Finding Text
FINDING 2022-004?Special Tests and Provisions?Enrollment Reporting: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance "See Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs for chart/table." Criteria ? Direct Loan, 34 CFR section 685.309(b)(2)(i): An institution is required to notify the Department of Education within 30 to 60 days (depending on the method of communication) if it discovers that a Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, or Direct PLUS Loan has been made to or on behalf of a student who enrolled at that school but has ceased to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis. Condition/context ? A sample of 3 federal aid recipient students was selected from reports of students who graduated during the 2021-2022 academic year. There were no students who withdrew or dropped during the 2021-2022 academic year. The enrollment information and withdrawal or graduation date per the University?s records was compared to the information reported to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) in order to determine if status changes were reported within the required timeframes. An exception was noted whereby the status change of 1 graduated student selected for testing was not reported to the NSLDS. Cause ? Due to turnover in the position responsible for performing the manual reporting process, reporting was not completed until the responsibility was assigned to a new employee. Effect ? The NSLDS database did not include accurate information until the point at which it was corrected. This information is utilized by Department of Education, the Direct Loan program, lenders, and other institutions to determine in-school status, deferment, and grace periods of student loans. Incorrect information could result in incorrect deferment, grace periods, billing, and repayment of student loans. Repeat finding ? This is a repeat finding. See 2021-005. Recommendation ? We recommend the University revise its policies to establish cross-training protocols for responsibilities that contain strict deadlines. Views of responsible officials ? Management acknowledges the deficiency. Due to significant turnover in the Financial Aid Office, management has outsourced its financial aid function to a third party. This partnership enables us to improve our attention to detail and increase our internal controls over compliance matters.