Finding Text
2023-005
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 Department of Education requires the University to report the disbursement dates and amounts to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system within 15 days of disbursing Pell (34 CFR 690.83(b)(2) and Direct Loan (34 CFR 685.309) funds to a student.
Condition: During our testing, we noted 1 of the 40 students tested had a disbursement not reported within the required 15 days.
Questioned Costs: None reported
Context: The disbursement was not reflected in COD until a monthly reconciliation performed outside the fifteen day window.
Cause: The University does not have a process in place to accurate report Direct Loan disbursements to COD within the required 15 days.
Effect: Students interest accrues based on disbursement date reported to COD, thus interest calculation could be incorrect due to incorrect reporting.
Repeat Finding: No
Recommendation: We recommend the University evaluate its procedures and policies around reporting Direct Loan disbursements to COD to ensure that student information is reported accurately and timely.
Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.