Use NSLDS history for graduate and professional grade levels

Oracle Student Financial Planning uses qualifying National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) loan history from other institutions to help determine graduate and professional grade levels for Direct Unsubsidized Loan packaging. This adds other-school history to the existing review of programs recorded in Student Financial Aid (SFA).

The update extends the graduate and professional classification rules used for the 2026–27 award year and later. The existing program classification, award-year checks, and review of prior or concurrent programs in SFA run before the additional NSLDS check.

The NSLDS check uses loans associated with an institution whose OPEID differs from the OPEID in the student's Student Academic and Financial Information (SAFI) message. Academic levels 10, 11, and 13 identify professional history; academic levels 8, 9, and 12 identify graduate history.

For each qualifying history record, the calculation compares the NSLDS Academic Year End Date with the current Program Start Date in SAFI. An end date before the program start indicates prior history. An end date on or after the program start indicates concurrent history for this calculation.

The following outcomes apply when qualifying history is identified:

Current program Qualifying other-school NSLDS history Date comparison Resulting grade level
Graduate Professional Academic Year End Date is before the current Program Start Date 9 — Graduate was Professional
Graduate Professional Academic Year End Date is on or after the current Program Start Date 12 — Graduate Concurrent Enrollment
Professional Graduate Academic Year End Date is before the current Program Start Date 11 — Professional was Graduate
Professional Graduate Academic Year End Date is on or after the current Program Start Date 13 — Professional Concurrent Enrollment

If no qualifying prior or concurrent graduate or professional history is found at another institution, the calculation retains the grade level determined by the existing SFA enrollment logic.

Business Benefit: Reduces manual identification of prior or concurrent graduate and professional study when determining the grade level used in Direct Unsubsidized Loan packaging.

Steps to enable and configure

Prerequisite steps:

  • Review the graduate and professional program classifications in your configuration, including how program type and CIP code values supplied in SAFI support those classifications.
  • Confirm that the NSLDS history and SAFI data used for the affected students are available in your environment. Check the current program's OPEID and start date, and the academic level, attended institution, and Academic Year End Date in the qualifying NSLDS history.

Update Configuration Scripts:

  1. Confirm that the administrator performing the update has the existing Configuration Administration permission.
  2. Download your current configuration from Administration > Configuration Administration > Download. Generate the configuration ZIP if needed, then download the current configuration.
  3. Review the baseline configuration for this feature when it is posted on Cloud Customer Connect. Use it as the reference for updating the Grade_Level_Progression script referenced by PKGSCHEDATTRIB.csv. Preserve your institution's program classification rules and other customizations when incorporating the NSLDS logic.
  4. Save the CSV and the associated Groovy scripts with matching file paths. Include the required CSV files and dependent Groovy directories in a ZIP, preserving their directory structure without adding an enclosing parent folder.
  5. In a non-production environment, use Load Files in Configuration Administration to upload the ZIP and complete the submission. Check Load History and its details, and resolve any loading errors.
  6. Validate the resulting graduate and professional grade levels and Direct Unsubsidized Loan packaging using relevant prior-history, concurrent-history, and no-qualifying-history cases. Include the case where the NSLDS Academic Year End Date equals the SAFI Program Start Date.
  7. After validation, load the tested configuration into production through Configuration Administration and confirm that the configuration load succeeds.

Tips and considerations

  • The NSLDS check supplements the existing SFA enrollment review. It does not replace your institution's configuration for classifying the current program as graduate or professional.
  • The date comparison uses the NSLDS Academic Year End Date and the current Program Start Date supplied in SAFI. An equal date is treated as concurrent history.
  • The returned grade level is an input to loan packaging. Loan Limit Exception and annual, aggregate, and remaining-eligibility rules continue to determine the applicable loan treatment; a grade-level change alone does not guarantee a different award amount.
  • Use the baseline as a reference for changes to your institution's current configuration. Uploading an unmodified baseline in place of your configuration can overwrite institution-specific settings.

Key resources

Access requirements

No new access requirements. The administrator updating configuration uses the existing Configuration Administration permission.