Corrective Action Plan: The Student Support Services program experienced changes in program personnel. This change led to a loss of institutional knowledge, interrupted policy and process enforcement. In many instances documentation wasn’t available due to the transition of key program personnel. Du...
Corrective Action Plan: The Student Support Services program experienced changes in program personnel. This change led to a loss of institutional knowledge, interrupted policy and process enforcement. In many instances documentation wasn’t available due to the transition of key program personnel. During the transition for Student Support Service, we encountered difficulty locating explicit documentation for students who were awarded Grant Aid outside of first- or second-year classification.
Section 3518(a) of the CARES Act granted the Department authority to “modify the required and allowable uses of funds” for certain programs authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965, which included TRIO programs. The flexible extension remained in effect until September 30, 2024. Upward Bound requested a flexibility extension under the CARES Act. Due to a delayed response to the request, the extension request was re-sent for verification. Once received, UB was advised that the Department was no longer accepting new requests. As a result, stipends were processed before receiving the final response.
During the Spring of 2024 the University began work to enhance its internal controls, policies and procedures to ensure the appropriate documentation was properly maintained. While there was improvement across all TRIO programs, the issues were not fully remediated by June 30, 2024.
The University is committed to ensuring compliance with all federal, institutional, and program regulations. The University continues to enhance its internal controls, policies and procedures to ensure the appropriate documentation to support is maintained.
Both the Student Support Services and Upward Bound programs are committed to implementing continuous monitoring of program records to ensure compliance with federal, institutional, and program requirements. The TRIO-SSS program has implemented an online Grant Aid application process for all participants who are eligible for aid; which requires submission of demographic information and a need for support statement.
With the expiration of exceptions allowed under the CARES Act, all TRIO programs have converted back to distributing stipends in accordance with current federal regulations. Each program will monitor their respective distributions for accuracy and program compliance. Supporting documentation of statutory and regulatory requirements will be retained in the Policy and Procedures manuals.
Anticipated Completion Date: June 30, 2025