FAC Explorer

Finding 20752 (2022-001)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
AB
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2022
Accepted
2023-03-27
Audit: 19450
Organization: Saint Michael's College (VT)
Auditor: Kpmg LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The College claimed $1,061,426 in lost room and board revenue, but discrepancies were found in the reported amounts.
  • Impacted Requirements: The College did not properly segregate HEERF III funds from the State COVID-19 relief grant, leading to potential overstatements in lost revenue claims.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Review and correct the lost room and board calculations, ensuring accurate reporting and compliance with funding requirements.

Finding Text

Of the total HEERF III Institutional expenditures of $1,467,000, the College claimed $1,061,426 as lost room and board revenue for the year ended June 30, 2022. In connection with our audit, the College provided us with a listing of lost room and board revenue totaling $1,392,505 that was claimed for both HEERF III institutional funds as well as a COVID-19 relief grant provided by the State of Vermont. Since the population was not segregated between HEERF funds and the State grant, we subjected the total lost room and board revenue detail to our allowability procedures. During our testwork, we identified 3 students in our sample of 25, that attended and paid room & board for a portion of the semester; however, the College included the full semester amount of room and board in their lost room and board revenue detail. We also noted 1 student in our sample of 25 where the incorrect room & board rate was used to calculate the lost revenue.

Corrective Action Plan

Management has reviewed the process to determine the root cause of how the incorrect data was included in the original list of lost housing revenue. Through investigation with the Residential Life Department, it was found that the source used to identify the original population was the system used to manage student housing assignments, rather than the student billing sub-ledger, which is the system of record. To establish confidence, an independent query was performed by the Institutional Research (IR) Department. IR has extensive technical knowledge of the Colleague system. The results of that query was then compared and reconciled to the original data set. The final analysis identified $108,056 of overstated lost housing revenue, inclusive of the 4 students identified by KPMG, reducing the lost housing revenue reported from $1,392,505 to $1,284,449. The amount of lost housing revenue allocated to HEERF was $1,061,426. Federal funds were not overdrawn by this misstatement of lost housing revenue. Going forward the Finance Department will strengthen the analysis of student data by engaging Institutional Research to validate data queries of student system.

Categories

Questioned Costs

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 597194 2022-001
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $7.70M
84.038 Federal Perkins Loan Program $2.54M
84.425 Covid-19 - Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund - Student $1.47M
84.425 Covid-19 - Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund - Institutional $1.47M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $1.31M
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $303,448
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $227,471
47.076 National Science Foundation 1742241 $215,998
47.083 Office of Integrative Activities $176,176
93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training $175,034
93.243 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services_projects of Regional and National Significance $53,078
47.049 National Science Foundation 1805164 $26,049
43.008 College and Fellowship Program $23,150
15.805 Assistance to State Water Resources Research Institutes $12,219
93.279 Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs $10,827
43.008 Research $10,626
45.160 Promotion of the Humanities_fellowships and Stipends $6,429
15.631 Partners for Fish and Wildlife $6,045