Interest rates on most federal student loans are based on a certain type of bond that the Treasury Department issues, known as the ten-year note. The yield is the rate at which investors charge the federal government for borrowing money. Next month, there will be a Treasury bond auction, and that rate will set federal student loan interest rates. The chart below outlines the current and estimated interest rates for loans taken out between July 2014 and June 2015
NSLDS RECENT ENHANCMENTS
Recent enhancements made to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and the NSLDS Professional Access Website is detailed in NSLDS Newsletter 45. A brief outline and overview of that information in that letter is provided below as well as a link to access it. Please be sure to click on the link to review this information in detail.
Enhancements to Support the 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit
New Subsidized Usage Page
• Updates to Enrollment Reporting
o New NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide and Enrollment Reporting File Layouts
o NSLDS Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal
o Enhancements to Enrollment Maintenance Page
o Removal of Enrollment Add Page
o New Enrollment Status “Q” (Three-Quarter Time)
o New Country Codes
• New Student Contact Information Page
• Enhancements to Accommodate Schools with Locations Greater than 99
• New Fields on the Loan Detail Page
Enhancements to Support the 150% DL Subsidized Loan Limit
A link to the new Subsidized Usage page has been added under the Enrollment Summary page on NSLDS. This page displays information about a student’s total subsidized usage, loan-level subsidized usage that is sent to NSLDS from the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System, and information about the programs in which the student is enrolled that is reported by a school to NSLDS.
Updates to Enrollment Reporting
As a result of the 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit, schools will be required to report enrollment at the program level no later than October 1, 2014. Other notable changes to the enrollment reporting process are as follows:
• Beginning July 1, 2014, NSLDS will request enrollment information from schools every 60 days and schools will be required to respond to those requests within 15 days of the date that the electronic enrollment reporting roster is sent to the school or to its designated third-party servicer. Therefore, all enrollment reporting schedules with frequencies greater than two months will be updated to the new default schedule of every two months.
• Beginning October 1, 2014, NSLDS will no longer accept files in the previous Original and Enhanced fixed-width or CSV formats. At the same time, NSLDS will stop accepting files in the XML format. Support for XML file exchange with a modified schema may resume at a later date.
• A new Enrollment Status of ‘Q’ for three-quarter time has been added as a valid value.
For more information on these changes, refer to Dear Colleague Letter GEN-14-07, posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site on April 14, 2014.
NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide
To provide you with technical details about these changes, a new version of the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide is now available on the IFAP Web site, in the NSLDS User Documentation section or you can access it using this link: NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide (April 2014) in PDF Format, 6MB, 290 Pages
On February 27, 2014 the new NSLDS Enrollment Reporting file layouts (in fixed-width and comma separated values [CSV] formats) were posted to the IFAP Web site. Schools may begin using the new file layouts immediately. However, all schools must report enrollment records under the new reporting file layouts regardless of their method of reporting by October 1, 2014.
Important Note: While schools are encouraged to implement the necessary changes as soon as possible, all schools must have implemented the necessary changes by October 1, 2014. This October date represents a three-month extension from the previously announced deadline of July 1, 2014. Schools that choose to wait to report using the new enrollment reporting file layouts until after July 1, 2014 must, when they do begin reporting using the new enrollment reporting file layouts, report program-level enrollment information retroactive to July 1, 2014.
As a reminder, the use of a third party servicer does not relieve the school of the responsibility for enrollment reporting. Use the monitoring tools and information in the Enrollment Reporting Guide to ensure that your school is in compliance with all enrollment reporting requirements.
Newsletter 45: April 2014 Enhancements to NSLDS in Word Format, 737KB, 12 Pages
Newsletter 45: April 2014 Enhancements to NSLDS in PDF Format, 625KB, 12 Pages
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/nsldsmaterials/NSLDSNewsletter45.html
Subsidized Usage Period Data
The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) will begin loading 150% Subsidized Usage Period (SUP) data from the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System during the week of April 14, 2014. The data will be displayed on the new Subsidized Usage page on the NSLDS Professional Access Web site and will be made available to the Central Processing System (CPS) for inclusion on the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) and Student Aid Report (SAR).
As the data is loaded to NSLDS, it will be included on new prescreening transactions and on subsequent post-screening transactions in the Subsidized Loan Eligibility Used (SLEU) field on the ISIR. Changes in the Subsidized Usage Period data will not cause a new post-screening transaction but will be included on the ISIR if an applicant is post-screened for another reason.
For more information go to: http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/041114150percentEA13SubsidizedUsagePeriodDataandNewWebFunctionAddedtoNSLDSBegin.html
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