Finding Text
Incorrect Cost of Attendance Calculations Significant Deficiency DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ALN #: 84.268, 84.063, 84.007, 84.033, and 84.379 (Student Financial Assistance Cluster) Federal Award Identification #: 2021-22 Financial Aid Year Condition: The University incorrectly awarded students aid based on cost of attendance. Criteria: 34 CFR 668.43(a)(1) Questioned Costs: $0 Context: Out of 60 students tested for the correct cost of attendance calculations, 18 were not calculated correctly, but only 1 resulted in a difference in awarding to the student. Of those 18 students, 17 students had already maxed out their loan eligibility; therefore, the change in cost of attendance would not have an impact. The remaining student was under awarded loans by $62 of subsidized loans and $14 of unsubsidized loans. As a result of the audit, the University did additional review of cost of attendance budgets, noting 7 additional students who were under awarded for a total of $11,741 in federal direct loans and 1 student over awarded $72 in subsidized direct loans. The University is working to contact students to notify them of their additional eligibility Cause: The University did not implement proper review of cost of attendance budgets in the transition from award year 2020-2021 to award year 2021-2022. This caused certain traditional student?s cost of attendance budgets to not be properly updated to reflect the 2021-2022 award year budgets. Effect: Students were not awarded the correct amount of aid initially. Identification as repeat finding, if applicable: Not applicable. Recommendation: We recommend the University set the cost of attendance budgets before packaging begins for the year and properly review all cost of attendance budgets prior to aid disbursement ensuring accurate information is used when performing need analysis. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Management agrees with the finding. See corrective action plan.