Finding Text
Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans Program
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Award Year: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023
Criteria: Per 34 CFR Section 668.165, before an institution disburses title IV,
HEA program funds for any award year, the institution must notify a
student of the amount of funds that the student or his or her parent can
expect to receive under each title IV, HEA program, and how and
when those funds will be disbursed. If those funds include Direct Loan
program funds, the notice must indicate which funds are from
subsidized loans, which are from unsubsidized loans, and which are
from PLUS loans.
Condition and Context: During our testwork over 40 students that received title IV funds, HEA
program funds during the period, we identified one student who did not
receive an award letter prior to their first aid disbursement.
Cause and Effect: The University did not have a control in place to confirm the
disbursement was sent prior to the award letter. As such, the
disbursement was sent to the student prior to the award notification.
Questioned Costs: None noted.
Whether the
sampling was a
statistically valid
sample: The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid
sample.
Repeat Finding: No.
Recommendation: We recommend that the University enhance its internal controls to
confirm all award notifications have been sent prior to disbursements
of Title IV aid.
View of Responsible Officials: University of Massachusetts Global concurs with this finding. To
address this, a new control has been added beginning with the
2023-2024 fiscal year. The new step added is for a systems specialist
to confirm that the batch process for award notifications has been
completed, and that the notifications have been sent to students prior
to disbursements of Title IV aid.