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Finding 2022-001 Disbursements to or on Behalf of Students Identification of the Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster, United States Department of Education. OPE ID Affected: 02244900 Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions Criteria: The Federal Register (34 CFR 668.165(a)(3)(ii)) requires that the institution must provide notice in writing to students no later than seven days after crediting a Direct Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, or TEACH Grant disbursement to the student's ledger account. Condition: During testing of the disbursement to or on behalf of students process, the auditors noted eighteen participating students, out of a sample size of forty students, who were notified eight days after crediting a Direct Loan to the student's ledger account. Cause: As part of the student disbursement notification process, the Organization has procedures in place for notifying students of Direct Loan disbursements timely and accurately. However, it appears that due to administrative oversight, there were certain disbursement dates in which the notifications were not made timely. The Organization put measures and procedures in place immediately after becoming aware of prior year Finding 2021-001 in October of 2021. Disbursements in the Fall 2021 semester had already occurred at the time the Organization became aware of the issue. Effect: The effect of this condition is noncompliance with U.S. Department of Education regulations. Questioned Costs: N/A Context: Our testing noted the eighteen exceptions identified were isolated to just two disbursement dates, which were both in the Fall 2021 semester. The exceptions appear to be isolated to just these two dates based on sampling procedures performed. The auditor notes that a similar finding was reported as Finding 2021-001 in the prior year. The exceptions noted in the current year audit occurred prior to the audit for the year ended June 30, 2021, being completed. Management has since put a corrective action place. No additional exceptions were identified after the 2021 corrective action plan was put into place. Repeat Finding: Repeat finding of 2021-001. Recommendation: As stated above, management implemented their 2021 corrective action plan to address the findings noted shortly after the Fall 2021 disbursement date. We recommend that management continue to keep the corrective action plan in place. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: We concur with this finding and no additional corrective action is needed. Based on the finding, we implemented a new process to ensure email addresses are populated in the financial aid system, PowerFaids, prior to disbursement. In addition, we incorporate a mix of manual reviews of files as well as an exception report that we run immediately after any disbursements to ensure all notifications have been processed. In addition, our new processes aim to notify students the following business day, but will now always ensure notification within the 7 days allowed under the regulations.

Finding 2022-002 Disbursements to or on Behalf of Students Identification of the Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster, United States Department of Education. OPE ID Affected: 00141600 Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions Criteria: The Federal Register (34 CFR 668.165(a)(3)(i)) requires that the institution must provide notice in writing to students no later than thirty days after crediting a Direct Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, or TEACH Grant disbursement to the student's ledger account when the institution obtains affirmative confirmation from the student. Condition: During testing of the disbursement to or on behalf of students process, the auditors noted twenty-one participating students, out of a sample size of forty students, who were notified between 36 and 93 days after crediting a Direct Loan to the student's ledger account. Cause: As part of the student disbursement notification process, the Organization has procedures in place for notifying students of Direct Loan disbursements timely and accurately. However, it appears that due to administrative oversight, there were certain disbursement dates in which the notifications were not made timely. Effect: The effect of this condition is noncompliance with U.S. Department of Education regulations. Questioned Costs: N/A Context: Our testing noted the twenty-one exceptions identified were for various dates throughout the period under audit. Repeat Finding: N/A Recommendation: We recommend that the University of Bridgeport review its current student disbursement notification process and incorporate additional oversight to ensure that all required written notifications are made timely to the applicable students. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: We concur with this finding and have addressed it in our Corrective Action Plan. Based on this finding, we will implement a new process starting with the summer 2023 semester. Disbursement notifications will be sent weekly.

Finding 2022-003 Enrollment Reporting Identification of the Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster, United States Department of Education. OPE ID Affected: 00141600 Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions Criteria: A student?s enrollment status determines eligibility for in-school status, deferment, and grace periods. Under 34 CFR 690.83(b)(2), 34 CFR 682.610 and 34 CFR 685.309, enrollment information must be reported within 30 days whenever attendance changes for students. These changes include reductions or increases in attendance levels, withdrawals, graduations, or approved leaves-of absence. The institution must submit changes electronically through the batch method on the National Student Loan Data System (?NSLDS?) website. Condition: During testing of the enrollment reporting process, the auditors noted that the University of Bridgeport did not appropriately update the enrollment status within the required 30-day timeframe for certain students that had a status change during the year. Cause: Due to staffing shortages and insufficient reconciliation practices there was a breakdown in internal control over compliance including the review and approval process related to the status changes over the enrolled students. Effect: The effect of this condition is noncompliance with U.S. Department of Education regulations. Questioned Costs: N/A Context: The enrollment status change was not appropriately reported for three students out of a sample of forty. In each instance, the University of Bridgeport notified the National Student Clearinghouse of the student graduating from the University, but the student?s enrollment status had not been properly updated within the system. The University of Bridgeport has a reconciliation process in place to verify that student?s enrollment status is checked after submitting batch rosters to the National Student Clearinghouse, however the process failed to identify these exceptions. Repeat Finding: N/A Recommendation: We recommend that the University of Bridgeport review its current internal control process over enrollment reporting. This should include a timely review and reconciliation of corrections submitted the ensure accuracy and timeliness of the required information. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: We concur with this finding and have addressed it in our Corrective Action Plan. The Office of the Registrar will take over Clearinghouse responsibilities from Information Technology. The Office of the Registrar will submit to Clearinghouse enrollment and DegreeVerify files. If exceptions are received back from the Clearinghouse, the corrections will be made by the Office of the Registrar and with support from Information Technology if needed. Corrections to the file are then sent to Financial Aid. Financial Aid will then submit the corrections to the National Student Loan Database System. These procedures will be recorded in a comprehensive manual.

Finding 2021-001 Disbursements to or on Behalf of Students Identification of the Federal Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster, United States Department of Education. OPE ID Affected: 02244900 Criteria: The Federal Register (34 CFR 668.165(a)(3)(ii)) requires that the institution must provide notice in writing to students no later than seven days after crediting a Direct Loan, Federal Perkins Loan, or TEACH Grant disbursement to the student's ledger account. Condition: During testing of the disbursement to or on behalf of students process, the auditors noted eleven participating students, out of a sample size of forty students, who were notified eight days after crediting a Direct Loan to the student's ledger account. Cause: As part of the student disbursement notification process, the Organization has procedures in place for notifying students of Direct Loan disbursements timely and accurately. However, it appears that due to administrative oversight, the required corrections were not submitted back to the Secretary. Effect: The effect of this condition is noncompliance with U.S. Department of Education regulations. Context: Our testing noted the eleven exceptions identified were isolated to just two disbursement dates. The first disbursement date was a large draw down for the Fall semester, and the second disbursement date was a large drawn down for the Spring semester. As such, eleven students within our sample were affected for just these two specific dates. The exceptions appear to be isolated to just these two dates based on sampling procedures performed. Recommendation: We recommend that the Organization review its current student disbursement notification process and incorporate additional oversight to ensure that all required written notifications are made timely to the applicable students. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: We concur with this finding and have addressed it in our Corrective Action Plan.

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