Finding Text
Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster (ALN: 84.033)
Criteria or Specific Requirement (Including Statutory, Regulatory or Other Citation): N. Special Tests and Provisions – Disbursements to or on Behalf of Students - Federal Work Study An institution may not compensate a student employed under the Federal Work Study (“FWS”) program until the student earns that compensation. (34 CFR 675.16(a)(5))
Condition: For 1 out of 25 disbursements, the documentation supporting the selected student’s FWS pay was incorrect due to a manual error in reflecting the appropriate number of FWS hours. There was no questioned cost associated with this error, as the student was paid for the actual amount of FWS hours worked.
Cause: Insufficient administrative oversight with respect to FWS compensation.
Effect: The University is not in compliance with federal regulations over disbursing federal funds.
Questioned Costs: None.
Context: For 1 out of 25 disbursements, the documentation supporting the selected student’s FWS pay was incorrect due to a manual error in reflecting the appropriate number of FWS hours. There was no questioned cost associated with this error, as the student was paid for the actual amount of FWS hours worked.
Identification of Repeat Finding: No similar findings noted in the prior year.
Recommendation: We recommend that the University implement policies to ensure the University appropriately reflects FWS hours.
Views of Responsible Officials
and Planned Corrective Actions:
Students are awarded Federal Work Study based on financial need and their indication on the FAFSA that they are interested in Federal Work Study. Sometimes, students indicate they are not interested in Federal Work Study but end up pursuing campus employment. In these cases, we have re-allocated some students’ earnings to Federal Work Study if they remained eligible. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, all eligible students will be awarded Federal Work Study, regardless of their expressed interest. This will minimize the need to re-allocate funding between campus employment and Federal Work Study funding sources. Additionally, the Payroll department will enhance scrutiny and review within the federal work-study payroll process to ensure timely receipt of supporting documents for re-allocation and rectification of any errors before payroll processing.