Finding 1176894 (2025-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
L
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-03-08
Audit: 390740
Organization: Rhodes College (TN)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Discrepancies between the College's disbursement records and the data reported to the COD system.
  • Impacted Requirements: Accurate reporting of federal fund disbursements as per compliance criteria.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Review and improve the financial aid reporting process to minimize manual updates and ensure data accuracy.

Finding Text

Finding No. 2025-001 Identification of the Federal Program: Student Financial Aid Cluster, Assistance Listing # 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, 84.268 Compliance Requirement: Reporting Condition: The date of disbursement of federal funds per the College's records did not agree to date of disbursement reported to the Common Origination and Disbursement (“COD”) system. Criteria: Disbursement data reported to the COD system should agree to the institution's records. Cause: The College did not have all appropriate safeguards in place to ensure accurate reporting of disbursement data to the COD system. Context: The College transitioned to a new financial aid system during the 2024 fiscal year, but the process still requires manual updates, which lead to errors during the 2025 fiscal year. As a result, the College’s records did not support the disbursement data reported to the COD system for seven out of twenty-five sampled students. Effect: The College did not report disbursement data to the COD system accurately. Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding from prior year, finding no. 2024-001. Recommendation: The College should continue to review the process for reporting under the financial aid system to ensure accurate reporting of disbursement data to the COD system, focusing on eliminating manual updates. Management Response: The College concurs with this finding. Corrective Action Plan: See enclosed management’s corrective action plan.

Corrective Action Plan

Finding No. 2025-001 Recommendation: The College shouId continue to review the process for reporting under the financial aid system to ensure accurate reporting of disbursement data to the COD system, focusing on eliminating manual updates. Management Response: The College concurs with this finding. College Corrective Plan: 1. Automation of Data lntegrations: The College has scheduled automated nightly integrations to ensure timely and accurate transfer of disbursement data between PowerFAIDS and Workday. These integrations will run in coordination with the 1 :00 a.m. nightly orchestration to maintain consistency across systems and reduce manual intervention. 2. Staff Training and Support: Rhodes will provide additional training and ongoing support for multiple members of the Financial Aid staff. This training will focus specifically on the processes required to transmit data from the PowerFAIDS system to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system. Strengthening staff proficiency in these procedures will help ensure compliance, reduce transmission errors, and improve overall operational efficiency. Sincerely, Michael D. Morgan, Director of Financial Aid, Rhodes College

Categories

Reporting

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1176891 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1176892 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1176893 2025-001
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 FEDERAL DIRECT STUDENT LOANS $5.32M
84.063 FEDERAL PELL GRANT PROGRAM $2.24M
84.033 FEDERAL WORK-STUDY PROGRAM $266,872
84.007 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY GRANTS $198,110
93.859 BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING $121,761
47.074 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES $86,877
47.076 STEM EDUCATION (FORMERLY EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES) $44,000
10.310 AGRICULTURE AND FOOD RESEARCH INITIATIVE (AFRI) $40,838
43.U02 STScI, AURA - Witnessing the Circumgalactic Medium Formation $35,398
93.912 RURAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES OUTREACH, RURAL HEALTH NETWORK DEVELOPMENT AND SMALL HEALTH CARE PROVIDER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT $19,616
43.U01 STScI, AURA – Q-3D: Imaging Spectroscopy $18,484
47.U01 IPA: Program Director for Cellular Dynamics and Function Cluster $17,526
43.U05 STScI, AURA - Deep Grism Spectroscopy $7,450
43.U03 STScI, AURA - Extreme Feedback in Action $6,330
43.008 OFFICE OF STEM ENGAGEMENT (OSTEM) $3,409
43.U04 STScI, AURA - Empirical Calibration of the NIRSpec IFU Point Spread Function $957