Student Financial Aid Cluster – Assistance Listing No. Various Recommendation: We recommend that the University review their awarding procedures and implement procedures to ensure the Stafford loans are awarded within the annual and aggregate limits. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: At the time the Subsidized Direct Loan was initially awarded, the student was classified as grade level one and was correctly awarded $3,500. Subsequently, the student’s grade level increased; however, the Direct Loan award was not adjusted accordingly. The Office of Financial Aid relies on email notifications to identify students with grade-level changes, and the notification for this student was inadvertently missed. In response to this error, the Office of Financial Aid implemented additional monitoring controls. A report was developed to identify all students with changes in grade level and is now generated and provided weekly by the Office of the Registrar to the Office of Financial Aid. A designated Financial Aid Advisor has been assigned responsibility for reviewing this report and adjusting Direct Loan awards as necessary to ensure accuracy. As an additional preventative measure, the Director of Financial Aid will verify student grade level and corresponding Direct Loan eligibility prior to disbursement. The Office of Financial Aid will also conduct periodic reviews to confirm that Direct Loan awards consistently and accurately align with students’ grade levels.