Posted Date:July 6, 2011
Author: | Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information – Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) NSLDS Reporting Issue Further Update
In a June 24, 2011 Electronic Announcement on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, we provided a status update on an issue with the reporting of disbursement data for William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans serviced by the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). This disbursement reporting issue resulted in the inaccurate calculation of aggregate loan limits for affected borrowers.
At this time, we are pleased to report that all disbursement and disbursement adjustment information for Direct Loans serviced by the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) is now accurately reflected in the NSLDS. Borrowers and schools can access this disbursement information via the NSLDS Professional Access and NSLDS Student Access Web sites.
Assistance for Schools Including System-Generated ISIR Push July 7, 2011
The NSLDS postscreening process automatically detects differences in updated Direct Loan amounts for borrowers who were previously reported as exceeding an aggregate loan limit and creates new postscreened Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) that reflect the new updated balances. To assist schools in further identifying borrowers who were impacted by the reporting issue and incorrectly flagged as being in the “close to” aggregate loan limits condition, we will create system-generated ISIRs containing the updated NSLDS aggregate loan limit amounts.
The ISIRs, with aggregate loan limit amounts reflective of the corrected disbursement information, will be pushed to the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailboxes of schools that previously received 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 ISIRs reflective of the incorrect information. The number of borrowers for whom this occurred is approximately 180,000.
We plan to complete this work as part of our normal processing schedule on Thursday, July 7, 2011. Schools will be able to identify the affected ISIRs through one of the following methods:
The ISIRs will be sent under the IGSG11OP (for 2010-2011 ISIRs) or IGSG12OP (for 2011-2012 ISIRs) message class.
The ISIRs will include an NSLDS Postscreening Reason Code = 99 and a CPS processed date of July 7, 2011 – July 12, 2011.
Potential Issue Impacting Calculation of Aggregate Loan Limit Amounts
There is a potential issue related to another separately-reported data element—the NSLDS Cancellation Amount—that may still affect some borrowers. This data element is not currently being reported to the NSLDS for Direct Loans serviced by the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) that are not fully cancelled.
The NSLDS Cancellation Amount equals the Downward Adjustment Amount in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System and is used in the formula for calculating a borrower’s aggregate loan limit amounts. If the Cancellation Amount data element for a loan that has not been fully cancelled is not reported to the NSLDS, the borrower’s aggregate loan limit amounts will be inflated. The inflated amount will equal the difference between the NSLDS Loan Amount and the NSLDS Total Disbursement Amount. This “pending disbursement” inflation will exist until 90 days after the end of the loan period have passed.
Regrettably, we do not anticipate full reporting of the NSLDS Cancellation Amount data element by the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) until fall 2011. There is, however, an update schools can make in the COD System that will remedy the inflated aggregate loan limit situation. The remedy is as follows:
Although it is optional for a school to update the COD Award Amount when downward disbursement adjustments are made, reducing the COD Award Amount would be very helpful in this case. After the school reduces the COD Award Amount in line with the downward adjustments previously submitted, the reduced COD Award Amount will flow through to the NSLDS, update the NSLDS Loan Amount and, in turn, reduce the borrower’s aggregate loan limit amount. (Subtracting the NSLDS Total Disbursement Amount from a lower NSLDS Loan Amount—in effect, the COD Award Amount—will eliminate the “pending disbursement” inflation explained above.)
While we offer the above remedy to schools, we understand that some schools may still need to make award and disbursement decisions given inflated aggregate loan limit situations. In these cases, we refer schools to guidance provided in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-96-13. Guidance provided in Q&A 14 of Attachment B advises schools when it is appropriate to use information about a borrower’s aggregate loan amounts that a school has in its possession instead of the borrower’s aggregate loan amounts in the NSLDS. Our NSLDS Customer Support Center is also available to assist schools in this situation; the center’s contact information is provided below.
Contact Information
We appreciate the community’s understanding and patience as we have addressed the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) data reporting issues, including the potential aggregate loan limit issue explained in this announcement. We apologize for the inconvenience to schools and borrowers and will continue to provide assistance until all issues are fully resolved.
If you have questions about how information has been reported to and is reflected in the NSLDS, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 800/999-8219. You may also e-mail nslds@ed.gov.
If you have general questions about Direct Loans assigned to the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS), contact the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) – School Services at 888/877-7658.