Finding 1174952 (2025-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-02-23

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The District failed to return Title IV funds within the required 45 days after determining student withdrawals.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with 34 CFR section 668.173(b) regarding timely deposits of returned funds.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Implement procedures to accurately record and retain withdrawal determination dates and enhance review controls for timely fund returns.

Finding Text

Criteria 34 CFR section 668.173(b) Return of Title IV funds are required to be deposited or transferred into the Student Financial Aid (SFA) account or electronic fund transfers initiated to ED as soon as possible, but no later than 45 days after the date the institution determines that the student withdrew. Condition Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance and Noncompliance – During our testing of Return to Title IV calculations, we noted that for two of the sixty Return to Title IV calculations, the District returned the required funds later than 45 days after the withdrawal determination date. Questioned Costs There are no questioned costs associated with this finding. Context We tested a non-statistical sample of 60 Return to Title IV calculations of a total of 726 calculations performed by the District during the 2025 fiscal year. Effect Without proper monitoring of the Return to Title IV calculations, the District is at risk of noncompliance with the above referenced criteria. Cause The District’s internal controls did not ensure that documentation of the withdrawal determination dates for Return to Title IV calculations was maintained within the District’s records. This resulted in instances in which the return of funds was not completed within the required time frame. Repeat Finding (Yes or No) No. Recommendation The District should implement procedures to ensure that the date the institution determined a student withdrew from all classes is accurately recorded and retained in each student’s file. The District should also improve controls over the review of the calculations to ensure funds are returned in a timely manner.

Corrective Action Plan

Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan Responsible Officials: Associate Dean, Financial Aid & Scholarships, Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships Enhanced data on source reports The Associate Dean of Financial Aid & Scholarships, Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships, and System Specialist worked with the MIS (IT) Department to enhance information provided on the reports used by Financial Aid staff to facilitate identifying student withdrawals and initiating the calculation process. Enhanced report will cut down on the need to manually check student information as the Specialist is processing students. New data elements on the report include course and class section information, start and end week, number of units by course, drop date field and the instructor e-mail. Increase frequency of generating the student withdrawal report. The System Specialist has scheduled on their calendar to run the student withdrawal report every week to ensure that the withdrawals are identified in a timely manner and the calculations and returns are completed within the 45-day window. Redistributed department workload; Specialist focused on withdrawal determination/calculation. The Associate Dean has tasked additional office support to assist the System Specialist in the communication follow up with the impacted students, freeing up the System Specialist’s workload to concentrate fully on the withdrawal determination and calculation completion. Monthly review by Associate Dean to confirm adjustments completed for student withdrawals. The Associate Dean will request a monthly report to review and ensure that the calculations and aid adjustments are completed for each student who has withdrawn. This process update will put in place internal checks and balances over the review of the calculations to ensure financial aid funding is returned in a timely manner. The Associate Dean, or their designee, will sign-off that they have reviewed the report each month and file a copy.

Categories

Student Financial Aid Subrecipient Monitoring Significant Deficiency Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1174946 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1174947 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1174948 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1174949 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1174950 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1174951 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 FEDERAL DIRECT STUDENT LOANS $7.48M
84.048 CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION -- BASIC GRANTS TO STATES $1.18M
84.031 HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONAL AID $411,195
84.335 CHILD CARE ACCESS MEANS PARENTS IN SCHOOL $384,406
84.002 ADULT EDUCATION - BASIC GRANTS TO STATES $251,176
47.076 STEM EDUCATION (FORMERLY EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES) $251,001
10.561 STATE ADMINISTRATIVE MATCHING GRANTS FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM $132,597
11.469 CONGRESSIONALLY IDENTIFIED AWARDS AND PROJECTS $131,676
93.558 TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES $68,731
84.063 FEDERAL PELL GRANT PROGRAM $37,690
84.007 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY GRANTS $36,180
84.033 FEDERAL WORK-STUDY PROGRAM $28,020
10.182 PANDEMIC RELIEF ACTIVITIES: LOCAL FOOD PURCHASE AGREEMENTS WITH STATES, TRIBES, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS $9,807
97.024 EMERGENCY FOOD AND SHELTER NATIONAL BOARD PROGRAM $4,455