Federal Student Aid announced the reopening of the debt reporting process for Financial Value Transparency & Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) until February 18, 2025, providing additional time for institutions that missed the original deadline to submit their information. The outline below details how schools can receive their FVT/GE Completers List, common errors identified in the reports, and what steps schools should take if they are unable to complete the report altogether.
How to Receive Your FVT/GE Completers List
- Completers Lists have been finalized and will be sent to another federal agency to calculate median earnings information
- Copies of these final lists were automatically transmitted in message class GEFVCMOP to each school’s Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) TG mailbox that is enrolled for NSLDS FVT/GE debt reporting
- If your school did not automatically receive the final list in your school’s SAIG TG mailbox, the FVT/GE Completers List Ad Hoc Report (GEFVC1) is available to request on the NSLDS Professional Access website
- Completers Lists will not be further updated based on changes made to administrative data in NSLDS, including changes made by the institution to its NSLDS enrollment reporting
- For more information, refer to Volume 3, Chapter 5 of the NSLDS FVT/GE User Guide
Common Errors Identified in Debt Reporting
Some institutions may have received delayed error reports if they submitted their debt data close to the January 15 deadline. Common reporting errors are are categorized as follows:
File-Levels Errors:
- Code 5: TG mailbox not authorized for school group. This error comes when the TG Mailbox that submitted the file is not authorized to report on behalf of the school group based on batch services. This error can be addressed by submitting from an authorized mailbox. To find your school’s authorized mailbox for batch services, check your School Profile on NSLDS.
- Code 6: The record type was not equal to ’00’. The value must equal ‘00’.
- Code 9: Submittal dates were invalid. The date must be in CCYYMMDD format and the date cannot be in the future.
- Code 8: Header text was invalid. Schools must report ‘FVT/GE STUDENT SUBMITTAL’ in the Header Text for the Student Submittal File.
Student Submittal Record Errors:
- Code 19: Institution codes are invalid. The field cannot be blank, must match to a valid 6-digit School Group Code, and must be formatted correctly.
- Code 22: Reported program identifiers (OPEID, CIP Code, Length of Program, Length of Program Measurement, Weeks in Title IV Academic Year) do not match to students current certified program records. This means that the Department does not have enrollment records showing that student was enrolled in the program for which the institution is trying to report. The institution will need to update its enrollment reporting to include that student in the program.
- Code 26: No detail records match the reported student identifiers (First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, SSN) in the NSLDS database. This means the Department does not have a record for that student in the NSLDS database based upon a match of the first name, date of birth, and SSN. Institutions should ensure those identifiers match to a student reported with federal aid in the NSLDS database.
- Codes 30 and 32: Formatting of length of program or weeks in Academic Year is invalid. Length of program and weeks in Academic Year should be formatted ‘nnnnnn’ with an implied decimal point between the third and fourth digit (for example, 26 weeks as 026000 and 4 years as 004000).
Program Submittal Record Errors:
- Code 21: CIP year values must be a valid value in format CCYY. Valid values are ‘2010’ or ‘2020’.
- Code 36: Program licensure is in the state where the main campus is located is not valid. Valid values are ‘Y’, ‘N’, ‘X’.
- Code 25: Total number of weeks of instruction in the program’s academic year when Program Measurement is ‘M’ or ‘W’ is invalid. The value should be formatted ‘nnnnnn’ with an implied decimal point between the third and fourth digit (for example, 26 weeks as 026000).
Common Errors Identified in Debt Reporting
For more information about these errors, please review the following resources:
- File-Level Errors:
- Appendix B-1 of Volume 1: FVT/GE Student Submittal Reporting (page 89) and Volume 2: FVT/GE Program Submittal Reporting (page 51)
- Student Submittal Record Errors:
- Volume 1 – Appendix B starting on page 91 and descriptions of all Total Amount record level edits are provided starting on page 104
- Program Submittal Records:
- Volume 2, Appendix B, starting on page 53
Explanations of Non-Reporting
- The regulations under 34 CFR 668.408(b)(2) state that an institution that does not provide all of the debt reporting information required must provide an explanation satisfactory to the Department of why the institution was unable to comply with the debt reporting requirements.
- Institutions should not submit explanations at this time as they will not be processed by the Department.
- Institutions that are unable to complete debt reporting by February 18 will be subject to the explanation requirement.
- With the goal of limiting institutional burden related to these explanations, the Department is working on a standardized process for institutions to use to provide this information. We anticipate that creating and implementing that process will be completed in the spring and institutions will be able to provide their explanations at that time.
SOURCE: (GE-25-01) Reopening of FVT and GE Debt Reporting Process Until Mid-February