Finding Text
Inaccurate and Untimely Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) Material Weakness
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
ALN: 84.268, 84.063
Federal Award Identification #: 22-23 Financial Aid Year
Condition: When students withdrew either officially or unofficially, the University did not always return unearned Title IV aid accurately or timely.
Criteria: 34 CFR 668.22
Questioned Costs: $4,779
Context: Out of 25 students tested, 2 students had Pell and SEOG adjusted for lack of attendance in courses after an R2T4 had been processed with the incorrect Pell and SEOG amounts considered in the calculation. A second R2T4 was then processed with the correct amounts but used the net Federal Direct Loans (FDL) amounts rather than the original disbursements, which caused incorrect R2T4 calculations and over-returning of $1,762 in FDL and $2,594 Pell. This exception was corrected during the audit in November 2023.
1 student in a distance education program had an incorrect Pell recalculation for lack of attendance. The student attended past 60%, but an additional $861 in Pell should have been returned as the student did not have any evidence of academic activity in one class. This exception was corrected during the audit in November 2023.
1 student in a distance education program was awarded $3,272 in Pell but did not have documented academic activity to establish attendance and should have had all the aid returned. Only $3,256 was returned, so an additional $16 should have been returned. This exception was corrected during the audit in November 2023.
3 students had the correct amount returned; however, the funds were returned after the 45 day return window. The returns consisting of $7,733 in FDL and $44 in Pell were late between 2 to 11 days.
2 students who did not participate past 60% of the semester and did not meet a modular exemption had no funds returned, which resulted in an under-return of $3,902 in FDL. These exceptions were corrected during the audit in November 2023.
Cause: This was an oversight by the University primarily due to turnover in staffing and the complexity of modular withdraws.
Effect: Inaccurate amounts of unearned Title IV funds returned and returns of Title IV funds were not returned timely.
Identification as repeat finding, if applicable: N/A Recommendation: We recommend that additional training be completed on modular withdraws as well as including a secondary review of exemption determinations to ensure accuracy. For official withdraws, while notification and completion of the R2T4 calculations were done timely, the return of funds was not, therefore we recommend that the University put procedures in place to process the returns when the calculation is completed and reviewed. We further recommend a 0-credit report be run at the end of each semester to ensure all unofficial withdrawals are followed up on so that R2T4’s are completed timely when required.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Management agrees with the finding. See corrective action plan.