Finding Text
Federal Program Information: Federal Pell Grant Program (ALN#: 84.063) Criteria or Specific Requirement (Including Statutory, Regulatory or Other Citation): Reporting - Common Origination and Disbursement ("COD") System - All institutions receiving Pell grants submit Pell payment data to the Department of Education through the COD System. Institutions must report student payment data no earlier than 7 days before and no later than 15 days after the institution makes a payment or becomes aware of the need to make an adjustment to previously reported student payment data or expected student payment data (ED Notice, July 14, 2020, Federal Register (85 Federal Register 42368)). Condition: Instances were identified where the student payment data was not submitted within the required timeframe. Cause: Insufficient administrative oversight and insufficient internal control with respect to disbursement compliance requirements. Effect: The College was not in compliance with the Pell reporting compliance requirements. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For 27 of 40 students selected for testing, the student payment data was not submitted within the required timeframe. Identification as a Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding of prior year finding 2021-003. Recommendation: We recommend the College enhance its procedures and internal controls to ensure Pell payment data is submitted to the Department of Education within the required timeframe. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: It is a compliance requirement to report Pell files to the Department of Education through the COD system. 27 student files were identified as a compliance finding out of the 40 students sampled. This is a repeat finding from the prior year (June 30, 2021) but had not been an issue in previous audits. The Office of Financial Aid has experienced significant turnover in its staffing during fiscal years June 30, 2021 and 2022. This included employing two different Directors, the second of which vacated the position in June 2022. The staffing of the Financial Aid Office has since stabilized and the new Director has implemented practices whereby the office is now receiving and sending files to the COD system daily. This allows for resolving issues/rejects much sooner and within the 15-day timeframe. The Director has also conducted training with financial aid staff to emphasize the importance of sending files and resolving issues in a timely fashion.