Finding Text
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education
Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Federal Assistance Listing Number: 84.063, 84.268
Award Period: 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2023
Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance, Other Matters
Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Department of Education requires institutions 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 disbursements tested was not reported within the required 15 days.
Questioned Costs: None
Context: During our testing, one of the disbursements was not reported to COD within the required 15 days.
Cause: There was turnover at the University and this process was supposed to be running automatically, however, the system was not working properly. As a result, the manual process of reporting to COD was not completed timely.
Effect: Students interest accrues based on disbursement date reported to COD, thus interest calculation could be skewed due to the discrepancy in disbursement dates reported.
Repeat Finding: No.
Recommendation: We recommend the University evaluate its procedures and policies around reporting to the COD to ensure that student information is reported accurately and timely.
Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding.