Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Title: Student Financial Aid
Assistance Listing Number: Student Financial Aid Cluster
Award Period: July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024
Type of Finding:
Material Weakness in Internal Control Over Compliance
Criteria or Specific Requirement: The 2 CFR section 200.303 requires that non-federal entities receiving federal awards establish and maintain internal control over the federal awards that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal awards in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal awards.
Condition: During our testing, we noted the College did not have a formal review of their monthly reconciliations related to Direct Loans, Pell, SEOG, FWS. Likewise, the College did not have a formal review of their award packaging during the 2023-24 academic year, R2T4 calculations, direct payment of FSA credit balances to students, return of excess credit refunds after 240 days, reporting of NSLDS enrollment to the clearinghouse, FISAP, and verification documents.
Questioned Costs: None
Context: The College did not have proper internal controls in place during the 2023-24 academic year to ensure compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award.
Cause: The College's processes and controls were not formally documented during the year as they had limited personnel in the financial aid department in order to maintain proper segregation of duties.
Effect: The College is not following the compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award.
Repeat Finding: Yes, see finding 2023-002.
Recommendation: We recommend the College review its procedures to ensure controls are in place to ensure to catch any inconsistencies that occur during the year.
Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.