Finding Text
Ensign College Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs For the year ended December 31, 2022 Section III ? Federal Award Findings and Questioned Finding 2022-002 - Pell Grant Notification Letters (Significant Deficiency) Grantor: U.S. Department of Education Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Assistance Listing #: 84.063 Title: Federal Pell Grant Program Award Years: 7/2021 ? 6/2023 Criteria 34 CFR Section 668.165 (a)(1): (a) Notices 1) Before an institution disburses title IV, HEA program funds for any award year, the institution must notify a student of the amount of funds that the student or his or her parent can expect to receive under each title IV, HEA program, and how and when those funds will be disbursed. If those funds include Direct Loan program funds, the notice must indicate which funds are from subsidized loans, which are from unsubsidized loans, and which are from PLUS loans. Condition Of the population of students who were disbursed federal student financial assistance during the fiscal year, 40 students were selected for disbursements testing to validate that the student and/or parent received the notification of awarded funds expected to be received before the disbursement. Of the 40 students selected, seven instances were identified wherein Ensign College (the College) did not appropriately communicate a Pell Grant award before the disbursement took place. The required communication was sent within days following the disbursement. Cause Management did not have controls in place to prevent the disbursement of Pell Grants until notification letters were sent to the student. As a result, seven students did not receive a notification letter prior to the disbursement date. The non-compliance impacted all semesters in 2022. Effect Accurate and timely communication of title IV, HEA program funds awarded helps students determine whether or not they want to accept or cancel the funds awarded prior to disbursement. Questioned Costs None Recommendation We recommend that the College enhance their existing internal control process by performing validation checks to ensure the Pell Grant disbursement notification is sent timely and in advance of the actual disbursement date. Management?s Views and Corrective Action Plan: Management?s response is reported in management?s views and corrective action plan included at the end of this report.