ED Provides Update on Status of NSDLS Postscreening Results Now Expected ‘Early Spring 2025’
By Jill Desjean, Director of Policy Analysis
On Friday, the Department of Education (ED) updated a July Electronic Announcement (EA) revising the timeframe for National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) postscreening results to appear on 2024-25 Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) transmitted to institutions.
Initially promised by the end of 2024, the update indicates NSLDS postscreening results will be delayed several more months, with anticipated availability in “early Spring 2025.”
In the updated EA, ED acknowledges that the delay will contribute to the ongoing administrative burden for institutions with respect to ensuring students do not receive Pell Grant or Direct Loan funds in excess of their annual or lifetime eligibility limits.
For the time being, ED reiterates the alternatives institutions should use in the absence of ISIR postscreening results that were laid out in the original July EA. Those include pulling NSLDS Financial Aid History (FAH) and/or COD Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system reports to confirm student eligibility.
NASFAA recommends, whenever possible, that institutions use these alternatives before making spring student aid disbursements to avoid students having to repay already-disbursed amounts.
Institutions considering delaying spring disbursements should ensure that such a decision is made in accordance with changes to the administrative capability requirements effective since last July that require institutions to disburse funds to students “in a timely manner that best meets the student’s needs.”
Moving forward, the updated EA indicates that ED, “is examining alternative approaches to provide institutions with timely information on changes in student eligibility status since initial FAFSA processing,” and that they will announce such alternatives via the Knowledge Center.
NASFAA will continue to engage with ED on this issue. Read Today’s News for the latest developments.
Publication Date: 1/10/2025
Peter G | 1/13/2025 5:34:50 PM
The next administration (and realistically, probably the next several) needs to prioritize operational cleanup over policy expansion.
The best policies in the world are useless if nothing is actually functioning as designed anyway.
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