FAC Explorer

Finding 61337 (2022-001)

-
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2022
Accepted
2023-02-09
Audit: 56776
Organization: Juniata College (PA)
Auditor: Baker Tilly US LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The College incorrectly calculated federal aid refunds using two decimal places instead of the required three, leading to inaccurate refunds to the Title IV program.
  • Impacted Requirements: Title IV regulations (34 CFR 668.22) mandate that refunds must be calculated to three decimal places.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Ensure all future calculations for student refunds adhere to the three-decimal requirement to prevent similar issues.

Finding Text

Federal Program - Student Financial Assistance Cluster, Federal Direct Student Loans Federal Agency - U.S. Department of Education Pass-Through Entity - Not Applicable Assistance Listing Number - 84.268 Federal Award Year - June 30, 2022 Criteria: Title IV regulations (34 CFR 668.22) require the College to return the unearned portion of grants or loans to the Title IV program by calculating the refund based on three decimal places. Condition: The federal aid refunds for two of the four students tested were not calculated correctly and resulted in the College not refunding the correct amounts to the Title IV program. The sample was not a statistically valid sample but was determined using Chapter 21 - Audit Sampling Considerations of Uniform Guidance Compliance Audits of the Government Auditing Standards and Single Audits Audit Guide. Cause: The College was calculating the refund based on two decimal places instead of the required three, causing the student refund to be calculated incorrectly. Effect: The College refunded the student the incorrect amount based on the calculation. Questioned Costs: There are no questioned costs associated with this finding. Recommendation: The College should ensure the calculation for returns is including three decimal places instead of two. Views of Responsible Officials: The College acknowledges and concurs with the finding and has corrected the student records discovered in the audit. The College has already implemented the correct calculation when determining the student refund. The College went through the withdrawal population and determined all other refunds were properly calculated.

Corrective Action Plan

CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN February 8, 2023 Juniata College respectfully submits the following corrective action plan for the year ended May 31, 2022. FINDING 2022-001 Corrective Action Taken: The Controller & Chief Financial Officer, in response to the finding of the incorrect rounding in the return to Title IV calculation, reviewed the FSA Handbook and communicated the finding with both the Director of Student Financial Planning and the Bursar. As a result, the Bursar updated the calculation spreadsheet to ensure that the calculation was rounding to three decimal places for the current academic year. The Senior Leadership Team was also apprised of the finding. Name of Contact Responsible for Corrective Action: Karla D. Wiser, CPA Anticipated Completion Date of Corrective Action: August 18, 2022

Categories

Student Financial Aid Subrecipient Monitoring Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $7.52M
84.425 Covid-19 Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (heerf) - Student Portion $1.42M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $1.39M
97.036 Disaster Grants - Public Assistance $788,169
84.038 Federal Perkins Loan Program $337,874
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $212,431
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $165,826
16.525 Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus $129,137
47.074 Biological Sciences: Rcn-Ube Yeast Orphan Gene Project, Finding A Place for Orfans to Go $99,070
47.076 Education and Human Resources: Energizing Stem Teachings Across Rural Schools $77,928
93.866 Aging Research: Nih Area Analysis of Host-Microbiota Interactions in Aging C. Elegan Hosts $64,445
93.243 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services_projects of Regional and National Significance $53,435
47.041 Engineering Grant: Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (cbet) $45,409
47.076 Education and Human Resources: Leveraging Familial Support Systems to Increase Retention of Low Income, Academically Talented Undergraduate Stem Students $36,168
45.162 Promotion of the Humanities_teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development $34,936
47.074 Biological Sciences: Rcn Ube Establishing A Genomics Education Alliance $34,577
47.050 Geosciences: Collaborative Research: Testing the Hypothesis That Iron Oxide - Copper - Gold (iocg) Deposits and Iron Oxide - Apatite (ioa) $30,055
12.630 Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering $22,815
84.379 Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants $15,088
47.076 Education and Human Resources: Nsf-Bcser: Using Virtual Reality to Train Geo-Spatial Reasoning $10,922
47.074 Biological Sciences: Rcn-Ube Develop Inclusive Community for Instruct Visualizing Biomolecules $10,327
47.074 Biological Sciences: Building Community Capacity for Assessment of Student Learning in Undergrad Biochem & Molecular Biology $8,180
93.866 Aging Research: Nih the Roles of Sphingolipids in Stress Response and Healthy Aging $2,500
93.318 Protecting and Improving Health Globally: Building and Strengthening Public Health Impact, Systems, Capacity and Security $1,395