SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY

Finding ? Eligibility ? Student Financial Assistance Cluster, Assistance Listing #84.268, June 30, 2022 Award Year, U.S. Department of Education Criteria or Specific Requirement Annual Limits for Subsidized Loans: For an undergraduate student who has successfully completed the second year of study, but has not successfully completed the third year of an undergraduate program, the annual loan limit is $5,500 for a program of study at least an academic year in length. Condition Found We found one student out of our sample of forty who was awarded loan funds less than the student was eligible for. Questioned Costs Known questioned costs of $988; likely questioned costs determined to be approximately $91,000. Cause Admitted transfer students did not always have the full number of transfer credits recorded in the system at the time of acceptance and updates to credits were made after acceptance. Since aid is packaged quickly after acceptance, updates for the added credits were not considered for this select group which at times resulted in an under award. Identification as a Repeat Finding Not a repeat finding. Recommendation Management should consider a review of past students who may have been under awarded for potential adjustment. Added reviews over packaging associated with transfer students should be placed into operation and we understand management has already put that in place for these students. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Action See Corrective Action Plan.

Finding - Eligibility Condition Out of forty students selected for testing, one student was under awarded subsidized and unsubsidized loans based on their grade level. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions During our annual audit, one student was identified as receiving less than the maximum eligibility in Federal Direct Student Loans for her grade level. This issue was the result of human error. While processes were in place to identify and resolve any students who are potentially awarded federal student loan amounts which exceed their eligibility, isolating students who are under-awarded is more complex. ? A student's eligible loan amount can be less than the maximum associated with their grade level for several legitimate reasons: ? A student elects to reject or reduce their loan amount. ? A student reaches or approaches the maximum lifetime limit in federal student loan programs for an undergraduate program. ? A student is enrolled in their final semester which may require loan amount proration. ? A student earns more credits or is granted additional transfer credits after the loan is initially awarded. To ensure all students are receiving the maximum Federal Direct Student Loan eligibility, the Office of Student Financial Services has put the following steps in place: ? Additional training has been provided to undergraduate financial aid counselors to remind them of the need for accuracy when determining eligibility based on grade level. ? To ensure the most up to date information on transfer credit evaluation is available to financial aid counselors at the time of awarding, staff in Undergraduate Admission have received additional training on the importance of recording the total number of transfer credits awarded at the time of acceptance. ? A thorough review of all 2022-2023 Federal Direct Student Loan amounts for undergraduate students was conducted that included an examination of all registered undergraduate students who were awarded. Any students who did not appear to receive the maximum amount for their grade level were reviewed prior to disbursement by the assigned counselor to determine if an increase was appropriate. If a student had additional eligibility, the award amount was revised and an updated award offer was sent to the student. ? The staff in Student Financial Services will continue this monitoring process on a monthly basis to ensure any future awards are also offered at the student's maximum eligibility. Responsible Official: Jennifer Ricciardi Completion Date: August 31, 2022

Finding ? Special Tests and Provisions: Enrollment Reporting ? Federal Direct Student Loans, Assistance Listing #84.268; June 30, 2022 Award Year; U.S. Department of Education Criteria or Specific Requirement Enrollment information, including the effective date of separation from the University, must be accurately reported within 30 days whenever attendance changes for a student, unless a roster will be submitted within 60 days. The changes include reductions or increases in attendance levels, withdrawals, graduations, and approved leaves of absence. It is the University?s responsibility, as a participant in the Title IV aid programs, to monitor and report these changes to the National Student Loan Data System (?NSLDS?). For withdrawn students, the effective date for reporting is the student?s last date of attendance. (NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide November 2019, and 34 CFR 685.309(b)). Condition Found Four students out of a sample of forty who withdrew from the University had the wrong effective date reported to NSLDS. In these instances, the effective date that was reported to NSLDS was the date that the form was completed rather than the date the student notified the institution of their intent to withdraw which is the required date. We also noted two additional students had changes reported outside the 60 day requirement. Questioned Costs None. Cause On the submission, the date of withdrawal was listed as the date received by management as opposed to the effective date of the leave of absence. Identification as a Repeat Finding Not a repeat finding. Recommendation Management should consider additional education opportunities for employees to ensure they have a proper understanding of the reporting requirements. Additionally, Management should consider adding an additional level of review to ensure that reporting requirements are met. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Actions See Corrective Action Plan.

Finding - Special tests and provisions Condition Four students our of a sample of forty who withdrew from the College had the wrong effective date reported to NSLDS. In these instances, the effective date that was reported to NSLDS was the date that the form was completed rather than the date the student notified the institution of their intent to withdraw which is the required date. We also noted two additional students had changes reported outside the 60 day requirement. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions To ensure the student effective date is submitted correctly and within the 60-day required timeline, the University has: ? Instructed the Dean of Students staff that the effective date on the student withdrawal/leave of absence form must match the received date. ? Staff in the University Registrar's Office, who are responsible for reporting enrollment status and dates to NSLDS, have been instructed to verify effective date and received date match and to use the receipt date as the effective date entered into our student information system. Status dates are extracted from the SIS for submissions to NSLDS via the NSC. ? The Registrar's Office will provide the Dean of Students Office with the NSC submission schedule to reinforce the criticality of submitting withdrawals and leaves of absence to the Registrar in a timely manner for submission to NSLDS. ? The University contracted with a consultant from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers for an analysis of our business practices associated with enrollment status reporting to the NSC. We are awaiting the official formal written report and will provide a copy of the recommendations as an addendum to this response once received. One of the consultant's verbal recommendations was the use of a document management system for form tracking as mentioned below. ? The University is exploring designing a Withdrawal/LOA workflow utilizing our current lmageNow document management system to streamline process and provide improved timely NSLDS notifications. The goal is to design a document workflow which will expedite the approval process and will enable document tracking capabilities and reminder notification options. ? The Registrar's Office is transitioning responsibility of processing Withdrawals/LOAs to the same staff member responsible for NSC reporting. We believe this consolidation will lead to improved understanding of data extraction for the transmission enrollment status files and any W/LOA forms which are approved by the Dean of Students after the data extraction can be addressed. Responsible Official: Mary Lally Completion Date: August 31, 2022