Finding Text
Federal Program
Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Compliance requirements
Special Tests and Provisions – Return to Title IV
Criteria or specific requirement
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. In order to accurately determine that amount, the institution must use the correct calendar dates related to that recipient’s program of study. Furthermore, scheduled breaks of five or more consecutive days must be excluded from the calculation. A scheduled break is considered all days between the last scheduled day of classes before a scheduled break and the first day classes resume.
Condition
During testing, we identified that three of the sixteen students tested had an incorrect Return to Title IV calculation on file.
Context
For students who utilized the Great Bend Face to Face academic calendar, seven break days were excluded from their calculation of aid earned. However, for both the Fall and Spring breaks, scheduled classes ended on a Friday and did not resume until the second subsequent Monday, which totals to nine break days. Two of the sixteen students tested showed this error. In addition, one student had incorrect dates used in their calculation of aid earned.
Cause
Turnover within the student financial aid department led to the input of the seven break days instead of the nine that had been used in prior years, and a new employee also input the incorrect academic calendar for one of the students tested.
Effect
Of the two students tested that showed an incorrect number of break days, using nine break days only resulted in a changed outcome for one of them. The other had completed 60% of the semester. For the other student, an additional $40 of aid should have been returned. For the student tested that showed use of an incorrect academic calendar, an additional $174 of aid should have been returned. Total estimated questioned costs when comparing the sample against the population are $1,197.
Recommendation
We recommend that the College review its controls to ensure that accurate Return to Title IV calculations are completed.
Views of responsible officials
See Corrective Action Plan.