Finding Text
Finding 2022-002 Disbursements to or on Behalf of Students Identification of the Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster, United States Department of Education. OPE ID Affected: 00141600 Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions Criteria: The Federal Register (34 CFR 668.165(a)(3)(i)) requires that the institution must provide notice in writing to students no later than thirty days after crediting a Direct Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, or TEACH Grant disbursement to the student's ledger account when the institution obtains affirmative confirmation from the student. Condition: During testing of the disbursement to or on behalf of students process, the auditors noted twenty-one participating students, out of a sample size of forty students, who were notified between 36 and 93 days after crediting a Direct Loan to the student's ledger account. Cause: As part of the student disbursement notification process, the Organization has procedures in place for notifying students of Direct Loan disbursements timely and accurately. However, it appears that due to administrative oversight, there were certain disbursement dates in which the notifications were not made timely. Effect: The effect of this condition is noncompliance with U.S. Department of Education regulations. Questioned Costs: N/A Context: Our testing noted the twenty-one exceptions identified were for various dates throughout the period under audit. Repeat Finding: N/A Recommendation: We recommend that the University of Bridgeport review its current student disbursement notification process and incorporate additional oversight to ensure that all required written notifications are made timely to the applicable students. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: We concur with this finding and have addressed it in our Corrective Action Plan. Based on this finding, we will implement a new process starting with the summer 2023 semester. Disbursement notifications will be sent weekly.