Finding Text
Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program Name: Student Financial Aid Cluster Assistance Listing Number: 84.268 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: SFA - 2026 Award Period: June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026 Type of Finding: • Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance • Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: Per 34 CFR 668.164 and federal reporting requirements, institutions must ensure that Title IV disbursement records reported to COD accurately reflect the actual date funds are disbursed to the student or credited to the student’s account. Condition: Augsburg University reported a Direct Loan disbursement date of September 15, 2025 to COD; however, the student’s institutional account ledger reflects that the funds were not actually disbursed until September 17, 2025. As a result, the disbursement date reported to COD does not align with the actual disbursement date recorded in the student account. Questioned costs: None Context: This exception was identified during testing of loan disbursements where COD records were reconciled to the student account ledger to verify accuracy of reported disbursement dates. Cause: The discrepancy was caused by a delay in internal processing of the student account, resulting in the disbursement being reported to COD prior to the actual posting of funds to the student’s account. Effect: Reporting inaccurate disbursement dates to COD results in noncompliance with federal reporting requirements and may compromise the integrity of data used by the U.S. Department of Education for oversight, reconciliation, and compliance monitoring. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend Augsburg University implement controls to ensure that disbursement dates reported to COD are aligned with the actual date funds are credited to the student’s account. This could include system controls that delay COD reporting until disbursements are fully processed or periodic reconciliations between COD records and the student ledger to identify and correct discrepancies in a timely manner. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.