Finding Text
Finding 2023-002 - Significant Deficiency, Compliance
Federal Award No. 84.007, 84.268, 84.063, 84.379
U.S. Department Of Education
Student Financial Aid Cluster - Special Tests and Provisions
Criteria: According to the 2022-2023 Federal Student Aid Handbook a College must include the proper inputs into the Return to Title IV (R2T4) calculations when determining the amounts that should be returned to the Department of Education when a student withdraws from the University.
Condition: In our nonstatistical sample of 40 students, it was noted for 4 students that the University used improper inputs in the R2T4 calculation resulting in the University retaining more aid than prescribed.Context: For two students the University used an improper period of enrollment start date for the Fall 2022 semester of August 26, 2022 instead of the correct start date of August 29, 2022 which resulted in the University retaining $57 of unsubsidized loans and $166 of Pell grants, respectively, more than the University should have retained had it used the proper date in the calculation. In addition, the University erroneously used the gross loan disbursement instead of the net loan disbursement in the R2T4 calculation for two students. As a result, one student received $7 more in Pell grants than they should have, and the University retained $11 more in unsubsidized loans for the other student than they should have, if the net disbursement had been utilized.
Effect: The improper inputs to the R2T4 calculations resulted in the students retaining additional aid.
Questioned Costs: Known questioned costs for the 4 students in which the exceptions were noted totaled $241. Likely questioned costs were not expected to exceed $1,000.
Cause: Graceland University did not have proper processes and related controls in place to ensure that the errors in the inputs to the calculations were properly identified and corrected.
Indication Of Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding.
Recommendation: The Financial Aid department should review and consider revisions to its processes and related controls in place to ensure that the start dates for periods of enrollment and the amounts of loan disbursements are properly included in the R2T4 calculations.
Views Of Responsible Officials (Unaudited): The University concurs with the finding and has provided corrective action through correcting the identified errors and adding additional review of the R2T4 calculations.