Finding Text
Federal Program Information: Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (ALN# 84.007), Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN #84.063), Federal Direct Student Loans (ALN# 84.268)
Criteria or Specific Requirement (Including Statutory, Regulatory or Other Citation): N. Special Test and Provisions – Return of Title IV Funds: When a recipient of Title IV grant or loan assistance withdraws from an institution during a payment period or period of enrollment in which the recipient began attendance, the institution must determine the amount of Title IV aid earned by the student as of the student’s withdrawal date. Additionally, returns of Title IV funds are required to be deposited or transferred into the student financial assistance account or electronic fund transfers initiated to the U.S. Department of Education no later than 45 days after the date the institution determines the student has withdrawn.
Condition: Students’ return calculations were not accurately prepared due to improper inclusion of institutionally scheduled breaks.
Cause: Administrative oversight and insufficient internal controls.
Effect or Potential Effect: Over or underpayment of Title IV funds.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 2 of 4 students tested, the amounts to return were not calculated in accordance with the requirements.
Identification as a Repeat Finding: No similar finding identified in the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend the University enhance its procedures and internal controls over the preparation and review of R2T4 calculations to ensure that return amounts are accurately determined.
Views of Responsible Officials: The error falls into the category of human oversight rather than fundamental misunderstanding of the regulation or timing of processes. The break days for fall 2022 were not properly calculated to include a break of 5 days. We will develop and implement a process within Student Financial Services to audit all R2T4 records for accuracy, completeness, and consistency regarding length of academic periods.