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Resources to Help You Report Student Data to the Clearinghouse

+  Our Value To You
+  The Clearinghouse Reporting Process: All Students Reported
+  The Clearinghouse Data Flow with NSLDS
+  The Clearinghouse Data Flow with Schools
+  The Clearinghouse Data Flow with Lenders
+  Your School’s Transmission Schedule
+  Best Practices
+  Frequently Asked Questions
+  Resources
+  Articles

Our Value To You

Since 1993, the National Student Clearinghouse has been higher education’s trusted and secure partner committed to privacy and transparency. Our free Enrollment Reporting service provides institutions with automated enrollment verification and deferment reporting to the Department of Education and education finance industry. This improves data accuracy and helps institutions stay in compliance, while reducing their workload. Through Compliance Central, the Clearinghouse Academy, and our Audit Resource Center, we provide best practices, audit support and training to help institutions maintain compliance.

The Clearinghouse Reporting Process: All Students Reported

The Clearinghouse’s comprehensive reporting process covers all aid recipients (federal and private), helping to prevent students from being overlooked. Schools and their students benefit from faster, more timely reporting and deferment form processing that also enables greater accuracy and fewer errors. As your authorized agent, the Clearinghouse provides status and deferment information to the Department of Education’s NSLDS (National Student Loan Data System), guaranty agencies, lenders, and servicers on your behalf.

NSC Process

The Clearinghouse Data Flow with NSLDS

On behalf of your school, the Clearinghouse responds to NSLDS requests for Student Status Confirmation Reports (SSCRs) following this data flow:

Data Flow - NSLDS

The Clearinghouse Data Flow with Schools

Periodically, you need to report the enrollment status for all your students to the Clearinghouse via secure FTP according to your school’s transmission schedule. If you participate in our free DegreeVerify service, you will also report your degree data to us.

Data Flow - Schools

Also see out blog post G from DV – Better Than Before.

The Clearinghouse Data Flow with Lenders

Another way that the Clearinghouse completes compliance reporting for your school is via weekly notifications for non-Direct Loans.

Data Flow - Lenders

Your School’s Transmission Schedule

Key to maintaining compliance is developing your transmission schedule for reporting enrollment and degree information to us. Each school that participates with the Clearinghouse has a unique enrollment reporting schedule, which is established at the time of service activation and tailored to your academic calendar, clock methodology (clock hours, semester, trimester), and break periods. Your transmission schedule is:

  • Designed to meet compliance best practices and your school’s reporting needs
  • Adjustable (watch our “Online File Transmission Schedule” tutorial)
  • Evergreen. You enter a schedule for one full academic year and we automatically generate a new one for you every year.

The following is the typical reporting and compliance schedule:

 Transmission Schedule

Best Practices

Anticipated Completion Date (ACD) Reporting

Reporting an accurate Anticipated Completion Date (ACD) — also commonly known as the Anticipated Graduation Date or AGD — for each student for whom it is required is critical. Accurate ACD reporting enables loan servicers to correctly communicate changing obligations to borrowers as they approach repayment and helps prevent student loans from being converted to repayment either too early or too late. The following are best practices we recommend you follow, as you review and report ACDs:

  • Report ACDs for students with F, Q, H, L, and A enrollment statuses. Do not report ACDs for students with W, G, or D statuses.
  • Ensure that the ACD reflects the date when you expect the student to graduate. (For example, if a student working on a four-year degree started in fall 2016 and is expected to graduate in spring 2020, you should report an ACD that occurs at the end of the spring 2020 term.)
  • If you are unsure when a student is expected to graduate, we recommend you report the ACD using the current term end date plus one year to avoid the student entering repayment too early.
  • Do not report the student’s ACD as occurring more than 10 years after the certification date of your enrollment file. This can trigger NSLDS error #16 and cause NSLDS to not accept the record.
  • Review ACDs at least once every term to ensure the dates for all enrolled students (those with F, Q, H, L, and A statuses) are calculated and reported accurately. Typically, the ACD calculation is based on the number of credits completed and the total number of credits required for graduation or program completion.
How to View the Clearinghouse’s Average File Processing Turnaround Time

You can see the average processing turnaround time for enrollment and degree files submitted to the Clearinghouse by selecting the “Student Reporting” tab of our secure website. This information is also displayed when you select the “Enrollment Reporting” and “Degree Transmissions” links on the tab.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an SSCR?
A Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR) is a roster of students who have Title IV loans or grants disbursed by your school. The roster is populated by your school when your financial aid office enters information into the COD (Common Origination Disbursement) system to start the loan process for your students. Once the information is entered into COD, it is transmitted to NSLDS, which populates the roster. The student roster is then sent to the Clearinghouse, who as your institution’s authorized agent, responds to the rosters. The response the Clearinghouse sends is comprised of the most recent information your school reported in your enrollment transmissions.
How often does the Clearinghouse respond to Student Status Confirmation Reports (SSCRs)?

The Clearinghouse schedules and processes a Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR) every month for each of our participating schools. Typically, each roster is received from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) around the first day of the month and processed within 15 days of receipt, per guidance from Dear Colleague Letter 14-07.

How often is enrollment reported to the Clearinghouse?
Each institution that participates with the Clearinghouse has a unique enrollment reporting schedule, tailored to its academic calendar. The Clearinghouse recommends reporting at least every 30-45 days, and submitting First-of-Term enrollment files within about three weeks of your institution’s term start date. This timeframe helps ensure your institution’s compliance with federal requirements.
What is the timeframe for reporting to NSLDS? Is it 30 or 60 days?
The regulations published by the Department of Education require that institutions complete and return their Student Status Confirmation Reports (SSCR) within 15 days of receipt. Not to worry, sending your data to the Clearinghouse in a timely fashion and following the guidelines for your planned transmission schedule and error resolution enables the Clearinghouse to complete this requirement on your school’s behalf. The other portion of the regulations state that an institution must report a student status change whenever a student drops below half-time (i.e., less than half time, withdrawn, or graduated) within 60 days of determining the status change. You can report the status change via another SSCR, if your school plans to send one within 60 days. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide notes that schools must report enrollment information at least every 60 days.
Do SSCRs go out at least every 60 days?

Yes. The Clearinghouse schedules and processes a Student Status Confirmation Report (SSCR) every month for each of our participating schools. Each roster is typically received from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) around the first day of the month and is processed within 15 days of receipt, per guidance from Dear Colleague Letter 14-07.

How does the Clearinghouse know who to send my enrollment data to if the information is not requested through the SSCR process?

While the Clearinghouse primarily serves school clients, our participants also include members of the education finance community. These organizations provide the Clearinghouse with their borrower portfolios, typically monthly. The Clearinghouse uses the student borrower lists to identify which lenders, servicers, and guarantors need to know about specific students’ changes.

How can I view enrollment reporting completion through the Clearinghouse website and NSLDS?
Clearinghouse participating schools can access student-level enrollment information via the Clearinghouse secure site. Please inquire with the school about its access and request the following from them:

  • Enrollment history
  • Enrollment data reported to lenders, servicers, and guarantors
  • NSLDS notification history
How should my school report unofficial withdrawals through the Clearinghouse to NSLDS?
Unofficial withdrawals are an extremely common occurrence among schools. The Clearinghouse understands this information needs to be reported to NSLDS and we offer two ways for your school to do so:

  • Use the online update feature via the Student Look-Up tab on our secure site.
  • Schedule an enrollment file that contains the withdrawals.

We recommend you report unofficial withdrawals as soon as possible. If a student re-enrolls after an unofficial withdrawal, it is important to remember that you must capture both the withdrawal and the enrollment.

Resources

Clearinghouse Academy Courses
 PDFs
 Help

 

Articles

New! Program Status Effective Date Warning Code Series (1821-1826)

Jan 21, 2022

Read about the new validation that the Clearinghouse is adding to Enrollment Reporting’s Error Resolution on the Web reporting process that compares inconsistencies in a student’s reported “Program Enrollment Status” and “Program Status Effective Date.”

New! Program Status Effective Date Warning Code Series (1801-1806)

Dec 10, 2021

Read about the new validation that the Clearinghouse is adding to Enrollment Reporting’s Error Resolution on the Web reporting process that compares inconsistencies in a student’s reported “Program Enrollment Status” and the “Program Enrollment Status Effective Date.”

New Privacy Block Setting Enhancement

Jul 21, 2020

Privacy Block Setting is a new optional data element and functionality that allows institutions to satisfy the changing data privacy requirements.

Update to CIP Year 2020 Requirements

May 4, 2020

Read the key takeaways from the April 30, 2020, announcement from FSA and NSLDS on their new requirements for the 2020 Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) Code reporting.

2020 CIP Codes Update

Mar 23, 2020

On March 18, FSA published an update on the implementation of the 2020 CIP codes within Federal Student Aid systems. The Clearinghouse provides vital information on how it relates to your enrollment and compliance reporting with us.

Summer Reporting Update

Aug 14, 2018

Helpful information on how the Clearinghouse plans to help ensure your school’s compliance with the Department of Education’s April 20, 2017 announcement regarding modifications to summer enrollment reporting.