Finding Text
Federal Program Information: Student Financial Assistance Cluster (Various ALN #?s) Criteria or Specific Requirement (Including Statutory, Regulatory or Other Citation): Special Tests and Provisions ? Disbursements to or on Behalf of Students ? Federal Student Aid (?FSA?) Credit Balances - Where disbursements created a credit balance in the student account and the student or parent did not provide an authorization for the institution to retain funds, the institution must provide the credit balance amount to the student within 14 days of the date the balance was created (34 CFR 668.164(h)). Condition: Instance was identified where the College did not issue a refund within the required timeframe. Cause: Lack of administrative oversight with respect to disbursements to or on behalf of students. Effect: The College was not in compliance with disbursements to or on behalf of students. Questioned Costs: None. Context: For 1 of 40 students selected for testing, the College did not issue the refund within the required 14 days. Identification as a Repeat Finding: This is a repeat finding of prior year finding 2021-007. Recommendation: We recommend the College complete a timely review of credit balances in order to issue all refunds with respect to FSA credit balances within the required timeframe. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: This finding relates to aid that was disbursed in January 2022. A miscommunication occurred between the Financial Aid Office and the Business Office, and the Student Accounts Manager was not made aware the aid had been disbursed and a refund was due to the student. As a result of a similar finding during the June 30, 2021 audit, the College changed its policy as of February 15, 2022. The Student Accounts Manager is now completing timely reviews of credit balances on student accounts and coordinating with the Financial Aid Office to expedite its review of the student?s financial aid to ensure all FSA credit balances are refunded to students within the required timeframe.