Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance and Other Matters
Recurring: No
Compliance Requirement: Special tests and Provisions - Enrollment
Program Information: Student Financial Aid Cluster (ALN 84.007, 84.003, 84.063, 84.268)
Criteria: CFR section 685.309 and 690.83(b)(2) requires Colleges to notify the NSLDS within 30 days of a change in student status or include the change in status in a response to an enrollment reporting roster within 60 days of the student’s date of determination of withdrawal.
2 CFR Section 200.303 requires entities receiving Federal awards establish and maintain internal controls deigned to reasonably ensure compliance with Federal laws, regulations, and program compliance requirements. Effective internal controls should include procedures in place to ensure accurate reporting of enrollment status changes.
Condition: Out of 40 students sampled from the College’s roster files, 3 out of 40 did not have updated enrollment statuses reported to NSLDS.
Cause: The financial aid office does not have an effective system in place to ensure all official student status changes are reported accurately.
Effect: Failure to report status changes timely is noncompliance with Federal regulation and could result in loss of future funding.
Questioned Cost: None
Recommendations: The College should implement monitoring procedures which will promptly notify the financial aid office of any student status changes. A system of monitoring procedures and/or controls will ensure the College is reporting any status changes accurately. The College should implement a review process to ensure all status changes are addressed by the financial aid office.
View of Responsible Officials: The College’s management will address the matter identified as described in the corrective action plan.