NSLDS SSCR changes

In 1997 the U.S. Department of Education passed on Dear Colleague Letter GEN 97-9 which notified institutions about its on-going attempts to apply the Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR) process of the NSLDS. It re-emphasized the Department’s stand that all bodies participating in Title IV student aid schemes have to take part in the NSLDS SSCR function.

The Department of education is entering on a new phase of SSCR execution in which it will
(1) acknowledge and reward institutions which have already completed their conversion to working SSCRs via the NSLDS,

(2) help those institutions which have built progress toward complying but which have not completed the change, and

(3) begin to enforce action against institutions that have not reacted to the Department’s initiatives.

Dependent upon the institution’s level of involvement as described above, institutions will start receiving the letters below:

A Successful Completion Letter will be posted to schools that have had at least 90% of the pupil registers on its roll successfully recovered, completed and delivered. It also excuses the shoal of its responsibility to process SSCR rolls sent by guarantee agencies. These institutions will begin to get SSCRs from NSLDS in accordance with the docket they fix when they registered with NSLDS through TIV WAN. They will also be expected to complete and deliver the electronic rolls to the NSLDS inside thirty days aft they ar placed in the school’s TIV WAN postbox.

An Unfulfilled Completion Letter will be posted to institutions that have not successfully processed and delivered the roll posted in their TIV WAN mailboxes with at least a 90% success rate. These institutions have to continue to work SSCRs posted to them by guaranty offices and also go on to try to successfully process the NSLDS SSCR roll sent to its TIV WAN mailbox. After the NSLDS gives a new SSCR roll corresponding to the schedule set by the school, the school will be unable to deliver rolls generated earlier. This letter likewise tells the school that if it cannot successfully deliver the NSLDS SSCR roster inside the restrictive 30-day period, it may be subject to enforcement action, including fines or other administrative countenances.

Schools that have not signed with TIV WAN or designated a third-party services to process their electronic SSCR rosters will get a Non-Participating Letter. It will be addressed to the school’s president or CEO and will identify the enforcement actions which the Department may take against the school, including the imposition of a fine, or a restriction, temporary removal, or termination action.

The DCL also described the message of a series of three Overdue Letters that it will use in its conformity monitoring work. If a institution does not return an SSCR inside the assigned time frame, it will get one or more of these letters, that are intended to remind the school of its processing obligation. The 3rd letter, that is sent to the president or CEO of a school that is more than twenty eight days late in returning its SSCR roll, is a ultimate demand. It tells the institution that its failure to return the roll will be referred to the Administrative Actions and Appeals Division with a call for initiation of an administrative action. Such action could include the infliction of a fine, or a limitation, suspension, or termination action which could impact the school’s extended participation in Title IV schemes NSLDS