Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Program Name: Student Financial Aid Cluster Assistance Listing Number: 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: N/A Pass-Through Agency: N/A Pass-Through Number(s): N/A Award Period: September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025 Type of Finding: • Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance • Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: The U.S. Department of Education offers financial aid to students under two programs: 1. Pell Grant program which provides grants to eligible students enrolled in eligible undergraduate programs and certain post-baccalaureate teacher certificate programs and 2. FSEOG program which provides grants to eligible undergraduate students with priority given to Pell recipients who have the lowest expected family contributions. Condition: The Pell Grant Program has maximum and minimum Pell grant awards established by statute and should be awarded based on the student's needs. During our testing, we noted that one of the sixty students tested was over awarded Pell funds. Questioned Costs: $1,849 Context: A system defect impacted Pell Grant disbursements, prompting the District to disable standard attending hours functionality. Attending hours were then locked in February for the Spring term. Subsequent enrollment changes requiring manual Pell Grant adjustments were missed due to human oversight, resulting in an over award of $1,849. Cause: The District's internal control process was not able to detect the over awarding of the Pell amounts. Effect: One student was over awarded $1,849 Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the District evaluate the student’s status each semester. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.