

Downloading Files

You must download and save ALL completed reporting year files (both 2024, 2025, and 2026 reporting years) locally in a secure location where you can retrieve the files. This includes downloading ─ via the FVT/GE Dashboard ─ and saving all Student Level Report and Program Level Report files associated with unaffected and potentially affected award years.

For each completed Student Level Report:

• Download and locally save, all uploaded files in step 3 Data Upload.

• Download and locally save, all “Request SLR with Corrections” files for each Award Year in step 4 Data Corrections, including the Newly Reportable Program Cohort File (if applicable for your institution).

• Download and locally save the “Consolidated Student Level Report” in Step 5 Accept and Send to NSLDS.

For each completed Program Level Report:

• Download and locally save the Program Level Report with corrections file by selecting “Download PLR with Corrections” in Step 3 Data Corrections.

• Download and locally save the Program Level Report file sent to NSLDS by selecting “Download Program Level Report” in Step 4 Accept and Send.

Reviewing Student Level Reports

Select the Reporting Year

In the FVT/GE Dashboard, select 2024 or 2025 from the Reporting Year dropdown. Repeat these instructions for each reporting year referenced in the “Action Requested: FVT/GE Incomplete Institutional Reporting for Prior Cycles” email sent to you by the Clearinghouse.

Open the Student Level Report

Select the View Student Level Report button for the reporting year you are reviewing.

Review Step 4 – Data Corrections Screen to Identify the Affected Award Year File(s)

Review the award year file(s) by comparing the “Total Records” for the uploaded file to the count of records under “Accepted by the Clearinghouse.” If there is a significant difference, it may indicate records were inadvertently marked for exclusion and therefore not included in the report sent to NSLDS. Select “Request SLR with Corrections” to download a copy of the affected award year data.

Download the Previously Uploaded File

In the Uploaded Files section of the Data Upload page, locate the affected award year file(s) and select the download option.

Review the Downloaded File(s) and Check for Conditions That May Have Excluded Records

Missing Leading Zeros

During the Clearinghouse’s analysis of Student Level Report data correction files, one of the most common formatting issues we identified was that the required leading zeros were not preserved. Because leading zeros are a critical component of the file format, the validation logic interprets affected records as either new or missing data. As a result, in the Student Level Report section of the FVT/GE Dashboard, institutions will receive error code 5002 (“New Record”) and/or 5003 (“Missing Record”) during Step 4, Data Corrections.

The recommended resolution is to reupload the file with the correct formatting and leading zeros intact. However, our analysis found instances where these discrepancies were instead resolved directly within the platform by invalidating the record in the Student Level Report. This caused affected student records to be excluded from the final submission, resulting in missing data being transmitted to the National Student Loan Data System.

You should check whether the required leading zeros were preserved or are missing from the values in columns B, D, I, J, K, M, or AJ. If leading zeros are missing in the uploaded file, the system may have flagged errors for these records as new or missing rather than matching them to existing records. If error records were marked for exclusion, those records were not sent to the NSLDS. If you identify missing leading zeros in your file upload, please be aware the Clearinghouse deployed an enhancement to automatically insert leading zeros in columns B, D, I, J, K, and M.

When correcting a file upload, please ensure column AJ, the College Student ID field, includes leading zeros, where applicable.

• If College Student ID is blank on the Clearinghouse cohort download, column AJ should be blank for the corresponding detail row in your file upload.
• If College Student ID has leading zero(s) on the Clearinghouse cohort download, column AJ should include leading zero(s) for the corresponding detail row in your file upload.

Invalid Flag Field Values

Review the school source column, AH (Invalid Flag field) and determine whether T, R, or C was populated for a high volume of detail records, then confirm whether the selection was intentional. Any student records with the values T, R, or C in column AH will be excluded from the final report sent to NSLDS.

Populate the school source Total Amounts fields in the TA detail rows or the Annual Amounts fields in the AA detail rows with either an “N” or space in the Invalid Flag field. If a TA or AA record has a blank Invalid Flag field (blank is equal to N) or a value of “N,” the record will be included in the file sent to NSLDS.

Detail rows with school source Invalid Flag fields with a value of T, R, or C will be excluded from the file sent to NSLDS. The Total Amounts or Annual Amounts fields can be blank for these TA or AA detail rows.

To avoid the inadvertent exclusion of a student detail row that should be included on your Student Level Report when it sent to NSLDS, you should only populate T, R, or C in the following limited circumstances:

T = The student never received Title IV aid from your institution at any time (not just the award year being reported) for enrollment in the program.

R = You should only enter R in a detail row’s Invalid Flag field if a student meets the criteria for scenario 4 or 5, see Student Level Report Invalid Flag and Students in Multiple Programs. Invalid Flag = R indicates:

• The student is withdrawn from an eligible non-GE program,
• The credential level is the same as in another row in the same award year for the same student, and
• The other row has an Invalid Flag value of “N” or space, which includes annual amounts OR a Graduated status with aggregated total amounts in the Graduated status row.

C = The student’s program is neither a GE or eligible non-GE program, which includes these programs:

• Comprehensive Transition and Postsecondary (CTP)
• Prison Education Program (PEP)
• Postbaccalaureate teacher certification program, if the institution does not award any credential
• Two-year or longer program that is acceptable for full credit toward a bachelor’s degree
• Preparatory coursework for which students receive Direct Loans

What to Record

Before contacting the Clearinghouse, document:

1. Impacted reporting year
2. Affected award year file name
3. Number of records uploaded
4. Number of records accepted
5. Whether required leading zeros appear to be missing
6. Whether column AH contains T, C, or R for a high number of records
7. Any other differences between the uploaded file and the students your institution expected to report

Next Steps

If your review identifies potentially excluded records, missing students, or other reporting concerns including either condition noted in number 6 or 7 above, contact our Operations team for support at schoolops@studentclearinghouse.org before making changes to your FVT/GE reporting data.

Please include the impacted reporting year and affected award year file in your message. Do not send student-level data or other sensitive information by email unless the Clearinghouse provides instructions for secure transmission.

After your institution reaches out to the Clearinghouse, we will review the circumstances and determine the most appropriate resolution. Depending on the situation, we may be able to provide a solution that avoids the need for you to restart the reporting process from Step 1: Select Cohort Type. Because the resolution process may differ by institution, you should not select “reset to SLR in-progress,” modify, reupload, regenerate, or resubmit the report until you receive guidance from the Clearinghouse.

If your review confirms that excluded students were intentionally removed from the file and therefore the records sent to NSLDS were complete and accurate, you can disregard the “Action Requested: FVT/GE Incomplete Institutional Reporting for Prior Cycles” email we sent you.

FAQs

Q: What happens if my institution does not take any action?

A: If your institution does not complete the review, all currently excluded records will remain excluded from the data sent to NSLDS. If there are records that were unintentionally excluded, it is possible the reporting will be incomplete. Institutions are responsible for ensuring that their 2024 and 2025 FVT/GE submissions are accurate and complete. Reviewing the prior reporting data  is an opportunity to address potential file structure issues and inadvertently excluded records. See FSA’s August 11, 2026, announcement  (GENERAL-26-49) for more information about the expectations regarding the completeness of FVT/GE submissions.

Q: If I only have an issue with my 2024 Student Level Report and correct that report, do I also need to correct 2025 data?

A: We recommend that institutions review both their 2024 and 2025 FVT/GE data when a reporting issue is identified. Because prior year reporting can impact subsequent year reporting within our FVT/GE platform, a reporting issue affecting 2024 data could also affect records reported for 2025.

Each institution is responsible for evaluating its own data and determining whether corrections are necessary. If you identify an issue in your 2024 reporting, we encourage you to review your 2025 data as well to confirm that all eligible students have been reported accurately and completely.

Q: Why isn’t a Newly Reportable Programs file available for download on the Student Level Report Data Corrections page?

A: A Newly Reportable Programs file may not be available for one of the following reasons:

• You are viewing the 2024 reporting year. Newly reportable programs are not applicable to the 2024 reporting cycle.
• You are viewing the 2025 reporting year. Not every institution will have newly reportable programs for the 2025 reporting cycle. See the Student Level Report section in our FVT/GE FAQs for more details.

Q: What files should I download and save locally in a secure location for the Student Level Report and Program Level Report data that my institution previously uploaded?

A: To be cautious, you should download the Reporting Year 2024 and Reporting Year 2025 files and save them locally in a secure location.

• For the Student Level Report:
  • On Step 3 Data Upload, save the file(s) using Excel’s “do not convert” option to  preserve any leading zeros on the uploaded file.
  • On Step 4 Data Corrections, save each file with corrections using “Request SLR with Corrections.”

• For the Program Level Report:
  • On Step 2 Data Upload, save the uploaded file using Excel’s “do not convert” option.

• On Step 3 Data Corrections, save the “Download PLR with Corrections” file.

Q: Why do I need to reprocess the Program Level Report for the affected reporting year?

A: The data provided for the Program Level Report depends on the data processed for the Student Level Report. Therefore, resubmitting the Student Level Report with revised data for the affected reporting year may also change the Program Level Report. Reprocessing the Program Level Report helps ensure the program-level data reflects the most current student-level information before it is submitted or resubmitted to NSLDS.