Finding 2025-001: Student Financial Assistance Cluster - Student Eligibility/Special Test and Provisions Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster (84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268) Criteria: In accordance with 34 CFR 668.165 (a), before an institution ...
Finding 2025-001: Student Financial Assistance Cluster - Student Eligibility/Special Test and Provisions Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster (84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268) Criteria: In accordance with 34 CFR 668.165 (a), before an institution disburses title IV 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 program and how and when those funds will be disbursed. Additionally, when Direct Loans are being credited to a student's account, the institution must notify the student, or parent, in writing of the date and amount of disbursement, as well as the timing and process by which a parent may cancel the loan. The notification process is often completed by either an award letter or college financing plan. Controls were not in place to ensure College financing plans were emailed to all required students and/or parents that made the required notifications for Title IV program funds or that notifications were sent to students/parents with required communications regarding Direct Loan awards. Condition: The College notifies students of Title IV Funds by emailing a College Financing Plan to the student and/or parent. The College notifies students of Direct Loan awards and information through email notification via its financial aid system. Controls were not in place to ensure College financing plans that made the required notifications for Title IV program funds were emailed to all required students and/or parents or that notifications were sent to students/parents with required communications regarding Direct Loan awards. Cause: The College does not have a system in place to verify that everyone who received Title IV funding received a College Financing Plan or that all students receiving Direct Loans received required communications. Effect: As sampled, the College did not provide notification via a College Financing Plan of Title IV funding to two of its students as required and potentially could have additional students that did not receive proper notification. The College also did not provide notification of Direct Loan Awards to seven of its students, as sampled, as required and potentially could have additional students that did not receive proper notification. Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding. Questioned costs: None Recommendation: We recommend that the College implement additional procedures to ensure all students receive notification of Title IV funding and Direct Loans as required under 34 CFR 668.165 (a). View of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Management agrees, see separate Corrective Action Plan. Corrective Action Plan: To ensure that all students and their parents are adequately informed of the funds they can expect to receive under each Title IV Program, as well as the timing and process for disbursement, the college will implement the following actions. 1.College Financing Plan Notification: The College implemented a new financial aid management system (Jenzabar Financial Aid) during the fall 2025 semester. This new system allowed the college to create processes to notify students, via email, whenever their financial aid package is completed as well as when changes are made to their Title IV financial aid eligibility. These processes are scheduled to run nightly to ensure that notifications are sent in a timely manner without a staff member having to manually send notifications. Each notification directs students to their secure financial aid portal, where they may access the most current version of their College Financing Plan at any time. This ensures continuous access to accurate information regarding awarded aid and anticipated disbursements. 2.Loan Disbursement Notification: With the implementation of Jenzabar Financial Aid during the Fall 2025 semester the college scheduled email notifications to students when a Direct Loan is disbursed to their account. This notification informs them of their right to cancel the loan if desired. The automated process will ensure that timely notifications are sent. 3.Quarterly Review: The Director of Financial Aid and Executive Director of Finance and Financial Aid will conduct a quarterly review to ensure compliance with these procedures and verify that all necessary notifications are being issued as required.