South Plains College

Criteria: In accordance with CFR sections 674.19(f), 685.309(b), and 690,83(b)(2), "upon receipt of an enrollment report from the Secretary (U.S. Department of Education, Secretary of Education), a school must update all information included in the report and return the report to the Secretary, in the manner and format prescribed by the Secretary and within the timeframe prescribed by the Secretary. Unless it expects to submit its next updated enrollment report to the Secretary within the next 60 days, a school must notify the Secretary within 30 days after the date the school discovers that a loan under Title IV of the Act was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the school, and the student has ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis or failed to enroll on at least a halftime basis for the period for which the loan was intended."

Condition: We reviewed a sample of 40 students who received financial aid and had enrollment status changes during the fiscal year. Of the 40 students tested, the status of 17 students were reported to NSLDS either inaccurately, untimely, or both. The 17 students had a status change that was not reflected in the next enrollment data batch transmitted to NSLDS following the status change, resulting in an inaccurate and untimely status in the NSLDS database. We also reviewed a sample of 40 students for which a Return of Title IV Funds was calculated and processed, and a status change occurred. Of the 40 students tested, 1 student was reported to NSLDS inaccurately and untimely. The student had a status change that was not reflected in the next enrollment data batch transmitted to NSLDS following the status change, resulting in an inaccurate and untimely status in the NSLDS database.

Effect: A student's enrollment status determines eligibility for in-school status, deferment, and grace periods, as well as for the payment of interest subsidies all of which are negatively impacted by inaccurate and late reporting.

Cause: The process for tracking and processing a change in enrollment is the responsibility of the College. The Central Registrar's office maintains the existing policy and procedure to report every 30 days to NSLDS by generating reports from the College’s Enterprise Resource Planning system, Ellucian Colleague. It was determined that these reports were generated using date parameters that resulted in certain students with reportable status changes to be excluded, thus not accurately reported to NSLDS.

Recommendation: We recommend the College modify the parameters of the system generated reports to include all students with a reportable status change and monitor NSLDS enrollment reporting on an ongoing basis to ensure enrollment statuses are reported timely and accurately.

Views of responsible official and planned corrective actions: South Plains College will modify system generated reports to include all reportable status changes and resubmit enrollment reports in which errors were identified. The College will implement a process to monitor the accuracy of enrollment reporting for future submissions. The anticipated completion date for the corrective action plan is no later than May 31, 2024.