Finding Text
2024-006 - Student Financial Aid Cluster - (a) Federal Pell Grant (b) Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (c) Federal Work Study Grant (d) Federal Perkins Loan Program (e) Federal Direct Student Loans (f) Teacher education Assistance for College and Higher Education ALN No. (a) 84.063 (b) 84.007 (c) 84.033 (d) 84.038 (e) 84.268 (f) 84.379 - Year Ended June 30, 2024.
Criteria: 34 CFR 668.22 (a)(1) states “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 paragraph (e) of this section.”
34 CFR 668.22 (e)(2) states, “The percentage of title IV grant or loan assistance that has been earned by the student is - (i) Equal to the percentage of the payment period or period of enrollment that the student completed (as determined in accordance with paragraph (f) of this section) as of the student's withdrawal date, if this date occurs on or before - (A) Completion of 60 percent of the payment period or period of enrollment for a program that is measured in credit hours; or…”
34 CFR 668.22(j) notes, “(1) An institution must return the amount of title IV funds for which it is responsible under paragraph (g) of this section as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the date of the institution's determination that the student withdrew as defined in paragraph (l)(3) of this section. The timeframe for returning funds is further described in § 668.173(b).”
An institution must notify the student of a post-withdrawal disbursement of Federal Direct Loans used to credit the student’s account for outstanding charges (34 CFR 668.22).
Condition: The College did not timely and accurately complete refund calculations in the Spring. In review of the Spring 2024 calculations the number of days in the break was not calculated correctly, resulting in the incorrect days in all Spring 2024 return of Title IV funds calculations. As a result of the incorrect number of days, the amounts of Title IV amounts returned for all withdrawn students were incorrectly calculated for 4 out of the population of 6 (67%) Spring withdrawal calculations as two students had attended over 60% of the semester for bot the original and updated calculations and as such, no return was required. A sample of Fall withdrawal calculations identified no errors. We consider this finding to be a significant deficiency in relation to Special Tests and Provisions compliance requirement. Statistical sampling was not used in making sample selections.
Questioned Costs: $3,448
Effect: Miscalculation of the days in the Return of Title IV funds calculations results in incorrect amounts returned by the College.
Recommendation: We recommend the College continually educate themselves on the requirements for the return of title IV fund and ensure the proper controls are implemented to timely and accurately return unearned aid.
Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with this Single Audit Finding and response is included in the Corrective Action Plan.