Finding Text
Assistance Listing, Federal Agency, and Program Name - Student Financial Assistance Cluster - Federal Pell Grants ALN 84.063 Federal Award Identification Number and Year - Various Pass through Entity - N/A Finding Type - Material weakness and material noncompliance with laws and regulations Repeat Finding - No Criteria - Each year, based on the maximum Pell Grant established by Congress, the Department of Education provides to institutions payment and disbursement schedules for determining Pell Grant Awards. The payment schedule provides the maximum scheduled award a student would receive for a full academic year as a full time student based on the student aid index (SAI) and cost of attendance (COA). The disbursement schedules are used to determine annual awards for different enrollment intensities. All schedules, however, are based on a school operating a credit hour program. Per Volume 7, Chapter 4 of the Student Financial Aid Handbook, under a clock hour program, all students are considered full time students (100% intensity) in terms of financial aid calculations unless they are attending less than half time (0-40% intensity). Condition - The School District awarded aid to students using the full time, three quarter time, half time, etc schedule and improperly recorded students under a credit program versus appropriately recording them under a clock hour program, for which students would have been considered full time in their enrollment status if they did not attend less than half time. Questioned Costs - Unknown If questioned costs are not determinable, description of why known questioned costs were undetermined or otherwise could not be reported - The School District does not maintain accurate cost of attendance calculations needed in order to determine the amount of the financial aid to be awarded to students. Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed - N/A Context - Of the 40 students tested, 33 students were provided PELL grants using the three quarter or half time schedules and were not considered full time students (100% intensity) in terms of financial aid awards. Cause and Effect - The school district did not follow financial aid guidelines for clock hour programs accurately, treating students as three quarter time or half time instead of full time for financial aid awards. The institution under awarded Pell Grant funds to eligible students, potentially impacting their ability to afford educational expenses. Recommendation - We recommend the institution implement policies and procedures that follow clock hour institution guidelines to ensure Pell Grant awards are accurately calculated. Staff should receive training on award recalculation procedures and system validation tools. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan - The School District agrees with the finding. The School District has consulted with its third-party vendor to begin processing the maximum Pell Grant awards to all students in which they are eligible. This began in the Fall of 2025.