Finding Text
Finding: Item 2022-001 ? Special Tests and Provisions: Return of Title IV Funds Federal Program ? Federal Direct Student Loans Federal Agency ? Department of Education CFDA Number 84.268 Federal Award Number ? P268K221302 Federal Award Year ? June 30, 2022 Pass-Through Entity ? Not Applicable Criteria: Returns of Title IV funds are required to be deposited or transferred into the SFA account or electronic fund transfers initiated to ED as soon as possible, but no later than 45 days after the date the institution determines that the student withdrew per 34 CFR 668.173(b). Condition: Out of a sample of 108 students there were 20 who withdrew. We decided to test all 20 of those students as it related to return of Title IV funds. Return of funds were sent in by the required date except for two instances. One was late due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. The school was closed on that Thursday and Friday, so the funds were not submitted until the following Monday. This was not a big deal; however, the other instance was simply late by 4 days and no Holidays were involved. Cause: Simply an oversight in which the date simply slipped by them. Effect: The Department of Education received the transferred return of funds 4 days later than they were required to be deposited into the SFA account. Recommendation: College management should design and implement procedures to ensure that there are checks and balances to make sure that when a student withdraws and the return of funds are calculated that the required return date is flagged and sent to whomever is responsible for submitting those funds to the SFA account. Management?s Response and Corrective Action Plan: Financial Aid personnel will utilize a built in Return to Title IV feature of the financial aid software, PowerFaids, to function as a quality assurance measure for Accounting Office staff. The PowerFaids function archives the date of withdrawal and calculates the deadline for return of funds. This feature will allow for quality assurance reports to be pulled no less than a week before the deadline so that Financial Aid staff can serve as an accountability partner for Accounting staff in ensuring funds are returned in a timely fashion and in compliance with all federal guidelines.