Finding 560605 (2024-005)

-
Requirement
E
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2024
Accepted
2025-05-19
Audit: 356516
Organization: Claflin University (SC)

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Three students received federal loans exceeding the legal limits due to a clerical error.
  • Impacted Requirements: Violated federal regulations on loan limits for Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Review and improve loan awarding processes to prevent future over-awards.

Finding Text

Finding 2024-005-Student Financial Aid Cluster, ALN# 84.268 Compliance Requirement: Eligibility under the Federal Direct Student Loans Program Criteria: 34 CFR 685.203(d) and (e) specifies the aggregate loan limits for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans. Condition: Students selected were disbursed loans in excess of the aggregate loan limits. Cause: Clerical error made by the Student Financial Aid Department. Effect: The University is not in compliance with aggregate loan limits of the federal direct student loans program. Questioned Costs: $11,495; on February 24, 2025 the University made adjustments to the related student’s account and reimbursed the over award to the Department of Education. Context: Three out of twenty-five students selected for testing were disbursed federal direct student loans in excess of aggregate limits. Recommendation: The University should review its process and policies relating to awarding federal direct student loan funds and implement procedures to prevent the over awarding of federal direct student loans in excess of all loan limits under the Federal Direct Student Loans program. Management Response: The University concurs with this finding. Corrective Action Plan: See attached management’s corrective action plan.

Corrective Action Plan

We acknowledge that system configuration errors in the Student Financial Aid Department resulted in the disbursement of federal direct student loans exceeding aggregate loan limits for three students. The University reimbursed the over-awarded funds to the Department of Education in February 2025 and adjusted the affected students' accounts accordingly. To address these deficiencies and ensure compliance with aggregate loan limits, the University has reviewed the financial aid management system to identify and correct configuration errors. Furthermore, the University will assign an independent reviewer to monitor loan disbursements monthly, ensuring they remain within aggregate loan limits and promptly addressing any discrepancies.

Categories

Questioned Costs Eligibility Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
10.766 Community Facilities Loans and Grants $13.76M
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $13.52M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $8.22M
81.137 Minority Economic Impact $3.84M
11.028 Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program $1.63M
84.382 Strengthening Minority-Serving Institutions $755,487
84.031 Higher Education Institutional Aid $553,831
81.089 Fossil Energy Research and Development $546,113
84.047 Trio Upward Bound $539,146
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $379,711
84.042 Trio Student Support Services $351,846
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $260,349
84.120 Minority Science and Engineering Improvement $177,416
84.184 School Safely National Activities $147,165
47.076 Stem Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) $65,385
93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training $64,390
84.302 Next Generation Black Stem Teachers (ngbst) $54,024
47.083 Integrative Activities $43,201
94.013 Americorps Volunteers in Service to America 94.013 $37,903
11.303 Economic Development Technical Assistance $29,397
84.116 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education $18,653
47.075 Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences $15,485
84.379 Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants (teach Grants) $13,192
47.084 Nsf Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships $12,825
10.351 Rural Business Development Grant $10,033
15.904 Historic Preservation Fund Grants-in-Aid $9,200
47.074 Biological Sciences $8,767
93.354 Public Health Emergency Response: Cooperative Agreement for Emergency Response: Public Health Crisis Response $7,916
84.220 Centers for International Business Education $7,840
81.123 National Nuclear Security Administration (nnsa) Minority Serving Institutions (msi) Program $6,439
81.113 Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research $3,307
47.041 Engineering $1,800
84.302 Summer 2023 Mgbst Research $1,397