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FY 16-17: Agency Priority Goal
Federal Student Aid Transparency
Priority Goal
Goal Overview
GOAL OVERVIEW
Clear, consistent, and timely information about FSA’s mission, objectives, and services to stakeholders enables FSA to be the most trusted source of information on federal funding of postsecondary education. FSA has built a rich database of Title IV-related information and is aware of the potential of this data to inform discussion and improve student outcomes.
FSA understands that different stakeholders have different needs, interests, and familiarity with federal financial aid programs. Through the dissemination of useful information through general channels meant to support transparency initiatives, such as the FSA Data Center, as well as through structured reports, such as upcoming reporting on customer complaints, FSA will provide significant value to stakeholders seeking a consistent and accurate understanding of the contours of the higher education environment.
FSA currently releases a variety of financial aid information and data on a quarterly basis on the FSA Data Center. This goal commits FSA to add new and important information and data that will increase the general public’s understanding of the federal student aid programs. The information and data will take the form of reports or datasets related to one or more of the following categories:
- Student Aid Data, including information on income-driven repayment plans, the Federal student loan portfolio, aid eligibility and applications, default, and forgiveness,
- School Data, including information on school eligibility and participation as well as school compliance,
- Servicer Data, and
- Ad Hoc Studies and Reports.
KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES
In the process of achieving this goal, FSA will need to ensure adherence to applicable privacy and confidentiality laws and regulations relevant to the publication of new information and data elements. FSA is committed to ensuring that the privacy and confidentiality of student data is protected, and will leverage the robust data review and governance processes within its Enterprise Data Office to ensure that information provided adheres to applicable guidance.
EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS
External stakeholders for this include:
- Taxpayers, who may be interested in better understanding the work performed by FSA,
- Prospective students and their families,
- Researchers, advocates, and members of the media, who may use the new information to inform their own work, and
- Schools and other participants in the system of higher education, who may use the data to improve processes and create better outcomes for students and borrowers,
- Policy makers, including members of Congress.
Strategies
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
FSA has created an inventory of data and information of potential interest to evaluate for publication, determined the feasibility of capturing and publishing each item of interest, and developed a publication schedule and timeline. As FSA moves to execute its plan, particular attention must be paid to the use of processes robust enough to ensure timely, accurate, and complete data publication. FSA is working to expand its internal Data Office, which is responsible for the collection, analysis, and publication of data and information related to the Title IV programs. Expanding this office, as well as improving the capabilities of FSA’s Enterprise Data Warehouse and Analytics (EDW&A) system, will help to ensure that the new information published by FSA is capable of informing policy discussions and driving operational enhancements to improve student outcomes.
FSA informally monitors media reports and public commentary to gauge how accurately reported information is interpreted by taxpayers, researchers, students and their families, and participants in the higher education system. As needed, we clarify information related to federal student aid data, and we release additional information to provide further context.
INFLUENCE
External factors that ED can influence:
FSA does have control over the type of data available to publish. Historically, the utility of some data collected by FSA was limited, due in part to the limited analytical capabilities of existing information technology systems. With the development and continued enhancement of the Enterprise Data Warehouse and Analytics (EDW&A) system, FSA’s ability to analyze and draw useful conclusions from large datasets related to the management and oversight of the Title IV programs has increased substantially.
External factors ED cannot influence:
FSA is unable to control the public’s initial sustained interest in the data provided. While FSA aims to provide information to improve student outcomes, inform policy discussions, and tailor its communications and outreach strategy to maximize the chance of success, FSA ultimately does not have control over whether or not this data will be used —or interpreted correctly—by its target audience of citizens, advocates, researchers, members of the media, and other stakeholders in the system of higher education.
Progress Update
In FY 2016, FSA released 15 new data sets. Narrative about each new data set is provided below.
Q1 2016
- Location of FFEL Portfolio Report
- FAFSA Demographics Report
- American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Report
- Default Recoveries by Private Collection Agency Report
Q2 2016
- The ED-held FFEL Portfolio by Loan Status report,
- The ED-held FFEL Portfolio by Repayment Plan report, and
- The ED-Held FFEL Portfolio by Delinquency Status report.
- New Direct Loan Defaults
Q3 2016
- FAFSA Completion by School District
- Guaranty Agency Collections Report
- School Fine Report
- Top 10 Program Review and Audit Findings of FY 2015
- Financial Responsibility Standards Requiring a Letter of Credit
Q4 2016
1. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Employment Certification Forms Report
2. List of websites with institution/financial account provider contracts
On November 12, 2015, Federal Student Aid posted a series of updates to its FSA Data Center, the centralized online source for Federal Student Aid data. Below is a summary of the updated quarterly reports available on the FSA Data Center. All reports reflect activity through or as of September 30, 2015.
- The Federal Student Aid portfolio reports include outstanding balances and recipients by loan program, loan type, loan status, repayment plan, and delinquency status.
- The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Reports include application submissions by the applicant’s legal state of residence and by the schools listed on the applicant’s form.
- The loan and grant volume reports provide award year disbursements and recipients by aid program for schools participating in the Title IV Programs. The summary reports, first introduced in August 2015, provide award year disbursements by school type and award year borrower and recipient counts.
In addition to the existing quarterly reports, we added four new reports in Q2.
- The Location of Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program Loans report provides additional insight into the dwindling FFEL Program portfolio by detailing the ownership of the existing FFEL Program loans.
- The New Direct Loan Defaults report details the number of recipients and the outstanding balance of the loans that have entered default during the quarter. The report provides information for each quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2015 and going forward, will be updated quarterly.
- The FAFSA Year-End Reports provide summary statistics about applicants who completed the FAFSA by application cycle. Data elements include gender, age, grade, degree, parent education level, Pell eligibility, dependency status, type of FAFSA filed, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Retrieval Tool usage, and FAFSA filing time. Going forward, this report will be completed within six months following the end of an application cycle.
- The American Customer Service Index (ACSI) Scores report, which will be updated annually, demonstrates customer satisfaction among our applicants, in-school students, and borrowers.
Finally, we have centralized the servicer quarterly performance metrics, which were previously posted through electronic announcements on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site. These reports as well as the accompanying allocation reports are now available on the FSA Data Center.
On March 17, 2016, Federal Student Aid posted a series of updates to its FSA Data Center that reflects activity through or as of December 31, 2015. The Federal Student Aid portfolio reports include outstanding balances and recipients by loan program, loan type, loan status, repayment plan, and delinquency status. Four new reports were added in Q2 2016. Beginning this quarter, Federal Student Aid published additional information on the ED-held portion of Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program through three reports:
- The ED-held FFEL Portfolio by Loan Status report,
- The ED-held FFEL Portfolio by Repayment Plan report, and
- The ED-Held FFEL Portfolio by Delinquency Status report.
The Direct Loan Defaults report details the number of borrowers and the outstanding balance of the loans that have entered default during the quarter. This report will be updated quarterly.
In addition to the data center releases measured by this APG, FSA completed other significant work related to federal student loan transparency. Specifically, FSA provided data and worked with the Council of Economic Advisers for analysis about recent trends in student debt. FSA also announced plans to work with the Federal Reserve Board to pilot a new program, Advancing Insights through Data (AID), that will allow FSA to effectively share data for research purposes while protecting student privacy with federal researchers in the fall of 2016. FSA continues to work with other offices within the Department to produce and publish data on the College Scorecard and to promote that tool. Additionally, the Department’s Special Master for Borrower Defense and FSA’s Enforcement Office have worked to provide transparency since the closure of Corinthian Colleges, including regular reports about the number and value of borrower defense and closed school discharge claims received and approved.
In June 2016, Federal Student Aid posted a series of updates to its FSA Data Center. In addition to posting updates to the quarterly application, disbursement, and portfolio reports, Federal Student Aid added four new reports for the quarter:
- The FAFSA Completion by School District Reports build upon the high school completion reports to include estimates of public school district FAFSA completion rates and provide state-level maps that present this data. Importantly, the district level information only includes applicants reporting public high schools and does not consider private schools that are geographically within a district.
- The Guaranty Agency Collections Report provides the cumulative fiscal-year-to-date dollar amount recovered in defaulted student loans by guaranty agency and collection type. This monthly report complements the quarterly private collection agency recoveries report that Federal Student Aid began posting in December 2015.
- The School Fine Report lists postsecondary institutions that were assessed fines for violating laws and regulations. The report includes aggregate information about the fines imposed from FY2010 through FY2015 and discloses the name of the institution, the imposed fine amount, the date of the fine, and the reason for the fine referral.
- A summary of the top 10 program review and audit findings for FY 2015.
In addition to these data sets, Federal Student Aid also released historical data about schools that were required to submit a letter of credit (LOC) to continue participation in the Title IV programs during AY2013 and AY2014.
In addition to the standard quarterly application, disbursement, and portfolio reports, in August 2016, Federal Student Aid released the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Employment Certification Forms (ECFs) Report. The PSLF Employment Certification Forms (ECFs) Report provides information about the number and status of ECFs received from borrowers.
The Department introduced a voluntary Employment Certification Form in January 2012 to help borrowers track their progress toward meeting PSLF requirements.
In September 2016, Federal Student Aid posted to the FSA Data Center a list of schools with cash management contracts and links to the individual contracts. The Program Integrity and Improvement final regulations, among other things, require that all institutions with either a Tier One (T1) or Tier Two (T2) arrangement post to the institution’s website any contracts or agreements establishing the T1 or T2 arrangement between the institution and a third-party servicer or financial institution. Under the regulations, an institution must conspicuously post the entire contract or agreement, except that it may redact any provisions of the contract or agreement that, if disclosed, would compromise personal privacy, proprietary information technology, or the security of information technology or of physical facilities.
Next Steps
FSA has identified areas in which publication of data or information could serve the public interest, and will work through existing data review and governance processes to ensure that the data is accurate, complete, and adheres to applicable laws and regulations. FSA’s planned releases include data related to loan defaults, income-driven repayment plans, loan discharges and forgiveness, servicers and private collections agencies, and institutions of higher education. FSA also will continue to work with the Department‘s Office of Communications and Outreach to communicate the data releases most effectively. This may include the development of press releases and Electronic Announcements (EA) to provide important context and will ensure that the information reaches the broadest possible audience.
In FY 2017, FSA plans to publish 15 new data sets.
Expand All
Performance Indicators
Increase the amount of information/data released on the FSA Data Center
Contributing Programs & Other Factors
CONTRIBUTING PROGRAMS
The most significant contributing program to this effort is FSA’s Data Office, an internal organization tasked with collecting, analyzing, and publishing data and information related to FSA’s management and oversight of the Title IV programs. The Data Office contributes to the completion of this goal and supports FSA’s commitment to transparency by identifying, analyzing, and reviewing data scheduled for publication.
FSA’s Enterprise Data Warehouse and Analytics (EDW&A) system also significantly contributes to FSA’s ability to successfully achieve this goal. This system allows FSA to store, process, and analyze the large datasets associated with student loans and grants to help FSA draw substantive conclusions from FSA data to inform policy discussions and drive operational enhancements to improve student outcomes.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Recently, the publication of data and information to inform discussion and ensure transparency of operations has been a significant focus for FSA. Prior to FY 2009, the information published by FSA largely focused on operational and performance reports, such as strategic plans, annual reports, school reports, and acquisitions information. With the development of the FSA Data Center in FY 2009, FSA began releasing select data on Title IV programs for public consumption. However, this information was limited in scope, encompassing only some information on FAFSA completion rates and default rates. Over the succeeding years, FSA began to publish more information on topics ranging from school compliance (including Heightened Cash Monitoring status of institutions) to the details of individual contracts. In FY 2013, FSA published its first dataset related to the Federal loan portfolio, an analysis of the portfolio by loan status, on the FSA Data Center. This publication was followed later that year and in FY 2014 with more detailed portfolio information on payments, deferments, forbearances, and delinquency.
Despite this progress, more can be done. FSA’s commitment to transparency, as reflected in this Annual Performance Goal, will inform discussion and help stakeholders in the system of higher education improve outcomes for students and borrowers.
For additional programs see Appendix D of the Department’s FY2015 Annual Performance Report and FY2017 Annual Performance Plan, available here: http://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2017plan/2015-2017-apr-app.pdf
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