FAC Explorer

Finding 1172093 (2025-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-02-03
Audit: 385231
Organization: Mt. Hood Community College (OR)
Auditor: EIDE BAILLY LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The District failed to notify 3 out of 60 students about their financial aid awards within the required 30-day window.
  • Impacted Requirements: Institutions must notify students of Direct Loan or TEACH Grant awards according to specific timelines based on their confirmation process.
  • Recommended Follow-up: The District should establish a reliable control process to ensure timely notifications are sent to all students regarding their financial aid.

Finding Text

2025-001 Direct Program - Department of Education Student Financial Assistance Cluster Federal Financial Assistance Listing: 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268 Award Numbers: Not Available Compliance Requirement: Special Tests & Provisions – Disbursement to or on Behalf of Students Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal control over Compliance Criteria: Institutions that implement an affirmative confirmation process (as described in 34 CFR 668.165 (a)(6)(i)) must make this notification to the student or parent no earlier than 30 days before, and no later than 30 days after, crediting the student’s account at the institution with Direct Loan or TEACH Grants. Institutions that do not implement an affirmative confirmation process must notify a student no earlier than 30 days before, but no later than seven days after, crediting the student’s account and must give the student 30 days (instead of 14) to cancel all or part of the loan. Condition: In our testing of 60 students, 3 students did not receive a timely notification of their award from the District. Cause: The District’s existing control procedures to ensure required notification of direct loan awards be sent to students and parents were not functioning properly. Effect: Students were not notified of their student financial aid award within 30 days of crediting the student account. Questioned Costs: None reported Context/Sampling: Nonstatistical sample of 60 students receiving financial aid out of 2,986 total students receiving financial aid. Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes Recommendation: The District should implement a control or process to ensure timely notifications of aid are delivered to students. Views of Responsible Officials: The District’s management agrees with the finding.

Corrective Action Plan

Finding 2025-001 Federal Agency Name: U.S. Department of Education Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Federal Financial Assistance Listing: 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268 Finding Summary: In testing of 60 students, 3 students did not receive a timely notification of their award from the District. Corrective Action Plan: To address missed disbursement notifications, the Financial Aid team identified affected students and sent the required notices, including an official explanation from the Director of Financial Aid. The issue was traced to a system malfunction during the SU24 term, which has since been resolved by implementing a process that alerts IT and the Director if notification counts do not match disbursement records. The notification script has been enhanced to track missing letters over the previous 30 days, and IT has established a weekly audit comparing sent notifications to disbursement records for accuracy. Additionally, coding updates in the CX system now ensure all disbursements are properly captured, regardless of the date entered by Financial Aid, thereby preventing similar oversights in the future. Responsible Individual(s): Christopher Natelborg Anticipated Completion Date: December 2025

Categories

Special Tests & Provisions Student Financial Aid Significant Deficiency Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1172090 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172091 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172092 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172094 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172095 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172096 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172097 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172098 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172099 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172100 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1172101 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.063 FEDERAL PELL GRANT PROGRAM $10.88M
93.600 HEAD START $9.55M
84.268 FEDERAL DIRECT STUDENT LOANS $7.64M
17.261 WORKFORCE DATA QUALITY INITIATIVE (WDQI) $977,680
93.596 CHILD CARE MANDATORY AND MATCHING FUNDS OF THE CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT FUND $939,034
84.002 ADULT EDUCATION - BASIC GRANTS TO STATES $744,413
17.285 REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP $677,220
93.575 CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT $618,068
10.558 CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM $505,939
84.033 FEDERAL WORK-STUDY PROGRAM $445,431
84.042 TRIO STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES $357,287
84.044 TRIO TALENT SEARCH $244,595
84.007 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY GRANTS $240,887
21.027 CORONAVIRUS STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUNDS $198,469
17.277 WIOA NATIONAL DISLOCATED WORKER GRANTS / WIA NATIONAL EMERGENCY GRANTS $138,385
17.278 WIOA DISLOCATED WORKER FORMULA GRANTS $137,994
84.425 EDUCATION STABILIZATION FUND $84,391
84.116 FUND FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION $68,805
59.037 SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS $41,249
17.258 WIOA ADULT PROGRAM $38,367
47.076 STEM EDUCATION (FORMERLY EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES) $22,289
10.561 STATE ADMINISTRATIVE MATCHING GRANTS FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM $10,455
93.924 RYAN WHITE HIV/AIDS DENTAL REIMBURSEMENT AND COMMUNITY BASED DENTAL PARTNERSHIP GRANTS $7,314
39.003 DONATION OF FEDERAL SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPERTY $19