Finding 35629 (2022-001)

Criteria Per 34 CFR section 668.165, if an institution credits a student?s account with a Direct Loan, the institution must notify the student or parent, no earlier than 30 days before the disbursement and no later than 7 days after the disbursement, in writing of the anticipated date and amount of the loan disbursement, the student?s right or parent?s right to cancel all or a portion of that loan or loan disbursement and have the loan proceeds returned to the holder of that loan, and the procedures and time by which the student or parent must notify the institution that he or she wishes to cancel the loan or loan disbursement. Per 2 CFR 200.303, the non-Federal entity must establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. Condition For 10 out of 40 students selected for testwork, the federal direct loan disbursement notification was not sent to the student or parent within the required 30 days before or 7 days after the disbursement was credited to the student?s account. Cause and Effect The University?s internal controls for determining that a loan disbursement notification was sent timely for each disbursement made were not operating effectively. Specifically, the manual review and approval to submit the system-wide loan notification for all disbursements did not occur within the required timeframe. Failing to timely send a disbursement notification can cause a student or parent to not understand their right to cancel the loan and therefore can delay the ability of the right to cancel. Questioned Costs None identified. Sampling The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid sample. Repeat Finding in the Prior Year No. Recommendation We recommend the University enhance the precision of the controls over loan disbursements to ensure that all loan disbursements through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program have a written notification sent to the student and/or parents within the required timeline of within 30 days before and 7 days after the disbursement date. Views of Responsible Officials The University of Massachusetts acknowledges that some students did not receive their notifications informing them of the 30 day right-to-cancel for their Federal Direct Loans within the prescribed timeframe of no later than 30 days before, but no later than 7 days after the date of disbursement. The University has implemented an automated communication process with built in internal reviews that will ensure all borrowers are notified within the required timeframe.