Finding Text
FINDING 2022-002 ? COD Disbursement Dates Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education; Office of Federal Student Aid Pass through Entity: Not applicable Program Name: Federal Direct Student Loan Program Federal Pell Grant Program AL# and Program Expenditure: 84.268 ($451,732) 84.063 ($279,693) Award Number: P268K227533 P063P217533 Federal Award Year: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 Questioned Costs: $-0- Condition Found: The Common Origination and Disbursement System (?COD?) disbursement date did not agree with the disbursement date on accounts for five of the eight students receiving Federal Direct Loans and ten of the fourteen students receiving Federal Pell Grant funds in our sample. A total of twelve students were affected by this finding. Criteria: The disbursement date to be reported to the COD is the date that the institution credits funds to a student?s account or pays funds to a student or parent directly. Cause: For one disbursement cycle, the employee that posts funds to student accounts was out of the office when the funds were requested. The day the employee returned was the date used to the post to the student accounts. This did not agree with disbursement date posted in COD. Possible Asserted Effect: The disbursement date in COD is the date interest begins accruing on the Federal Direct Loans. In order for the interest calculation to be accurate, the disbursement date in COD should be the date the students received the loan funds. Repeat Finding: There was not a similar finding for the year ended June 30, 2021. Statistical Sampling: The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid sample. Recommendation: The Student Financial Aid Director should correct the disbursement dates on the student accounts so that the dates agree with the COD disbursement dates. Management Response: The Vice President of Finance corrected the disbursement dates for the students in question in October 2022. Going forward, the Student Financial Aid Office and Business Office will coordinate the drawdown of funds, reporting to COD, and posting to student accounts.