Student Financial Aid: Data Not Fully Utilized to Identify Inappropriately Awarded Loans and Grants
HEHS-95-89
Published: Jul 11, 1995. Publicly Released: Jul 12, 1995.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Education's underlying problems with its student loan and Pell Grant program data, focusing on: (1) whether Education has effectively used student aid data to comply with federal requirements and prevent loan defaults and abuse; and (2) Education's efforts to identify ineligible students and abuse in its loan and grant programs.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Education | The Secretary of Education should take actions to improve the accuracy and completeness of student financial aid data, such as continuing to screen data entered into the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) to ensure that they are in a consistent format, and testing the accuracy and validity of data in NSLDS. Further, the Secretary should analyze student aid data more closely to identify patterns of noncompliance with federal requirements, such as following up on students identified as ineligible in the data matches, and take appropriate corrective actions. |
Closed – Implemented
Education has completed numerous corrective actions including: (1) reconciling NSLDS data and guaranty agency records to identify duplicate loans, loans missing from NSLDS, and loans not being updated; (2) improving the data provider process by correcting problems with the use of SSN as a student identifier; and (3) developing a management reporting system to compare NSLDS data to data submitted by guaranty agencies to identify discrepancies and take action to correct them.
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Topics
Aid for educationData integrityEducational grantsGovernment guaranteed loansHigher educationInternal controlsLoan defaultsProgram abusesStudent financial aidStudents