November 17, 2022 To: Chair of the Audit Committee From: Debra Martin, Vice President for Finance and Administration RE: Response to Baker Tilly Audit Communication ? Uniform Guidance Audit Findings Finding 2022-001: Significant Deficiency - Return of Title IV Fund Calculations Program: Stude...
November 17, 2022 To: Chair of the Audit Committee From: Debra Martin, Vice President for Finance and Administration RE: Response to Baker Tilly Audit Communication ? Uniform Guidance Audit Findings Finding 2022-001: Significant Deficiency - Return of Title IV Fund Calculations Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Assistance Listing Number (ALN): Various Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award Identification Number: Various Federal Award Year: June 30, 2022 Criteria: 34 CFR 668.22 requires that when a recipient of Title IV grant or loan assistance withdraws from an institution during a payment period or period of enrollment in which the recipient began attendance, the institution must determine the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance that the student earned as of the student's withdrawal date in accordance with Federal regulations and return the unearned portion of the grant or loan funds to the Title IV programs as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the withdrawal date. Condition: Two students of five students tested had incorrect/missing calculations. One student was disqualified during the term after the first 8 week session in the Associate Degree of Nursing and could not continue into the second 8 week session. The University did not note the disqualification and withdrawal timely and did not perform an R2T4 calculation as required and the $2,473.53 of direct loans calculated by the auditor was not returned. One student's number of days attended (numerator) was calculated incorrectly at 25 days but should have been 26 days and therefore $59.53 too much Pell was returned. The auditors noted that a total of four students withdrew from the Associate Degree of Nursing program from the population file provided, and two students were not selected by the auditors. The University reviewed these students and noted one student completed more than 60.01% although the auditors learned that the student was disqualified at the end of the first 8 week session and therefore should have had an R2T4 calculation and return, and one student the R2T4 calculation was performed, however the auditor noted the number of days attended (numerator) was calculated incorrectly at 51 days but should have been 52 days and included a negative amount of Pell grant that ?could have been disbursed?. The University noted that an estimated term end date of May 7, 2022 was input in the system and was not updated to the actual term end date of May 6, 2022. As this could impact all students who withdrew during the Spring 2022 term, the auditors noted 21 students in the population file provided who withdrew during spring 2022, and four of those students were noted as withdrawing before 60% and were not tested by the auditors. The University reviewed these students and noted two additional students with incorrect denominators used in their calculations, the auditor reviewed only the denominators for these students and agrees. The sample was not a statistically valid sample. Cause: The University?s controls surrounding completing timely and accurate refund calculations did not operate as designed and resulted in exceptions. Effect: The calculations of funds to be returned to the Department of Education did not occur or were incorrect. Questioned costs: Questioned costs of $2,301.70 (ALN No. 84.268), and $59.53 (ALN No. 84.063) were noted during testing. Context: Exceptions were noted for 2 of the 5 students selected for testing. There were a total of 33 students who withdrew during fiscal year 2022 that received Title IV aid. Recommendation: It is recommended that University personnel review the calculations generated by the University's software system to ensure they are timely and accurate. It is also recommended that the control structure be reviewed to ensure all student who withdraw during a term are identified in a timely manner. Management?s Response: The University will review withdrawal controls and procedures so that students who withdraw are identified and correctly processed in a timely manner. The University will also engage our software system Consultant to examine system settings to ensure accurate and timely Return of Title IV calculations occur. Further, management reviewed and performed the same recalculations for the remaining 28 students in the population. Of those, 24 had no findings or errors and the remaining only had a small amount of excess available Pell funding or loan eligibility. The Pell amounts were awarded and students with loan availability were notified and asked to respond if they wished to borrow the additional funds. All amounts were not material. Correction Action: The Registrar?s Office will provide the Financial Aid Office with final academic calendars in advance to ensure that proper start and end dates of academic periods are correct in the Financial Aid System. Multiple employees (as opposed to a single person) in the Financial Aid office will be tasked with confirming the accuracy of the calendar set-up in advance of the start of each semester. We have also reminded the Nursing department of timely communication of student disqualifications to the Registrar?s office to assist in recognizing students who may fall into this category. In addition to these steps, the University is exploring systematic changes in colleague that will split the ADN and ABSN programs into two separate 8 week sessions with separate start/end dates, as opposed to one 16 week semester that has two sessions within. An RT24 output report will now be automatically generated and reviewed by the Director of Financial Aid every two weeks. Furthermore, the University will apply the same refund calculation policy to ADN students who are academically disqualified, as we do all other student populations. This will ensure accuracy when determining the number days attended and earned amounts of federal aid when processing R2T4 calculations. The University will dedicate additional resources, staff and technology, to manage withdrawal notifications and to process then in a timely manner.