Finding Text
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Federal Program Title: Student Financial Aid Cluster
ALN Numbers: Multiple
Award Period: July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023
Type of Finding:
Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance
Other Matters
Criteria or specific requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 668.165(a)(2) requires notification be sent to students no earlier than 30 days before the disbursement and no later than 30 days after the Direct Loans are disbursed to their accounts if the College obtains active confirmation. If the College does not obtain active confirmation, notifications are required to be sent no earlier than 30 days before the disbursement and not later than seven days to the student when loan funds are disbursed to their accounts.
Condition: During our testing, we noted that 37 of 37 students tested did not receive disbursement notifications before the required deadline established by the Department of Education.
Questioned costs: None
Context: In the process of cleaning up student accounts receivable after the previous Bursar left, this procedure was inadvertently stopped.
Cause: Lack of oversight by management to verify the notifications were sent within the required timeframe.
Effect: Student may not have been aware of when their federal aid was disbursed and therefore may not know their rights to be able to return loan funds. The College is not in compliance with Department of Education requirements.
Repeat finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend the College review and strengthen its procedures for notifying students of their Direct Loan disbursements within the required time frame and that documentation of the letters sent is maintained.
Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.