Finding Text
2022-001 Special Tests and Provisions Program Name: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Federal Financial Assistance Listing Number: 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, and 84.268 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education (ED) Pass-Through Entity: Direct Funded Criteria or Specific Requirements OMB Compliance Supplement, 34 CFR section 668.22(e)(f): The amount of Title IV assistance earned by the student is calculated by dividing the number of days completed by the student within the period of enrollment by the total number of days in the enrollment period. The enrollment period includes all days within the period that the student was scheduled to complete, except that scheduled breaks of at least five consecutive days are excluded from the total number of calendar days in the period of enrollment and the number of calendar days completed in that period. 34 CFR section 668.22(j)(2): For an institution that is not required to take attendance, the institution must determine the withdrawal date for a student who withdraws without providing notification to the institution no later than 30 days after the end of the earlier of the period of enrollment, the academic year in which the student withdrew or the educational program from which the student withdrew. Condition Significant Deficiency ? We noted the following noncompliance for Saddleback College: 1. Four of the 30 Return to Title IV calculations tested were not performed within thirty days of the end of the period of enrollment. 2. Three of the 30 Return to Title IV calculations tested were not calculated accurately due to manual errors in utilizing the incorrect number of days completed by the student and the incorrect number of days in the enrollment period. Questioned Costs None. Context There were 233 Return to Title IV calculations completed for Saddleback College during the year ending June 30, 2022. Effect Without proper monitoring of student withdrawals, the District is at risk of noncompliance with the above referenced criteria. Additionally, utilizing the incorrect information in performing the Return to Title IV calculations may result in the institution not returning the required funds in a timely manner. Cause The District?s policies and procedures were not properly adhered to. Repeat Finding No. Recommendation The District should strengthen internal controls to ensure that they are identifying students who withdraw without notification in a timely manner. Additionally, the District should also establish controls for further review of the Return to Title IV calculations to ensure that the data utilized in preparing the calculation is accurate. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action Plan For the first deficiency noted, the Saddleback College Financial Aid department failed to review the manually generated report that identifies students who withdraw without providing notification to the institution within 30 days of the end of the term. Prospectively, Saddleback College Financial Aid will run and review this report periodically throughout the term. Initially after the freeze date, a second time after the grade posting deadline date for each term, and a third time within 30 days of the end of each term. Scheduled review dates will also be included on the annual R2T4 schedule. For the second deficiency noted, the three students whose R2T4 was not calculated correctly was a result of human error in the process of inputting data for the calculation. Going forward, in order to ensure that the data utilized to calculate R2T4 is accurate, all R2T4 worksheets and supporting documentation will be reviewed by the Senior Financial Aid Specialist or Director, Financial Aid prior to processing the return of funds. In addition, corrected calculations were completed and additional funds were returned, as required.