The following is an update and next steps related to the August 15, 2022, Compliance Central blog post, NSLDS Roster Process Update for August 2022: Regarding FSA Announcing Some NSLDS Functionality Delays.
Recap of the July 2022 NSLDS Roster Process
In preparation for Federal Student Aid (FSA) deployment of their modernized platform, and as part of the standard reporting process, the Clearinghouse received and responded to the scheduled monthly July 2022 NSLDS Roster Distribution on July 5, 2022. The Clearinghouse also submitted enrollment updates to NSLDS on July 15, 2022. Additionally, the Clearinghouse received and responded to the mid-month ad hoc NSLDS rosters on July 18, 2022.
Timeline for the NSLDS Website Outage and Pausing NSLDS Enrollment Roster Process
FSA advised of their planned website outage starting July 19, 2022. The outage included, but was not limited to, NSLDS ceasing the processing of any files received on July 19, 2022; creating and sending NSLDS Roster distributions; NSLDS Ad Hoc roster requests, and NSLDS site enrollment maintenance for NSLDS manual individual web updates.
- To mitigate the compliance risk associated with the inability to report to the NSLDS due to the NSLDS Roster Distribution delay, there were instances where the Clearinghouse delayed either posting Error Resolution on the Web (ERW) reports or processing your enrollment file(s).
- The Clearinghouse has been working closely with FSA and NSLDS on a solution to report the necessary enrollment data to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
Institutions with Multiple Pending Enrollment Files at the Clearinghouse
An institution’s individual schedule and timing of their enrollment report submissions will impact whether or not the Clearinghouse has multiple files in-house in a pending status that have not yet been loaded into the Clearinghouse’s database. This potential delay is due to the requirement for enrollment data to be processed in and reported to the NSLDS in chronological order.
Based on our most recent discussions with the FSA and NSLDS, we have jointly identified a workaround method to report the appropriate student data to the NSLDS and we have immediately started to process all outstanding data for our institutions in anticipation of this solution.
- We would like to request your support in addressing any errors or warnings that are returned to you for the outstanding files for your institution. The more quickly your institution responds to the Error Resolution on the Web reports, the faster our analyst team will be able to review and process your data into the Clearinghouse database.
- As soon as the data is processed, it will be made available immediately for our other Clearinghouse services including Enrollment and DegreeVerify, StudentTracker, Postsecondary Data Partnership, MyHub, Reverse Transfer, and any other services the school participates in with the Clearinghouse that utilizes your school’s enrollment data.
Keeping You in Compliance
If your institution submitted multiple enrollment files during the NSLDS outage we will be submitting supplemental data batches to NSLDS for your processed enrollment files. This will continue until all Error Resolution on the Web (ERW) reports are completed and all your outstanding files have been processed.
If you have additional questions related to compliance, please contact our Audit Resource Center by emailing auditresource@studentclearinghouse.org.
Next Steps
We are working diligently to process data as expeditiously as possible with consideration to all Clearinghouse service lines for which you participate. This includes effectively and properly processing your certified data to support Verification Services, lender notifications, and NSLDS reporting.
Please be on the lookout for any additional Compliance Central blog posts and E-Announcements from FSA.
UPDATED: September 7, 2022
Per the most recent NSLDS Professional Access – Additional Information About the Modernized Website #7 
, FSA states, “Without diminishing the importance of accurate and timely reporting of students’ enrollment status information to NSLDS, we are continuing our suspension of all NSLDS enrollment reporting compliance notifications. Schools, school servicers, and enrollment providers should retain copies of this announcement and our Aug. 31 announcement as documentation for audit purposes…Our focus as we resolve the identified issues will be to ensure that a student’s current enrollment is correct on NSLDS Professional Access. As a result, there may be some gaps in the enrollment histories of affected students on NSLDS Professional Access. In preparation, schools should retain copies of this announcement and our Aug. 31 announcement as documentation for audit purposes.” For more information, please see the link to the full article in the Resources section below.