Finding 2024-004 Notices and Authorizations: (Significant Deficiency)
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Program: Federal Direct Student Loans
AL #: 84.268
Award Year: 2023-2024
Criteria: Per CFR 668.165(a)(1) through CFR 668.165a(2) before an institution disburses title IV, HEA program funds for any award year, the institution must notify a student of the amount of funds that the student or his or her parent can expect to receive under each title IV, HEA program, and how and when those funds will be disbursed. If those include Direct Loan program funds, the notice must indicate which funds are from subsidized loans, which are from unsubsidized loans and which are from PLUS loans. The institution must notify the student or parent of:
1) The anticipated date and amount of disbursement.
2) The student’s or parent’s right to cancel all or a portion of that loan, loan disbursement, TEACH Grant, or TEACH Grant disbursement and have the loan proceeds or TEACH Grant proceeds returned to the Secretary; and
3) The procedures and time by which the student or parent must notify the institution that he or she wishes to cancel the loan, loan disbursement, TEACH Grant, or TEACH Grant disbursement.
Condition: The written notifications were not provided to students for the periods October 2, 2023 through October 26, 2023 and December 19, 2023 through February 9, 2024.
Cause: There was a change in the student financial aid system in the current year resulting in no automated notice being sent out. Under the prior system, this was an automated notification.
Effect: The proper notifications were not provided to the students or his or her parent(s).
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: This is considered a systemic problem.
Repeat Finding: This is considered a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the University designate one individual with the responsibility to verify all notifications are provided timely.
Views of Responsible Officials: Corrective actions were taken to resolve the automated notification process. Additional failures were discovered, which led to these deficiencies, and subsequent corrections were made to the system. Based on the possibility of future failures in the automatic process, an additional safeguard procedure has been added to the Financial Aid Office at two levels to verify that the required notices are communicated timely.
Finding 2024-005 Enrollment Reporting: (Significant Deficiency)
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Program: Federal Direct Student Loans, Pell Grants
AL #: 84.268, 84.063
Award Year: 2023-2024
Criteria: The Enrollment Reporting rosters are required to be completed and returned within 15 days.
Condition: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters received were returned after 15 days.
Cause: The Registrar's office experienced 100% turnover during FY 2024. The new Registrar encountered inaccurate data on report submissions in the summer of 2023. The subsequent files were not processed until the original data issues from the first files were resolved. Although data was submitted for the subsequent reports, it was not processed until all of the prior inaccurate data was updated.
Effect: The Enrollment Reporting rosters were not returned within the required timeframe and therefore resulting in potential delays of student’s change in enrollment status.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters were reported late.
Repeat Finding: This is considered a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the University designate one individual with the responsibility of ensuring all Enrollment Reporting rosters are returned timely, including during times of turnover.
Views of Responsible Officials: The late Enrollment Reporting was a result of the significant turnover in the Registrar's office. The University formed an oversight committee outside of the Registrar's office that corrected inaccurate reporting and worked through the backlog to meet reporting requirements. The experienced oversight committee will train the Registrar's office in continuing this timely compliance process for Enrollment Reporting and can backstop if any future personnel turnover or other event could negatively impact timely reporting.
Finding 2024-005 Enrollment Reporting: (Significant Deficiency)
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Program: Federal Direct Student Loans, Pell Grants
AL #: 84.268, 84.063
Award Year: 2023-2024
Criteria: The Enrollment Reporting rosters are required to be completed and returned within 15 days.
Condition: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters received were returned after 15 days.
Cause: The Registrar's office experienced 100% turnover during FY 2024. The new Registrar encountered inaccurate data on report submissions in the summer of 2023. The subsequent files were not processed until the original data issues from the first files were resolved. Although data was submitted for the subsequent reports, it was not processed until all of the prior inaccurate data was updated.
Effect: The Enrollment Reporting rosters were not returned within the required timeframe and therefore resulting in potential delays of student’s change in enrollment status.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters were reported late.
Repeat Finding: This is considered a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the University designate one individual with the responsibility of ensuring all Enrollment Reporting rosters are returned timely, including during times of turnover.
Views of Responsible Officials: The late Enrollment Reporting was a result of the significant turnover in the Registrar's office. The University formed an oversight committee outside of the Registrar's office that corrected inaccurate reporting and worked through the backlog to meet reporting requirements. The experienced oversight committee will train the Registrar's office in continuing this timely compliance process for Enrollment Reporting and can backstop if any future personnel turnover or other event could negatively impact timely reporting.
Finding 2024-004 Notices and Authorizations: (Significant Deficiency)
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Program: Federal Direct Student Loans
AL #: 84.268
Award Year: 2023-2024
Criteria: Per CFR 668.165(a)(1) through CFR 668.165a(2) before an institution disburses title IV, HEA program funds for any award year, the institution must notify a student of the amount of funds that the student or his or her parent can expect to receive under each title IV, HEA program, and how and when those funds will be disbursed. If those include Direct Loan program funds, the notice must indicate which funds are from subsidized loans, which are from unsubsidized loans and which are from PLUS loans. The institution must notify the student or parent of:
1) The anticipated date and amount of disbursement.
2) The student’s or parent’s right to cancel all or a portion of that loan, loan disbursement, TEACH Grant, or TEACH Grant disbursement and have the loan proceeds or TEACH Grant proceeds returned to the Secretary; and
3) The procedures and time by which the student or parent must notify the institution that he or she wishes to cancel the loan, loan disbursement, TEACH Grant, or TEACH Grant disbursement.
Condition: The written notifications were not provided to students for the periods October 2, 2023 through October 26, 2023 and December 19, 2023 through February 9, 2024.
Cause: There was a change in the student financial aid system in the current year resulting in no automated notice being sent out. Under the prior system, this was an automated notification.
Effect: The proper notifications were not provided to the students or his or her parent(s).
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: This is considered a systemic problem.
Repeat Finding: This is considered a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the University designate one individual with the responsibility to verify all notifications are provided timely.
Views of Responsible Officials: Corrective actions were taken to resolve the automated notification process. Additional failures were discovered, which led to these deficiencies, and subsequent corrections were made to the system. Based on the possibility of future failures in the automatic process, an additional safeguard procedure has been added to the Financial Aid Office at two levels to verify that the required notices are communicated timely.
Finding 2024-005 Enrollment Reporting: (Significant Deficiency)
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Program: Federal Direct Student Loans, Pell Grants
AL #: 84.268, 84.063
Award Year: 2023-2024
Criteria: The Enrollment Reporting rosters are required to be completed and returned within 15 days.
Condition: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters received were returned after 15 days.
Cause: The Registrar's office experienced 100% turnover during FY 2024. The new Registrar encountered inaccurate data on report submissions in the summer of 2023. The subsequent files were not processed until the original data issues from the first files were resolved. Although data was submitted for the subsequent reports, it was not processed until all of the prior inaccurate data was updated.
Effect: The Enrollment Reporting rosters were not returned within the required timeframe and therefore resulting in potential delays of student’s change in enrollment status.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters were reported late.
Repeat Finding: This is considered a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the University designate one individual with the responsibility of ensuring all Enrollment Reporting rosters are returned timely, including during times of turnover.
Views of Responsible Officials: The late Enrollment Reporting was a result of the significant turnover in the Registrar's office. The University formed an oversight committee outside of the Registrar's office that corrected inaccurate reporting and worked through the backlog to meet reporting requirements. The experienced oversight committee will train the Registrar's office in continuing this timely compliance process for Enrollment Reporting and can backstop if any future personnel turnover or other event could negatively impact timely reporting.
Finding 2024-005 Enrollment Reporting: (Significant Deficiency)
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Program: Federal Direct Student Loans, Pell Grants
AL #: 84.268, 84.063
Award Year: 2023-2024
Criteria: The Enrollment Reporting rosters are required to be completed and returned within 15 days.
Condition: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters received were returned after 15 days.
Cause: The Registrar's office experienced 100% turnover during FY 2024. The new Registrar encountered inaccurate data on report submissions in the summer of 2023. The subsequent files were not processed until the original data issues from the first files were resolved. Although data was submitted for the subsequent reports, it was not processed until all of the prior inaccurate data was updated.
Effect: The Enrollment Reporting rosters were not returned within the required timeframe and therefore resulting in potential delays of student’s change in enrollment status.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: Nine out of eighteen Enrollment Reporting rosters were reported late.
Repeat Finding: This is considered a repeat finding.
Recommendation: We recommend the University designate one individual with the responsibility of ensuring all Enrollment Reporting rosters are returned timely, including during times of turnover.
Views of Responsible Officials: The late Enrollment Reporting was a result of the significant turnover in the Registrar's office. The University formed an oversight committee outside of the Registrar's office that corrected inaccurate reporting and worked through the backlog to meet reporting requirements. The experienced oversight committee will train the Registrar's office in continuing this timely compliance process for Enrollment Reporting and can backstop if any future personnel turnover or other event could negatively impact timely reporting.