Finding Text
FINDING 2022-002 ? Verification Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education; Office of Federal Student Aid Pass through Entity: Not applicable Program Name: Federal Pell Grant Program ALN and Program Expenditure: 84.063 ($339,284) Award Number: P063P211726 Federal Award Year: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 Questioned Costs: $300 Condition Found: The information on the verification worksheet and tax transcript for Parents? AGI, Parents? Taxes Paid, Parent 1 and 2 Earned Income, and Parents? Military/Clergy Housing Allowance did not agree to the amounts reported on the ISIR for one of the twenty-five students sampled. Criteria: If a student is in the V1 verification group, the following items must be verified: adjusted gross income, U.S. income taxes paid, untaxed portions of IRA distributions, untaxed portions or pensions, IRA deductions and payments, tax exempt interest income, education credits, household size, the number in college, SNAP benefits, and child support paid. If discrepancies are found when reviewing these documents and amounts, the information should be updated and the student?s financial aid eligibility should be recalculated. Cause: For the student in question, the financial aid office requested and collected the required documentation and information. However, the financial aid office did not make the necessary corrections to the parents income and recalculate the student?s financial aid eligibility. Possible Asserted Effect: The Expected Family Contribution could change which could cause an over or under award of federal aid, especially the Federal Pell Grant. The student in question received $300 of Federal Pell Grant funds that the student was not eligible to receive. Repeat Finding: There was not a similar finding in the previous year. Statistical Sampling: The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid sample. Recommendation: The Financial Aid Office should correct the income items in question and recalculate the EFC. The new EFC and Pell award should be calculated. $300 in Pell Grant funds should be returned to the Department of Education. Management Response: The Financial Aid Office updated the income items and recalculated the EFC for the student in question. The amount of Pell the student was eligible to receive was calculated based on the new EFC. $300 was returned to the Department of Education in August 2022