Posted Date:September 26, 2011
Foreign School Update ID: FS-2011-06
| Author: | Jeff Baker, Director, Policy Liaison and Implementation, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Reminder of Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #18 – Submitting An Explanation of Missing/Incomplete Gainful Employment Data
Final regulations published in the Federal Register on October 29, 2010 require institutions—including foreign institutions—that participate in the student financial assistance programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, to report certain information about students who are enrolled in Title IV-eligible educational programs that lead to gainful employment in a recognized occupation (GE Programs). For foreign public and nonprofit institutions, GE programs include all Title IV, HEA-eligible programs that are non-degree educational programs, including all certificate and diploma educational programs. All Title IV-eligible educational programs offered by foreign for-profit medical, veterinary, and nursing schools are GE programs, including any degree programs.
Institutions must submit the first report of gainful employment information to the Department no later than November 15, 2011. For foreign institutions, that reporting will include information on all U.S. students who were enrolled in a GE Program during the 2006-2007 through the 2010-2011 award years. Separate reporting is required for each GE Program for each award year. An award year is the period from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next year. A foreign institution need not report on a GE Program if the number of reportable students who were enrolled in that program during the award year was ten or fewer.
The regulations provide that in the rare instance that an institution is unable to provide the required gainful employment information, the institution must submit to the Department an explanation as to why complete information will not be provided. Such explanations are to be submitted to the Department by email to GE-Missing-Data@ed.gov. If your institution is unable to report all of the required information by November 15, 2011, you should send your email no later than October 1, 2011.
On August 9, 2011, the Department posted GE Electronic Announcement #18 (GE-EA #18) that provided additional guidance for those institutions that are unable to provide all of the required information due to unusual circumstances. A Title IV participating institution that does not offer any GE programs is expected to submit an email explaining why it will not be reporting. In addition, a foreign institution must submit an explanation if it is not reporting on a GE Program because the number of reportable students who were enrolled in that program during the award year was ten or fewer. Please note that GE-EA #18 also provides specific formatting instructions for the email message.
As of September 26, 2011, NSLDS is accepting GE information from institutions. This includes receiving information using batch files, spreadsheet uploads, and online screen submissions. Please refer to GE Electronic Announcement #22 for more information on the options available to institutions for reporting GE information to NSLDS.
Contact Information
If you have questions about using NSLDS to report gainful employment information, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center, toll-free at +1 800-999-8219, or toll call at +1 785-838-2141. You can also contact Customer Support by email at nslds@ed.gov.
The Gainful Employment Information Page on the IFAP Web site contains publications and resources on gainful employment as well as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at http://ifap.ed.gov/gainful-employment-information/03-27-2013-subject-gainful-employment-information-page. Policy questions that have not already been addressed in the FAQ section of the Gainful Employment Information Page on the IFAP Web site may be submitted to ge-questions@ed.gov