Posted Date:August 16, 2012
| Author: | Pamela Eliadis, Service Director, System Operations & Aid Delivery Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Upcoming Implementation of the MyData Button on NSLDS
We are pleased to announce that later next month the new "MyData Button" will be available on the NSLDS Student Access Web site. The MyData Button will allow students to download their loan, grant, enrollment, and overpayment information from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) into a machine-readable, plain text file.
The MyData Button was developed as part of the Education Data Initiative, an initiative designed to make education-related data available, machine-readable, and accessible, while protecting personal privacy. A primary goal of the initiative is to empower students with their own data and assist them in making informed decisions about higher education—where to enroll, how to pay for it, and how to manage their debt if they borrow.
With the implementation of the MyData Button on NSLDS, students will be able to receive their own data in a simple text file, rather than being limited to viewing their data in a PDF document or on a Web page.
In the following sections we provide important information regarding the implementation of the MyData Button on NSLDS, including the following:
- Using the MyData Button
- Implementation Schedule
- MyData Button Record Layout
- Contact Information
Using the MyData Button
To access the MyData Button, the student must first log in to the NSLDS Student Access Web site using his or her identifiers and Federal Student Aid PIN.
After logging in, the MyData Button will be available from the following four NSLDS Student Access Web pages: Financial Aid Review, Loan Detail, Grant Detail, and Overpayment Detail. Students who click any one of the four buttons will receive, as a download, a machine-readable file in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. The simple text file will include their loan information (e.g., loan amount, disbursement amount), grant information (e.g., award amount, disbursement amount), as well as enrollment and overpayment information, regardless of the Web page the student is on when clicking the button.
The downloaded file can then be viewed, printed, and saved to a hard drive. In the future, online tools, mobile apps, and other resources will be available for students to upload their data and receive customized information relating to their educational goals.
Implementation Schedule
We will implement the MyData Button on the NSLDS Student Access Web site in late September 2012. Monitor the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site for a forthcoming electronic announcement regarding the availability of the MyData Button.
MyData Button Record Layout
In addition to providing students with access to their data in a simple, downloadable format, a goal of the Education Data Initiative is to collaborate with partners in the private sector to encourage the creation of consumer-facing tools, products, and services—such as mobile apps and online tools—that may be used in conjunction with the student data and improve student decision-making and success.
To assist software vendors with designing new tools for students to maximize the usefulness of the data, we have posted the NSLDS MyData Button file layout in the NSLDS Record Layouts section on the IFAP Web site. This document defines the layout of the file that students will be able to download from NSLDS Student Access.
Contact Information
If your students have questions about the MyData Button, ask them to contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800/4-FED-AID (800/433-3243) or by e-mail at FederalStudentAidCustomerService@ed.gov. TDD/TTY service is also available at 800/730-8913.