Important
Aug. 17, 2022 Update: We are currently researching issues that we and members of the financial aid community have identified since we published this update on Monday, Aug. 8. We appreciate your patience as we complete that research before we publish another update. We expect to issue update #5 on Thursday, Aug. 18.
We would like to provide additional information for users of the modernized National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) Professional Access website, which became available for Federal Student Aid’s (FSA’s) professional partners on July 25, 2022.
In this announcement, we provide further updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
For more information, please refer to the sections below.
Updated Information for NSLDS Enrollment Functionality
We continue to finalize enrollment functionality in the modernized NSLDS Professional Access and would like to update several key pieces of information for users:
Catching Up
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We have processed all batch enrollment files that we had received from schools since July 19 and have now sent all Error Acknowledgements related to those files to schools.
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We have sent all outstanding July and August Rosters to schools.
ALERT
All Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittals made from July 20 through Aug. 8 have been canceled and show as “Failed” on the NSLDS Professional Access website. We emailed affected schools about the canceled spreadsheets on Aug. 11. An affected school must resubmit the information and can do so now.
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We have begun sending notification files to loan servicers.
Going Forward
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Once we are caught up, normal operations will resume. We will inform the community when we are ready to resume normal operations.
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We are continuing our suspension of all NSLDS enrollment reporting compliance notifications, including Late Roster notifications. We will notify the community when we are ready to resume the notifications.
Reports and Guide
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NSLDS enrollment reports targeted to be available on July 25, as described in the July 22, 2022 Electronic Announcement, are now available on the NSLDS Professional Access website.
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We will notify the community when the forthcoming NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide is available.
Updated Information for NSLDS Postscreening
We continue to complete our post implementation validation of postscreening functionality. We regret the additional delay, but it is necessary to continue to hold postscreening. We expect to resume postscreening during this week of Aug. 22 and will notify the community when we are ready to do so.
Issues Identified Since Launch
We would like to provide the following information about issues that have been identified since the launch of the website. We regret the inconvenience any issues have caused and appreciate your patience and understanding while we resolve them.
Being Worked
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ISIR Comment Code 132: We have corrected the NSLDS prescreening process that was incorrectly flagging a student as being in default on a federal student loan when the student is the beneficiary of a parent’s PLUS loan that is in default. The erroneous status no longer reflects as a Defaulted Student warning icon on the NSLDS Professional Access website. To resolve the ISIR Comment Code 132s produced across the 2022 and 2023 award years (~5,000 records), we will process and send Reason Code 99 records to affected schools by the end of this week (the week of Aug. 15). In the meantime, schools should disregard ISIR Comment Code 132, check the student’s default status online, and continue with processing once the school confirms the student’s status.
Resolved
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Perkins File Level Edits Files: We previously sent Perkins File Level Edits files (SHSNTFOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
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Transfer Student Monitoring Files: We previously sent Transfer Student Monitoring files (TRNINFOP, TRLTRPOP, and TRALRTOP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
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School Perkins Loan Error Files: We previously sent School Perkins Loan Error files (SLDERROP) to schools via SAIG from the wrong TG mailbox. To correct this issue, we resent the files from the correct TG mailbox. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the files that were sent originally; please ignore those files.
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Access: During the period Aug. 5 – 8, we experienced an issue affecting access to the NSLDS Professional Access and FSA Partner Connect websites by loan servicer and guaranty agency authorized users. We communicated resolution of this issue on Aug. 8; however, to resolve it, we needed to revert the Participation Management Database to a previous version. As such, any transactions completed from Thursday, Aug. 4 through Saturday, Aug. 6 will have to be re-entered into the system. We emailed impacted users associated with those transactions.
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Access: During the period July 25 – Aug. 3, we experienced intermittent server issues that prohibited authorized users from logging in to the new NSLDS website. We resolved the server issues as of Aug. 3, and authorized users have not experienced access issues for this reason since then.
NSLDS Professional Access Resources
Published Information
The information we have previously provided about the new website includes the following:
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June 24, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Describes features of the enhanced website.
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July 15, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Announces an online training video library, changes to the spreadsheet submittal process, and upcoming user resources.
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July 22, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Provides information about NSLDS Reports and the new NSLDS Reports for Schools Guide. This resource provides detailed information to help school users better understand the reports that are available, the various report formats, and how to request each type of report.
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July 25, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Announces the launch of the website and provides information about NSLDS enrollment functionality.
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Aug. 3, 2022 Electronic Announcement—First in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
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Aug. 8, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Second in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
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Aug. 11, 2022 Electronic Announcement—Third in a series that provides updated information about NSLDS enrollment functionality, NSLDS postscreening, issues identified since launch, and resources.
User Resources
We will continue to update NSLDS user resources, including user guides and documentation. For a period of time, some resources will contain images and instructions that do not correspond to the updated website. However, in most cases users may continue to refer to the guide or reference until an updated version is available because the resource describes an existing process that has not changed. Please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center using the contact information below if you have questions about a particular user resource.
Training Videos
As a reminder, a library of brief training videos for NSLDS Professional Access users is available on the FSA Training Center. Each narrated walk-through focuses on frequently-used functionality and provides users with a high-level review of the website’s key features. To view the complete list of topics and to access the training videos, log into the FSA Training Center, choose “Systems Training” from the main menu bar, and then select “NSLDS Training.”
Contact Information
If you have questions, please contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 1-800-999-8219 or nslds@ed.gov.