Finding Text
Agency: U.S. Department of Education Assistance Listing Number: 84.007, 84.033, 84.038, 84.063, 84.268, and 84.379 Program: Student Financial Aid Program Cluster Condition: Management?s review of the Return of Title IV (R2T4) calculation did not detect errors on the dates used in the calculation. We identified the federal aid refunds for students in the Fall 2021 semester were not calculated correctly resulting the incorrect amount being refunded. Criteria: The College is responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining internal control over compliance for special tests and provisions and for accurately calculating the R2T4 refund. When a recipient of Title IV grant or loan assistance withdrawals from an institution during a payment period, Title IV regulations (34 CFR 668.22) require the College to determine the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance that the student earned as of the withdrawal date and return the unearned portion of the grant or loan to the Title IV program as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the withdrawal date. Questioned costs: The amount of questioned costs was $1,062. Context: We tested three (3) students out of eleven (11) students that received a refund. Seven (7) of the eleven (11) student refunds occurred in the fall semester. Cause: The College?s internal control over compliance did not detect and correct the errors. Management has indicated the R2T4 calculation was not correctly calculated as the dates entered into the software were outdated due to the semester dates changing. Effect: The College processed R2T4?s incorrectly and returned the incorrect amount of funds and the College?s internal controls over compliance did not detect and correct the errors. Recommendation: We recommend management review their processes and controls in place to ensure appropriate refunds are made relating to Title IV grant funding. Management's Response: The Associate Director will request the academic year calendar directly from Academic Dean?s office prior to setting up R2T4 parameters in Department of Education?s Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system each semester. After student financial aid personnel enter the semester dates in COD, the Director or Associate Director will verify the dates entered agree to the academic calendar.