The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has released final rules to establish new regulations for eligible workforce programs that are referred to as “Workforce Pell” and a new accountability framework for the Earnings Accountability and the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) that will replace the existing Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) regulations. Both rules were released to implement certain provisions included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), also known as the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. This Electronic Announcement outlines the updates that we will make to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS®) to support these changes. These changes are available in NSLDS for the start of the 2026–27 award year.
FVT/GE Reporting Updates
We have made several fields optional for the October 1, 2026, reporting as of July 1, 2026. We consider an institution’s decision not to report data in the optional fields to be an indication of its intent to “early-implement” STATS. Institutions that want to remain under the FVT/GE regulations can still report on any of the optional fields and, if reported, accurate information is expected. To early-implement removal of the fields, an institution can simply omit data in some or all of the optional fields. All institutions will be required to submit either data under STAT or FVT/GE by October 1, 2026. If an institution fails to report required information (either under the FVT/GE regulations or with the “early-implementation” of STATS), the institution must provide to the Secretary an explanation of why the institution failed to comply with any of the reporting requirements that is acceptable to the Secretary.
See below for more information about the optional fields and how users, if choosing to do so, should report them. All other fields are still required.
General FVT/GE Reporting Updates
The “Transitional/Standard Reporting Flag” field is now optional. This field is reported via the FVT/GE Student Submittal Header Record or the “FVT/GE Maintenance” page.
Annual Amount Record Type Updates
The Annual Amount fields below are now optional. These fields are reported via the FVT/GE Student Submittal, FVT/GE Spreadsheet Submittal, or the “FVT/GE Maintenance” page:
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Student’s Enrollment Status as of the 1st Day of Enrollment in the Program
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Program Attendance Status During Award Year
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Program Attendance Status Date During Award Year
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Residency Tuition Status by State or District
Total Amount Record Type Updates
The Total Amount fields below are now optional. These fields are reported via the FVT/GE Student Submittal, FVT/GE Spreadsheet Submittal, or the “FVT/GE Maintenance” page:
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Date Student Completed or Withdrew From Program
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Total Amount of Institutional Debt During Student’s Entire Enrollment in the Program
We will provide technical information about these changes, including revised valid values and error codes, in an upcoming update to Volume 1 of the NSLDS FVT/GE User Guide.
Workforce Pell Updates
As part of the OBBBA changes, Pell Grant eligibility was extended to include students enrolled in an eligible workforce program. New Workforce Pell fields are reported to NSLDS from the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System.
The “Grant Summary” page under the “Aid Recipient” tab includes the following new fields:
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Enrolled in Workforce Program – Indicates whether the student is enrolled in an eligible workforce program and, therefore, potentially eligible for Workforce Pell as reported from the FAFSA Processing System to the COD System.
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Workforce Pell Tuition Fees 1, Workforce Pell Tuition Fees 2, and Workforce Pell Tuition Fees 3 – The tuition and fee amount for the Pell Grant that is associated with an eligible workforce program. Up to three eligible workforce programs can be reported.
For technical questions about using NSLDS to complete STATS or FVT/GE reporting, contact the NSLDS Customer Support Center at 1-800-999-8219 or nslds@ed.gov.
For policy questions about the regulations, contact OB3schoolquestions@ed.gov.