Attachment_2_NSLDS_System_Processing_Volumes.pdf

Attachment 2: System Processing Volumes

This document contains the National Student Loan Data System’s (NSLDS) approximate processing volumes requirements for Phase 1 evaluation Factor 2 Corporate Capacity, Sub-factor, System Processing Volume.

The volumes are divided into three parts: High Level Database Size, Customer Service Center Volumes, and System Volumes. The System Volumes section displays approximate counts of additional records, website transactions, and user log-ins. The volumes are reported for an annual basis.

For the purposes of Phase 1, the following volumes will be used to respond to the evaluation factor, Corporate Capacity, Sub-factor 2A in the Factors Matrix (Attachment 4). Appendix A provides additional details and historical background into the values.

Part I: High Level Database Size

Total Records (active and historic) 28 billion Part II Customer Service Center Volumes (Annually) Total Calls Offered 55,000 Total Emails Received 11,000 New Data Correction Cases 11,000

Part III: System Volumes (Annually) Number of new records added to database 3 billion Number of website transactions 177 million Number of user log-ins 10 million

Appendix A

Overview

This document contains statistics and information about the National Student Loan Data System’s (NSLDS) processing volumes. It is divided into three parts: High Level Database Size, Customer Service Center Volumes, and System Volumes. The System Volumes section is the most robust and displays observed counts of active users, system logons, online loan updates, and student aid retrievals. The information in this document was compiled using the A-128 Quarterly Metrics document and by querying the database. All figures are based on calendar years.

Part I: High Level Database Size

The following table depicts the growth of NSLDS from February 2010 through January 2013. The system’s annual growth is expected at approximately 25-30 million loans, 10 million grants, and 3-4 million borrowers. The following rows (Students, Loans, Federal Grants, School locations, Schools, Lenders, Guaranty Agencies) are only a portion of the total records amount but are not all in inclusive.

Feb 2010 Feb 2011 Jan 2012 July 2013 Total Records (active and historic)

This is a count of records throughout all tables in the NSLDS database.

15.6 billion 18.7 billion 22.0 billion 28.9 billion

Students A count of all unique students in the NSLDS student tables. Student data can be updated at any time, regardless of whether or not the student has a currently active award.

69,990,450 74,622,600 77,989,848 82,053,772

Loans A count of all unique loans on the NSLDS. This includes both open and closed loans.

NSLDS receives updates weekly on active loans (loans with a greater than zero balance) from schools (Perkins loans), GAs (FFEL loans), and federal loan servicers (direct loans and federally-held FFEL loans). As of December 2013, more than 178M loans (representing more than 39M students) were being actively reported to NSLDS. This includes

289,498,826 314,251,351 337,344,136 370,846,216

121M loans held by federal loan servicers, and more than 40M loans held by GAs.

Federal Grants

This is a count of all grants reported to NSLDS from various sources. Includes Pell, ACG, SMART, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, and TEACH grants.

Approximately 9-10 million Pell and TEACH grants are disbursed every year.

83,736,043 94,436,308 103,582,881 115,632,864

School Locations

Many schools have multiple branch locations. This is a count of all branch locations in the NSLDS database, regardless of their current open/closed status.

43,430 44,816 45,757 47,517

Schools A count of all unique main school locations in the NSLDS database.

This includes schools which may/may not be currently Title IV eligible, and may be either in an open or closed status.

19,096 -- 19,359 19,493

Lenders A count of all lending organizations in the NSLDS database.

31,720 31,763 31,771 31,788

Guaranty Agencies

This is a count of all GAs in the NSLDS, including active and inactive GAs. NSLDS maintains inactive GA data for purposes of querying historical data.

However, with termination of the FFEL program, approximately only 30 GAs remain as active reporters of loan information to the NSLDS.

This total includes Gas (both active and closed) as well as the current Federal Loan servicers and Not-for-profit servicers.

66 69 72 85

Table 1: High Level Database Size

Part II: Customer Service Center Volumes

The table below displays NSLDS Customer Service Center volumes from 2010 through 2012. The Customer Service Center receives calls at (800) 999-8219 and emails at NSLDS@ed.gov. Data correction cases are opened when incorrect or outdated information exists within the database and a caller requests that changes be made within the system.

2010 2011 2012 Total Calls Offered 92,618 108,430 55,721 Total Emails Received 11,221 14,247 11,820 New Data Correction Cases 12,767 12,659 11,667

Table 2: Customer Service Center Volumes

Part III: System Volumes

Active Users

NSLDS tracks the number of users who have access to the system. The table below displays the average number of users NSLDS has had from 2010 through 2012. As the numbers show, the user count is steadily increasing.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Average 46,822 52,556 63,625

Table 3: Average Number of Active Users

Queries by ED Users

Department of Education users access NSLDS on the mainframe and run queries to gather statistics, solve issues, and provide assistance to internal and external customers. The following table displays the number of queries run in each of the years provided. A large spike was seen in 2012.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Count 1,485 1,672 3,324

Table 4: Number of Queries by ED Users

Ad Hoc Query Requests by Online User Types

Users of NSLDS possess the ability to navigate to the Reports page on the NSLDS FAP website and request reports on an ad hoc basis. The table below shows the number of unique requestors and total reports requested for each of the years provided.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Unique Requestors 16,883 30,184 39,149 Total Requests 44,930 152,367 209,107

Table 5: Ad Hoc Query Requests by User Type

NSLDS FAP Website mailto:NSLDS@ed.gov

The following two tables display information about successful logons to, and total transactions on, the NSLDS Financial Aid Professionals website. These figures run from March of one year through February of the following year (i.e. 2008 spans from March 2008 through February 2009).

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Count 4,763,669 5,952,320 7,171,476 7,749,785 7,635,070

Table 6: Successful Logons to NSLDS FAP

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Count 76,416,517 91,330,545 132,666,890 151,242,141 177,097,211

Table 7: Total Transactions on NSLDS FAP

NSLDS Student Access Website

The table below displays the counts of logons to the NSLDS Student Access website. Since its inception, the Student Access site has steadily increased its number of logons per year. Students can access loan and grant information, change their address, update their enrollment, or complete TEACH Exit Counseling on the Student Access website.

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Count 340,255 2,982,551 5,690,325 8,510,773 10,973,121

Table 8: Logons to the NSLDS Student Access Website

Student Aid Record Retrievals

Student aid record retrievals are made when a member of the student aid community requests financial aid history information on a student or multiple students. The table below shows the total number of student aid record retrievals for all record types made either online or via batch request.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Count 20,253,648 22,373,490 23,685,442

Table 9: Total Number of Student Aid Record Retrievals

Online Loan Updates

Online Loan Updates are made by data providers when information about a student’s loans or grants has changed. The following two tables show information on Online Loan Updates made by data providers: the total number of students updated and the total number of transactions made annually.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Count 40,334 49,244 45,056

Table 10: Total Number of Students Updated

Year 2010 2011 2012 Count 226,202 278,977 277,854

Table 11: Total Number of Transactions

Enrollment

Financial Aid Professionals are required to report enrollment information for students at their institution and the table below displays the total number of enrollment records received by NSLDS each year. As more students attend institutions of higher education, the number of enrollment records received by NSLDS increases.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Count 208,237,022 222,028,176 240,870,120 Table 12: Total Number of Enrollment Records Received by NSLDS

Transfer Student Monitoring

The following two tables show information on Transfer Student Monitoring: the average number of schools who use the TSM function to monitor students, and the total number of monitoring alerts generated each year by the system.

Transfer Student Monitoring allows schools to ensure that transfer students are not over or under-awarded.

Year 2010 2011 2012 Average 2,687 2,698 2,822

Table 13: Average Number of Schools Monitoring Students

Year 2010 2011 2012 Count 1,651,924 1,795,381 2,061,695

Table 14: Total Number Monitoring Alerts Generated by NSLDS Annually

Prescreening

The prescreening process occurs when a student completes their FAFSA, and CPS sends a file to NSLDS to determine their eligibility to receive financial aid. The table below shows the number of application prescreening events per FAFSA cycle (which runs from Jan 1 of one year through approximately August 30 of the following year).

Award Year 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 Count 29,121,549 32,928,172 34,364,688

Table 15: Number of Application Prescreening Events

Postscreening

The postscreening process is performed to identify applicants whose eligibility status has changed since the time of their previous aid application/correction. The following table displays the number of students postscreened per FAFSA cycle.

Award Year 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 Count 19,542,525 20,991,196 21,925,531

Table 16: Number of Students Postscreened