Finding Text
Finding 2022-003 - Significant Deficiency, Compliance Federal Award No. 84.268 U.S. Department Of Education Student Financial Aid Cluster - Special Tests and Provisions Criteria: According to the 2021-2022 COD Technical Reference and 2021-2022 SFA Handbook, the College must report accurate disbursement dates to Common Origination Disbursement (COD) for all direct loan disbursements made to students. Condition: In our nonstatistical sample of 40 students, we noted 24 students whose disbursement dates listed in the College?s student records (8/27/21) differed by one day from the date of disbursement dates reported to COD (8/28/21) for the students? direct loans disbursed in the Fall 2021 semester. Context: The students in question had anticipated disbursement dates of 8/28/21 that were not updated for the actual date of disbursement once the disbursements were made by the College. Effect: Improperly reported disbursement dates could impact the amount of interest charged to a student. Questioned Costs: There were no questioned costs to report as this finding relates only to COD reporting. Cause: Bethany College did not have proper processes and related controls in place to ensure that the disbursement dates reported in COD agreed with the disbursement dates in the College?s records. Indication Of Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: The Financial Aid department should put in place controls that would ensure that all disbursements would be processed on the anticipated disbursement dates as planned and controls that would detect if disbursements were processed at a later or earlier date and adjustments to amounts reported to COD were necessary. Views Of Responsible Officials (Unaudited): The College concurs with the finding and has reviewed and where appropriate made updates to the processes used to report disbursement dates to COD. Completion Date: January 2022 Contact Person: Christoffer Larsen, Executive Director of Student Financial Services