Finding 1237592 (2025-003)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2025
Accepted
2026-09-28
Audit: 412534
Organization: Flagler College, Inc. (FL)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: A credit refund was issued to a student more than 14 days after the credit balance was created, violating federal regulations.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with 34 CFR 668.164(h)(2)(ii) for timely credit balance payments and 2 CFR 200.303 for internal controls.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: The College should enhance its policies and procedures for processing credit balance refunds to prevent future delays.

Finding Text

Federal agency: Department of Education Federal program title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Assistance Listing Numbers: 84.063 – Federal Pell Grant Program 84.268 – Federal Direct Loan Program 84.007 – Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program 84.379 –Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants Award Period: July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025 Type of Finding: Other Matters Finding related to Compliance within Uniform Guidance and Significant Deficiency in Internal Controls over Compliance. Criteria or specific requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 668.164(h)(2)(ii) A title IV, HEA credit balance must be paid directly to the student or parent as soon as possible, but no later than fourteen (14) days after the first day of class of a payment period if the credit balance occurred on or before the first day of class of that payment period. Additionally, the College is required to ensure adequate internal controls over compliance are established and maintained in accordance with 2 CFR 200.303. Condition: Out of a sample of 40 credit refunds tested, we noted 1 instance where a title IV credit refund was paid to a student beyond 14 days of the credit balance being derived. Questioned costs Known: None Context: One instance of noncompliance in a sample of 40 student refunds tested. Cause: Delays on the physical printing of the check for the student. Effect: Delays on issuing credit refunds could cause a student to not receive their needed credit balance timely. Repeat Finding: No. Recommendation: We recommend that the College to review and enhance its policies and procedures regarding credit balance refunds. Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Management has addressed their corrective action plan in a separately issued letter. Section IV – Findings and Questioned Costs – State Financial Assistance Our audit did not disclose any matters required to be reported in accordance with Chapter 10.650, Rules of the Florida Auditor General for the year ended June 30, 2025

Corrective Action Plan

Student Financial Aid Cluster – Special Tests and Provisions – NSLDS Recommendation: We recommend that the College continue to enhance its policies and procedures regarding enrollment reporting including additional monitoring over the third-party service provider to ensure that reporting is completed accurately and timely. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: The Office of the Registrar reports enrollment to NSLDS using the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). The Office of the Registrar has added a Systems Analyst position, who is now responsible for Clearinghouse submissions, including enrollment reporting and monitoring and resolving errors. As recommended by CLA, the Registrar’s Office is reviewing its process for Clearinghouse submissions with support from our software provider Jenzabar, the National Student Clearinghouse, and the College’s Information Technology Department and Advising Office to ensure that enrollment reporting and error resolution is accurate and timely. Recommended changes to the enrollment reporting were adopted and added to the written procedures. The College reviewed the instances identified in the audit and determined that they resulted from one enrollment file submitted to the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) that was rejected. At the time, the FTP submission method did not provide the submitting employee with a readily visible processing status, and the rejection notice was sent to a former institutional contact. The College has transitioned to the NSC's Data Upload tool, which displays the processing status of submitted enrollment files. Following each submission, the Registrar Systems Analyst now verifies that the file was successfully processed and addresses any rejection or processing error promptly. Name(s) of the contact person(s) responsible for corrective action: Rachel Nielson (Registrar Systems Analyst), Nicholas Jobe (Registrar), and Sheia Pleasant (Financial Aid Director). Planned completion date for corrective action plan: February 11, 2026 If the U.S. Department of Education, State of Florida or Florida Department of Education have questions regarding these plans, please call Sheia Pleasant at (904) 819-6435

Categories

Student Financial Aid

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1237587 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1237588 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1237589 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1237590 2025-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1237591 2025-002
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 FEDERAL DIRECT STUDENT LOANS $16.17M
84.063 FEDERAL PELL GRANT PROGRAM $4.86M
84.033 FEDERAL WORK-STUDY PROGRAM $136,871
84.007 FEDERAL SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY GRANTS $121,292
84.379 TEACHER EDUCATION ASSISTANCE FOR COLLEGE AND HIGHER EDUCATION GRANTS (TEACH GRANTS) $47,150
84.038 FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN PROGRAM_FEDERAL CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS $41,352
45.129 PROMOTION OF THE HUMANITIES FEDERAL/STATE PARTNERSHIP $6,052
11.420 COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVES $4,600