Total Enrollment Reporting Process

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Total Enrollment Reporting Process
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• Elise Nowikowski
• Director, Policy Support Services
• Nelnet
• elise.nowikowski_at_nelnet.net

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TERP Why, What How

• Scott E. Miller
• Federal Relations Director AES/PHEAA
• smiller1_at_pheaa.org

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The Story of TERP

• Fall 2000
• Servicers lenders (SLSA CBA) request that
  guarantor CEOs address issue of conflicting
  enrollment data
• Goal is to eliminate differing enrollment data as
  claim servicing issue
• Guarantors, Servicers, Lenders Commit to Seeking
  Solution
• National Student Clearinghouse Contacted to
  Assist
• NSC agrees to develop options for solving
  enrollment conflicts
• NSC Board agrees with staff that enrollment
  reconciliation concept should be explored
• NSC staff develop TERP model

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TERP Becomes Reality

• NSC Staff Discuss TERP Concept with Associations,
  Committees, Etc.
• TERP concept is refined
• TERP Flow Chart developed and disseminated for
  comment
• SLSA Advises GA CEOs that TERP Model Would Work
• GA CEOs Endorse TERP Solution
• NSC Refines TERP Model
• Asks for guaranty agencies to pilot test
• Several agencies participate in pilot to varying
  degrees
• Illinois goes all the way!
• NSC Board Agrees Not to Charge for TERP Services

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Advantages of TERP

• Solves the Problem of Conflicting Enrollment Data
• Meets the Needs of Servicers, Lenders GAs
• Does Not Alter Existing Roles of FFELP Partners
• Does Not Require ED Approval
• Demonstrates Cooperative Spirit in FFELP

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Where Are We Now?

• NSC Providing Presentations on TERP to All Wholl
  Listen
• FFELP Community
• FSA
• Schools
• NSC Continuing Testing With Additional Guaranty
  Agencies
• NSC Working with NCHELP, GA CEOs, SLSA, CBA,
  Others to Refine and Improve TERP

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TERP Overview

• Daniel R. Boehmer, President
• National Student Clearinghouse
• boehmer_at_studentclearinghouse.org

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Clearinghouse Schools
Current Data Flow
Report of All Enrolled Students 3 times/term
Direct Loan Borrower List
Clearinghouse
Guarantor Lists of All Borrowers
All Enrolled Students All Borrowers
Servicer Lists of All Borrowers
Weekly Enrollment Data
Weekly Direct Loan Enrollment Data
Weekly Enrollment Data
SSCR Exchange
Large Lenders/Servicers (Clearinghouse Members)
CH Schools
CH Data
Non- Clearinghouse Schools
NSLDS U.S. Dept. of Ed.
SSCR Exchange
Guarantors

• NSLDS Data
• CH Schools
• Non-CH Schools

Non-CH Schools
Enrollment Data
Smaller Lenders (Not Clearinghouse Members)
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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)

• Developed in response to NCHELP and SLSAs
  request that the Clearinghouse provide FFELP
  participants with the option of receiving all
  student loan enrollment information from a single
  source, in a timely manner
•  
• Guarantors have the option of contracting with
  the Clearinghouse and appointing the
  Clearinghouse as their servicing agent for all
  enrollment reporting
•  

National Student Clearinghouse
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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)

• Participating guarantors direct all enrollment
  updates to the Clearinghouse

National Student Clearinghouse
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Data Flow under TERP
Non-CH schools SSCR process
CH schools SSCR process
Clearinghouse Schools
NSLDS U.S. Dept. of Ed.
Report of All Enrolled Students 3 times/term
Weekly GA Enrollment Report
Guarantor Lists of All Borrowers
Clearinghouse
Enrollment Data from Guarantors
Servicer Lists of All Borrowers
Acting as agent for Guarantor All Enrolled
Students
All Borrowers
ED List of All Direct Loan Borrowers
Total Reconciled Enrollment Data
Total Reconciled Enrollment Data
Guarantors
Lenders/Servicers (Clearinghouse Members)
Enrollment Data
Other Lenders (Not Clearinghouse Members)
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• The Clearinghouse is responsible for
• Retrieving guarantors weekly NSLDS enrollment
  data and other enrollment updates the guarantor
  receives
• Filtering out data previously reported by the
  Clearinghouse that is redundant

National Student Clearinghouse
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• The Clearinghouse is responsible for
• Identifying new enrollment records that have
  not been received or previously processed at the
  Clearinghouse
• NSLDS sourced from non-Clearinghouse schools
• Enrollment data originated from Clearinghouse
  schools through individual on-line updates
  directly to NSLDS

National Student Clearinghouse
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• The Clearinghouse is responsible for
• Reporting out new enrollment records to the
  guarantor and all servicers that participate in
  the Clearinghouse enrollment process

National Student Clearinghouse
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Facts About TERP

• Q. Is there a charge for TERP?
• A. There is no charge of any kind for records
  that are reported through TERP.
• Q. How long will TERP be free?
• A. Our Board plans to continue to make TERP a
  free feature of every members Clearinghouse
  participation. You may choose to include TERP in
  your Clearinghouse contract, guaranteeing this
  free feature through the expiration of your
  contract.

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Facts About TERP

• Will TERP data be use for any purposes other than
  student loan enrollment reporting?
• A. No.
• Q. Will TERP be viewable at the Clearinghouse
  website, along with the Clearinghouses other
  enrollment data?
• A. Yes. Targeted implementation is first quarter,
  2004.

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Facts About TERP

• Q. Does TERP require any programming by the
  guarantor?
• A. Usually no or minimal, depending upon your
  individual system.

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Facts About The Clearinghouse

• Q. Does the Clearinghouse collect graduation
  information?
• A. Yes. Schools representing 30 of the
  Clearinghouses enrollment participate in our
  DegreeVerify program to identify all students who
  graduate. Another 57 identify their Spring
  graduates. We have asked ED to clarify schools
  responsibility for distinguishing students who
  graduate from students who simply fail to
  return. This may be an area where guarantors
  wish to exercise their compliance oversight
  responsibilities.

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Facts About The Clearinghouse

• Q. Does the Clearinghouse change school
  certification dates?
• A. No. We do follow the recommendations of the
  NCHELP Program Operations Committee when
  populating the NSLDS cert date header record
  which allows only one certification date.

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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)
Benefits

• Guarantors -
• TERP maintains the guarantors traditional
  responsibility for collection and distribution of
  enrollment information to lenders and servicers
•  
• TERP does not require any more than minimal
  programming since it utilizes the existing NSLDS
  enrollment reporting format
•  

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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)
Benefits

• TERP allows the guarantor to substantially reduce
  the amount of computer processing time allocated
  to enrollment data by
• eliminating duplicated enrollment information
  and
• allowing the guarantor to outsource its
  time-consuming outbound enrollment reporting
  process to lenders and servicers.
•  
•  

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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)
Benefits

•    
• TERP enables the guarantor to report data to
  lenders and servicers on a weekly basis instead
  of monthly
• TERP provides a national process for foreign
  school enrollment reporting
• TERP provides enhanced service to schools and
  borrowers since data conflicts and resulting
  questions are eliminated
•  

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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)
Benefits

• Servicers
• TERP allows servicers to receive electronic
  enrollment data from one source the
  Clearinghouse thereby eliminating multiple
  enrollment reporting data flows in multiple
  electronic and paper formats
•  
• TERP provides non-Clearinghouse school enrollment
  data in a substantially more timely fashion
•  

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Total Enrollment Reporting Process (TERP)
Benefits

• By eliminating duplicated enrollment records,
  lenders and servicers will make fewer unnecessary
  status adjustments to a borrowers account,
  thereby providing improved customer service to
  the borrower and school
•  
• The elimination of duplicated enrollment records
  via TERP allows the servicer to save computer
  processing resources
•  

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TERP in Action

• Nancy Masten
• Loan Policy Analyst
• Illinois Student Assistance Commission
• NMasten_at_isac.org

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Life Before TERP

• Worked with third-party vendor for enrollment
  reporting
• Third party retrieved Clearinghouse and NSLDS
  enrollment data and forwarded to ISAC weekly
• Third party reported latest enrollment status for
  Clearinghouse schools and non-Clearinghouse
  schools to all lenders/servicers every 60 days
• The Clearinghouse made data available to
  lenders/servicers who were Clearinghouse members

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Issues with the Old Enrollment Reporting Process

• Needed to avoid overlaying accurate enrollment
  information with outdated information
• Timing issues with receiving data from multiple
  sources

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Issues with the Old Enrollment Reporting Process

• Workload issue for Lenders/Servicers
• The Clearinghouse sent electronic data weekly
• ISAC sent both CH and NSLDS data on paper every
  60 days
• Manual process to sort through data and determine
  accuracy
• Lenders/servicers had to contact schools to
  validate data
• Staff required to maintain proprietary process

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Why Implement TERP?

• Benefits to Borrowers
• Lenders/servicers have most accurate enrollment
  information
• Reduced likelihood of premature conversion to
  repayment
• In-school deferments processed more timely
• Benefits to Schools
• Contacted to reconcile enrollment data less
  frequently
• More accurate reporting helps schools maintain
  low cohort default rate by avoiding technical
  defaults

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Why Implement TERP?

• Benefits to Lenders
• Receive updated enrollment data more frequently
• Enrollment status is most current available
• More complete enrollment information
• Redundant enrollment records are eliminated
• All enrollment data supplied by one entity the
  Clearinghouse
• Data is provided in preferred media format
• Eliminates paper SSCRs

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Why Implement TERP?

• Testimonial from IDAPP ISACs secondary market
• All schools now behave like Clearinghouse schools
• The electronic process we had in place for
  processing Clearinghouse data works for both the
  regular Clearinghouse files and the Clearinghouse
  TERP files
• There was no cost to implement TERP
• We have no more paper SSCR reports from ISAC

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Why Implement TERP?

• Testimonial from IDAPP ISACs secondary market
• We now only manually work accounts that the
  system cannot handle and need personal
  attention
• Borrowers are helped because we can process their
  status changes more promptly
• Schools are helped because we dont have to
  contact them for additional information

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Why Implement TERP?

• Benefits to Guarantors
• Streamlined enrollment reporting process that is
  centralized
• ISAC chose lender reporting option
• Receipt and reporting of enrollment information
  is through one entity
• Cost savings
• Minimal cost to implement
• No additional cost to participate
• Eliminated costs associated with maintaining
  proprietary process
• Freed up staff to work on other projects

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Why Implement TERP?

• Benefits to Guarantors
• Improving FFELP
• More efficient and streamlined reporting process
  allows for improved servicing of accounts
• Lower defaults due to enrollment reporting
  errors/issues

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Preparation for TERP

• Operational Set-up
• No programming changes required to update
  database with TERP files
• Minimal programming changes to
• Exchange file with Clearinghouse via FTP
• Change frequency of overlay file sent to
  Clearinghouse (quarterly to monthly)
• Turn off processes no longer being used for
  enrollment reporting (i.e., for third-party
  vendor)

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Preparation for TERP

• Testing
• Establish test environment
• Database queries were essential for validating
  results
• May require additional (IS) resources
• Send test files zipped and password protected
• Retrieve filtered test files from Clearinghouse
  FTP site
• Obtain access to CH and NSLDS databases to verify
  testing results

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Preparation for TERP

• Testing
• Report questionable updates to Clearinghouse for
  follow-up
• Helps uncover glitches due to proprietary or
  unique processing rules of your agency
• Work with current data Clearinghouse uses
  production data
• No test database used

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Preparation for TERP

• Implementation
• Remove any enrollment reporting production jobs
• Send overlay file to Clearinghouse monthly
• If both Clearinghouse and non-Clearinghouse
  members, be sure to send information on entire
  lender/servicer population
• Communicate with lender/servicer partners that
  TERP is being implemented and the Clearinghouse
  is the distributor of all enrollment data for
  your agency

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What We Learned

• Develop an agreed-upon timeline and project plan
• Clarifies expectations of both parties
• Allows guarantor to set the pace, if desired
• Both parties understand constraints the other has
• Allows guarantor to have resources allocated

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Outcome

• Positive Results for All Parties!
• Centralized enrollment reporting
• Standardized and simplified process
• Improved accuracy of data
• Better FFELP!

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Questions