Finding 369065 (2023-001)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-02-14
Audit: 290466
Organization: Moberly Area Community College (MO)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: One out of 40 disbursements was not reported to the COD system within the required 15 days.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with Department of Education regulations for timely reporting of Pell and Direct Loan disbursements.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Revise processes in the Student Financial Aid Office to ensure all disbursements are reported on time; management is already working on a corrective plan.

Finding Text

2023 – 001: Common Origination and Disbursement Federal Agency: US Department of Education Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Assistance Listing Number: 84.063 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: Various Award Period: July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023 Type of Finding: • Compliance, Other Matter • Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria or specific requirement: The Department of Education requires institutions to report the disbursement dates and amounts to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system within 15 days of disbursing Pell (34 CFR 690.83(b)(2) and Direct Loan (34 CFR 685.309) funds to a student. Condition: CLA noted 1 out of 40 COD disbursements tested, were not reported within the required 15 days to COD Context: 1 of the 40 COD disbursements had applied dates greater than 15 days from the disbursement dates. Questioned costs: None Cause: The Student Financial Aid Office does not have a process in place to ensure all disbursements are reported within 15 days to COD. Effect: Student interest accrues based on disbursement date reported to COD, thus interest calculation could be misstated due to the discrepancy in disbursement dates reported. Repeat finding: No Recommendation: CLA recommends that the student financial aid department review and revise processes and controls related to disbursements are reported to COD within 15 days of the disbursement date. View of responsible official: Management agrees with the finding and has already implemented a corrective plan.

Corrective Action Plan

2023-001 US Department of Education Student Financial Assistance Cluster - Assistance Listing No. 84.063 Recommendation: We recommend that the student financial aid department work to ensure disbursements are reported to COD within 15 days of the disbursement date. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: As a standard, regular practice, communicates disbursement information for Federal Pell and Federal loans to COD no less than once per week; therefore, we believe we have an adequate way to report disbursements to COD within 15 days of the disbursement date. MACC transitioned to new financial aid processing software (Jenzabar Financial Aid - JFA) in summer 2022 while other areas of the college were still using the "old" system (Jenzabar CX). We experienced a glitch during the transition in which the files did not update as expected, we worked with our software vendor to correct the issue. Below is the timeline of action taken:This finding pertains to one student with Sub and Unsub Loans. We posted aid and sent the original batch on Friday, 07/15/2022; we discovered the issue on Wednesday, 07/20/2022, and reached out to Jenzabar immediately; we followed up with Jenzabar on Thursday, 07/28/2022 because the records were not updated; the records were updated on Monday, August 1. Action taken in response to finding: MACC continues to submit disbursement information at least once per week and review student details for posting accuracy. We took the necessary steps to fix the issue. Name(s) of the contact person(s) responsible for corrective action: Amy Hager Planned completion date for corrective action plan: We believe this finding was an anomaly due to the system conversion. We have no evidence of this happening since.

Categories

Student Financial Aid Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties Significant Deficiency

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 369063 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 369064 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 369066 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 369067 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 369068 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 369069 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 945505 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 945506 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 945507 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 945508 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 945509 2023-003
    Material Weakness
  • 945510 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 945511 2023-003
    Material Weakness

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $6.07M
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $3.07M
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $1.41M
84.002 Adult Education - Basic Grants to States $425,857
84.048 Career and Technical Education -- Basic Grants to States $283,909
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $154,433
17.268 H-1b Job Training Grants $147,518
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $117,750
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $86,059
14.228 Community Development Block Grants/state's Program and Non-Entitlement Grants in Hawaii $79,100
10.561 State Administrative Matching Grants for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program $11,755
47.076 Education and Human Resources $6,684