August 6, 2008

NSLDS Issue Alert - Aggregate Loan Limit Flag

The U.S. Department of Education's July 23 electronic announcement addresses a system issue with data provided by the Central Processing System (CPS) to the National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS) for use in the postscreening process for the 2008-2009 Institutional Student Information Records (ISIR).

Independent students were incorrectly identified as dependent students in NSLDS, resulting in the erroneous flagging of some students as exceeding aggregate loan limits on postscreening transactions generated by the CPS for the Student Aid Report (SAR) and ISIR. ED resolved the CPS issue on July 16, 2008 and plans to send out new postscreening SAR/ISIR transactions the week of July 28.

The Department of Education (ED) determined that since January 1, 2008, approximately 18,000 postscreening records were affected. This system issue is primarily responsible for the recent increase in postscreening SAR/ISIR transactions sent to students and schools.

Loan limit changes that became effective July 1, 2008 as part of the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA), Pub. L. 110-227, also contributed to an increase in postscreening warning edits. The aggregate loan limit warning edits in NSLDS are still set at pre-ECASLA levels. NSLDS plans to implement the increased aggregate loan limit warning edits by mid-August 2008.