Finding 967570 (2023-005)

2023-005 Department of Education Student Financial Aid Cluster CFDA # 84.268 – Federal Direct Student Loans 2022-2023 Award Year Special Tests and Provision – Enrollment Reporting Material Weakness in Internal Controls over Compliance and Non-Compliance Criteria: 34 CFR section 685.309 sets forth the criteria for administrative and fiscal control and fund accounting requirements for schools participating in the Direct Loan Program in regard to enrollment reporting requirements . Condition: The following instances were identified through our testing over enrollment reporting; • 7 instances in which student’s status change was certified outside the 60-day reporting requirement. • 7 instances in which student’s status change was not reported within 60 days to National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) nor included in reporting National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). • 2 instances in which student’s program start date reported in NSLDS did not agree with student records. Cause: For the students with certification dates outside of the required 60-day timeframe, information files were not provided timely to the third-party provider to submit to NSLDS for reporting. Errors and failure to report information was caused by entry errors by the various departments. Effect: The errors in reporting resulted in reporting dates outside of the required reporting timeframe or other information to be reported incorrectly. Questioned Costs: None. Context/Sampling: A nonstatistical sample of 60 students with a change in status out of approximately 933 students with a change in status were selected for testing of enrollment reporting requirements. Repeat Finding from Prior Year(s): No. Recommendation: We recommend the financial aid and registrar’s offices review controls over information being entered into the software for dates and other academic information that is required to be reported to ensure that status changes and other academic information are certified within 60 days of the effective date. We also recommend that a monitoring system be put in place to track status changes and reporting of those status changes that can be monitored by financial aid or the registrar’s offices. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding.