Finding Text
2023-004
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.038, 84.268, 84.033, 84.007, 84.063, 84.268, 93.264
Award Period: July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023
Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance, and Other matter
Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 685.309 requires that enrollment status changes for students be reported to NSLDS within 30 days or within 60 days if the student with the status change will be reported on a scheduled transmission within 60 days of the change in status.
Condition: During our testing of the Direct Loan and Pell Grant programs, we selected a sample of students to test for timeliness of reporting student status changes to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). During our testing, we noted that 9 out of 30 students did not have their enrollment status timely reported.
Questioned Costs: None reported
Context: The students did not notify the University of their intent not to return, so they were not identified until the start of the next semester.
Cause: The University does not have a process in place to identify non-returning students timely. Effect: The NSLDS system is not updated with the student information which can cause over awarding should the student transfer to another institution and the students may not properly enter the repayment period.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend the Institute review its reporting procedures to ensure that studentsÂ’ statuses are accurately and timely reported to NSLDS as required by regulations.
Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.