Finding 380975 (2023-003)

Significant Deficiency Repeat Finding
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-03-18
Audit: 295700
Organization: Birmingham-Southern College (AL)
Auditor: Bdo USA PC

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The College failed to report certain students' enrollment status changes accurately and on time to NSLDS.
  • Impacted Requirements: Institutions must report enrollment information within 15 days and correct errors within 10 days, as per federal regulations.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Enhance internal controls and procedures to ensure timely and accurate enrollment reporting and error correction.

Finding Text

Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN 84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN 84.268) Criteria or Specific Requirement: N. Special Tests and Provisions – Enrollment Reporting – Institutions are required to report enrollment information under the Pell grant and the Direct and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loan programs via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) (OMB No. 1845-0035), although FFEL loans are no longer made or a part of the Student Financial Assistance Cluster, a student may have a FFEL loan from previous years that would require enrollment reporting for that student (Pell, 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2); FFEL, 34 CFR 682.610; Direct Loan, 34 CFR 685.309). Institutions must review, update, and verify student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website. The data on the institution’s Enrollment Reporting Roster, or Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified enrollment information. There are two categories of enrollment information, “Campus Level” and “Program Level,” both of which need to be reported accurately and have separate record types. The NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide provides the requirements and guidance for reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process. Institutions are responsible for timely reporting, whether they report directly or via a third-party servicer. Institutions must complete and return within 15 days the Enrollment Reporting roster file placed in their Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) (OMB No. 1845-0002) mailboxes sent by ED via NSLDS. After the institution submits the Enrollment Reporting roster to NSLDS, NSLDS evaluates the Enrollment Reporting roster and provides the institution an Error/Acknowledgement file. If errors are identified, institutions have 10 days to correct the errors and resubmit to NSLDS. Condition: Certain students’ enrollment status changes were not reported timely or accurately to NSLDS. Additionaly, error records were not corrected within the required timeframe. Cause: Administrative oversight and insufficient internal controls. Effect or Potential Effect: The College was not in compliance with the enrollment reporting requirements. Questioned Costs: None. Context: During our audit procedures, we noted the following: • For 3 of 40 campus and program level records tested, the College did not certify the student’s enrollment status within 60 days. • For 5 of 40 campus and program level records tested, the College failed to report/accurately report a change in the student’s enrollment status. • Error records from an Error/Acknowledgement file received during the fiscal year were not corrected within 10 days. Identification as a Repeat Finding: This is a repeat of prior year Finding 2022-003. Recommendation: We recommend the College enhance its procedures and internal controls over enrollment reporting to ensure that students’ enrollment statuses are reported timely and accurately to NSLDS and that errors are corrected within the required timeframe. Views of Responsible Officials: The College acknowledges the finding of certain students’ enrollment status changes were not reported timely or accurately to NSLDS in a timely manner to include the proper corrections to their enrollment status. The College experienced a glitch in its ERP system update that impeded the timeliness and made it difficult to retrieve students' data. This issue has since been corrected and the College is submitting the required data to the National Student Clearinghouse in a timely manner.

Corrective Action Plan

Contact Person: Susan Willard, Interim Director of Records Corrective Action: The College acknowledges the finding of certain students’ enrollment status changes were not reported timely or accurately to NSLDS in a timely manner to include the proper corrections to their enrollment status. The College experienced a glitch in its ERP system update that impeded the timeliness and made it difficult to retrieve students' data. This issue has since been corrected and the College is submitting the required data to the National Student Clearinghouse in a timely manner. Anticipated Completion Date: May 31, 2024

Categories

Student Financial Aid Reporting Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties Special Tests & Provisions

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $4.79M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $1.21M
84.116 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education $151,197
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $151,000
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $104,000
47.074 Biological Sciences $11,386
84.038 Federal Perkins Loan Program $0