Posted Date: March 16, 2018
| Author: | Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #112 – Correcting Reported GE Program Data Prior to Distribution of Draft GE Completers Lists
We intend to create Draft Gainful Employment (GE) Completers Lists later this spring and distribute those lists to institutions. To reduce the number of corrections that institutions must submit to the Draft GE Completers List during the 45-day corrections period, we strongly encourage institutions to review previously-reported GE Program data and make any necessary changes no later than Friday, March 30, 2018. This is the final opportunity for institutions to ensure the accuracy of the data that will be used to create the Draft GE Completers Lists.
Background
Sending the Draft GE Completers Lists is the second step, following GE reporting by institutions to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®), in the multi-step process of calculating Debt-to Earnings (D/E) rates.
The Draft GE Completers List is a list of students who completed a GE Program during the applicable cohort period. It is sent to an institution’s designated Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox if the institution had one or more GE Programs with program completers during the cohort period. For programs with at least 30 completers in award years 2011–12 and 2012–13, a two-year cohort period will be used. For programs with fewer than 30 completers in the two-year cohort period, completers from award years 2009–10 and 2010–11 will be added for a four-year cohort period.
Consistent with the GE regulations at 34 CFR 668.405, an institution will have 45 days to submit corrections to the information included in the Draft GE Completers List.
Correcting GE Program Data Before Distribution of Draft GE Completers Lists
As stated above, we strongly encourage institutions to review previously-reported GE Program data and make any necessary changes now (no later than March 30, 2018), to reduce the number of corrections that institutions must submit to the Draft GE Completers List during the 45-day corrections period.
We presented detailed information about correcting previously-reported GE Program data in the February 28th, 2018 “Correcting Reported Gainful Employment Data in NSLDS” webinar. Refer to Dear Colleague Letter ANN-18-04 for information on how to access the webinar recording and training materials.
In addition, institutions correcting GE Program data should pay careful attention to the following:
- Private Loans, Tuition and Fees, and Allowance for Books, Supplies and Equipment: Institutions must ensure that the figures reported for these items are accurate and reflect the amounts of loans, fees, and allowances that the student incurred while attending the GE Program. For example, institutions are expected to report the total amount of tuition and fees assessed to the student for the entire program, not just for the award year, before any scholarships or discounts. When a student has withdrawn and later re-enrolled, these totals must include the amounts from the student’s prior enrollment before the withdrawal. Figures must be reported in whole dollars only.
- Institutional Debt: The institutional debt that must be reported is the amount that is owed to the institution by the student as of the date of the student’s withdrawal from or completion of the GE Program. Figures must be reported in whole dollars only. The institutional debt reported should not include Title IV debt of any kind.
- Period of Attendance: Institutions must ensure that program attendance dates in the GE record are accurate and reflect the actual dates the student attended the GE Program. When a student has withdrawn and later re-enrolled, two separate GE records must be reported.
- Changing CIP Codes: If an institution has changed a Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) code for a GE Program, the program must be reported under the new CIP code for all award years, even for those award years when the program was operating under a different CIP code. This is necessary for the program to be classified as one GE Program across multiple years for the purpose of D/E rates calculations and other metrics.
- Adding New Programs: Institutions must ensure that a new GE Program (defined for these purposes as a unique CIP code/credential level combination) that has not previously been reported is added by March 30, 2018. Entire programs cannot be added or deleted during the Draft GE Completers List correction process.
- Reviewing and Correcting Errors: Institutions that use the GE batch file submission process through the SAIG will receive an Error/Acknowledgment file in their SAIG mailbox after a file is processed. Institutions must review the Error/Acknowledgement file(s) and correct any errors within 10 days of when the
file(s) are received. - Confirming Reporting: Institutions can use the Gainful Employment List and Gainful Employment Detail pages on the NSLDS Professional Access website to confirm that their GE records have been received by NSLDS. Refer to Chapter 3 of the NSLDS Gainful Employment User Guide for more information.
A comprehensive set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for GE reporting is available under the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of the Gainful Employment Information Page on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website.
Contact Information
If you have questions about reporting GE data to NSLDS, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 1-800-999-8219. You can also contact Customer Support by email at nslds@ed.gov.
If you have a policy question about the GE Regulations that has not already been addressed in the FAQs section of the Gainful Employment Information Page, please submit the question to ge-questions@ed.gov.
