Finding Text
FINDING 2022-003 ? Eligibility ? Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance - SEE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS FOR TABLE/CHARTS. - Criteria ? SEC. 472 of the Higher Education Act (HEA) [20 U.S.C. 1087lI] COST OF ATTENDANCE. For the purpose of this title, the term ``cost of attendance?? means: (1) tuition and fees normally assessed a student carrying the same academic workload as determined by the institution and including costs for rental or purchase of any equipment, materials, or supplies required of all students in the same course of study. Condition/context ? We selected 40 students from a list of all students enrolled and awarded federal student aid in fiscal year 2022. We obtained the students? cost of attendance calculations and compared them to their established cost of attendance policy, published tuition rates, and other supporting documents. Six of the selected students had cost of attendance that included the incorrect budget for fees. Cause ? The exceptions occurred as a result of the lack of effective internal controls in place to review completed financial aid packages against approved University budgets. - Effect ? The students? financial need is calculated based on the students? expected family contribution and estimated cost of attendance, which in turn is used to determine eligibility for programs and packages the student?s award offers. If the cost of attendance is incorrect, this could result in an over- or under award. In our testing, we did not identify students who were over-awarded or under-awarded resulting from this specific condition. Repeat finding ? This is a repeat finding. See 2021-003 Recommendation ? We recommend NU institute a process and control to ensure student cost of attendance budgets are reviewed by the appropriate person(s) in a timely manner and that the review is documented. - Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions ? In order to simplify the awarding process, in June of 2022 NU changed its COA policy to align with credits taken rather than expected months. This was done by our processing team under Kimberly Quinn. This has allowed for a simpler process and ensures a more accurate capture of all aspects to the cost of attendance. The Quality Assurance team, under Brandy Baker, has also included a review of COA as part of their regular file review process which will allow us to capture and correct any potential errors. The QA of COA updated its review in July of 2022 to match the changes made by the processing team.