Posted Date:August 7, 2015
| Author: | Pamela Eliadis, Service Director, System Operations & Aid Delivery Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Issue Alert: Additional NSLDS Postscreening on August 11-13, 2015 to Correct Pell Grant Information on 2015-2016 SARs and ISIRs
We would like to alert the community to an issue with 2014-2015 Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) information that was incorrectly included on some Student Aid Reports (SARs) and Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) for the 2015-2016 Award Year.
Issue Description
We have determined that, as of the start of 2015-2016 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form processing on January 1, 2015, Pell Grant information for the 2014-2015 Award Year was incorrectly included on some 2015-2016 SARs and ISIRs. The issue only impacted 2015-2016 applicants who had previously received an Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) or National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) in addition to a Pell Grant or Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant. Out of the more than 13.8 million 2015-2016 FAFSA forms processed from January 1 until the problem was identified and resolved on July 5, 2015, approximately 414,000 applicants nationwide were affected.
This issue only impacted Pell Grant information on 2015-2016 SARs and ISIRs. Information displayed on our Web sites was not impacted.
Issue Resolution
As noted, we resolved the issue on July 5, 2015.
Since that time, some of the impacted records have been corrected through routine processes (i.e. corrections and updates submitted by applicants and schools). However, to ensure that all impacted records are corrected, we will conduct an additional National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) postscreening over a three-day period, from August 11 to August 13, 2015. The additional postscreening will update the impacted records to correctly display any 2015-2016 Pell Grant information, with resulting ISIRs being sent to schools August 12-14, 2015. Updated SARs will also be sent to affected students.
Schools should review the updated ISIRs and evaluate aid packages as appropriate.
Schools can identify the updated ISIRs resulting from the additional NSLDS postscreening by reviewing the records for the following identifiers and data element values:
The ISIRs are sent under the IGSG16OP message class.
The Transaction Data Source/Type Code equals 5N (NSLDS Postscreening).
The ISIRs include an NSLDS Postscreening Reason Code of "99".
SARs and ISIRs include SAR comment code 004, which states "This SAR has been produced due to a change in your financial aid history information in the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) that may affect your eligibility for federal student aid."
- The NSLDS Postscreening Reason Code field displays "Other" on the FAA Info page in Student Inquiry on the FAA Access to CPS Online Web site.
Contact Information
We regret any inconvenience this issue may have caused you or your students.
If you have questions regarding the CPS, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
If you have questions regarding NSLDS, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 800/999-8219. You can also contact Customer Support by e-mail at nslds@ed.gov.