Finding Text
Reporting
Student Financial Assistance Cluster of Programs
84.268 Federal Direct Loan Program
U.S. Department of Education
Criteria: 34 CFR 685.304(b)(2) The exit counseling must be in person, by audiovisual presentation, or by interactive electronic means. In each case, the school must ensure that an individual with expertise in the title IV programs is reasonably available shortly after the counseling to answer the student borrower's questions. As an alternative, in the case of a student borrower enrolled in a correspondence program or a study-abroad program approved for credit at the home institution, the student borrower may be provided with written counseling materials within 30 days after the student borrower completes the program.
34 CFR 685.304(b)(3) If a student borrower withdraws from school without the school's prior knowledge or fails to complete the exit counseling as required, exit counseling must, within 30 days after the school learns that the student borrower has withdrawn from school or failed to complete the exit counseling as required, be provided either through interactive electronic means, by mailing written counseling materials to the student borrower at the student borrower's last known address, or by sending written counseling materials to an email address provided by the student borrower that is not an email address associated with the school sending the counseling materials.
34 CFR 685.309(b)(2) Unless it expects to submit its next updated enrollment report to the Secretary within the next 60 days, a school must notify the Secretary within 30 days after the date the school discovers that -
(i) A loan under title IV of the Act was made to or on behalf of a student who was enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the school, and the student has ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis or failed to enroll on at least a half-time basis for the period for which the loan was intended;
Section 3 - Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs - Continued
Condition: All students who withdrew from the College during the fiscal year were selected for testing (twenty total students withdrawn). Five students’ exit counseling and/or attendance status were not addressed timely.
Context: This was discovered during the audit testing of Return of Title IV.
Effect: Withdrawn students did not receive exit counseling for their direct loans in a timely manner. Late updating of NSLDS results in delays in the repayment of the loans.
Cause: There appeared to be communication issues between the financial aid department and the other departments of the College. The Director of Financial Aid did not know the students had withdrawn until the audit.
Recommendation: We recommend that the College review their internal process regarding timely communication of student withdraws.
Views of responsible officials: This issue occurred due to communication issues between departments of the college. The withdrawal process will be reviewed with the Director of Financial Aid, Director of Student and Alumni Affairs, and the Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies so that all departments understand the deadlines and what the Financial Aid Office needs in order to complete the withdrawal process in a timely manner.