Finding Text
Education Stabilization Fund, Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) - Institutional Portion #84.425F and Student Portion #84.425E U.S. Department of Education Award Year 2022 Criteria or Specific Requirement ? Under the CARES Act 18004(e) and the CRRSAA 314(e), there are three components to reporting HEERF, public reporting on student aid portion, public reporting on the institutional portion, and annual reporting. The public reporting on student aid requires institutions to publicly post certain information, including four items defined by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) as key items, on their website as soon as possible but no later than 30 days after the publication of the notice or 30 days after the ED first obligated funds. The report must be updated no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The public reporting on institutional aid requires institutions to publicly post the HEERF institutional reporting form on the institution's primary website no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter with the exception of the first report, which was due October 30, 2020, and the report covering the first quarter of 2021, which was due July 10, 2021. The annual report was required to be submitted to the ED via the Annual Report Data Collection System by February 8, 2021 and applied to the reporting period from March 13, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Condition ? The Institute did not post two quarterly student reports to the website on a timely basis. Additionally, there were errors in the total funding awarded in two institutional reports. Questioned Costs ? None noted Context ? Out of a population of nine reports (one annual, four quarterly public reports for student aid and four quarterly public reports for institutional aid), we selected two quarters of student aid reports and four quarters of instructional aid reports for testing. We noted that the students report for the quarters ended December 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022 were not posted to the Institute's website on a timely basis. We also noted that in the December 31, 2021 and March 31, 2022 institutional reports the amount of funding awarded was reported incorrectly. The sample was not intended to be, and was not a statistically valid sample. Effect ? The Institute was not in compliance with the reporting requirements of the Education Stabilization Fund program. Cause ? The Institute does not have proper processes and related controls in place to complete the required reporting. Recommendation ? We recommend that management review this area and establish procedures to ensure required reports are completed timely and accurately. View of Responsible Official ? Management agrees with the stated finding and has implemented a corrective action plan.