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Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #30 - Gainful Employment Data Corrections

Posted Date: December 16, 2011

Author:  Jeff Baker, Director, Policy Liaison and Implementation, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #30 - Gainful Employment Data Corrections

On November 16, 2011, the Department released Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #28 that discussed the November 15, 2011 Gainful Employment (GE) reporting deadline and information relating to GE reporting corrections after an institution had submitted its GE data. The purpose of this electronic announcement is to provide additional guidance on the corrections deadlines as well as to provide additional guidance on the resolution of Social Security Number (SSN) conflicts.

Corrections Submittals - To provide sufficient time for institutions to correct previously reported GE data, we are modifying our earlier guidance, as noted in Electronic Announcement #28 and included in the NSLDS Gainful Employment User Guide, both of which stated that institutions have only 10 days from receipt of an error file returned by NSLDS to make required corrections. Because some institutions may need more than 10 days to properly investigate and resolve the reported errors and to correct other previously reported GE information, we will not enforce the 10 day corrections deadline. However, while institutions must submit all corrections as soon as possible, in order for the Department to accurately calculate the first set of GE metrics (Informational Rates), corrections to data for the 2006-2007,2007-2008, and 2008-2009 award years must be submitted to NSLDS no later than January 20, 2012.

SSN Conflicts - In some instances NSLDS rejected an institution’s GE record for a student because of a Social Security Number (SSN) conflict. In those instances, institutions must, by working with loan servicers, other institutions, and the former student, attempt to resolve the SSN conflict as promptly as possible. However, if after following the SSN conflict resolution guidance included in the NSLDS Gainful Employment User Guide, Electronic Announcement #28, and Frequently Asked Question R-Q25, the institution is unable to resolve the SSN conflict, the institution need not report that student to NSLDS. We will consider the institution to have met the GE reporting requirement for that student if it maintains documentation of the steps the institution took to attempt to resolve the SSN conflict.

Webinar - On January 11, 2012, we will be presenting a webinar on GE data corrections. This webinar will provide information on how to correct gainful employment data already submitted to the Department. Information about this webinar, including times and registration information will be provided in a subsequent Electronic Announcement.