Finding 7932 (2023-001)

College Response: In November 2023, in conjunction with the College’s annual external audit, errors were identified in Cuyahoga Community College’s timely Return to Title IV funds. After careful internal review of the student records, all applicable corrections to student records were made to ensure compliance with federal regulations. All financial aid funds related to Return of Title IV funds had been returned to the U.S. Department of Education. In December 2023, the college completed a review of internal procedures and processes to mitigate untimely Return of Title IV funds in the future. Mitigation Strategy: The following process and procedural changes for the review of the Return of Title IV funds have been put in place to resolve the issue of late returns of funds as identified in the 2022-2023 external audit: 1. Retrained staff responsible for the Return of Title IV processing, including updates and revisions to the policies and procedure manual for this financial aid function to strengthen the internal quality check for manual review of the accuracy of returns 2. Identified and cross-train additional financial aid employees to support the high-volume financial aid process, including two team members to check and validate the timely processing and accuracy of the return of funds 3. Developed an enhanced report to compare completed calculations of the return of funds in Banner to the processed with the COD-generated report to verify the timely return of funds 4. Automated reports for Return of Title IV report to be delivered bi-weekly to the central mailbox, which will enable multiple employees to have access to the Return of Title IV reports and ensure more than one trained team member to timely process the return of funds to meet the 45-day federal requirement 5. Conduct a quality check of the Return of Title IV funds to assess the accuracy of the calculation and timely return of funds by conducting an internal Financial Aid Team review of 5-10% of the return of funds assessment every 60 days Anticipated Completion Date: 12/19/2023 Responsible Contact Person: Angela Johnson –VP of Enrollment Management