THADDEUS STEVENS COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGYHigher Education

Finding 2025-002: Student Financial Aid Cluster – Allowable Costs and Allowable Activities and Eligibility Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Criteria: The College is required to have controls in place to ensure students receive the proper amount of student financial assistance they are entitled to based on financial need. Condition: Our financial aid sample of 40 items tested yielded 31 students who received Direct Loan Funding. Of the 31 students who received Direct loan funding, we noted 1 instance where the student received the incorrect amount of Unsubsidized funding. Based on the students Student Aid Index, the student should have received $1,750 in Unsubsidized funding; however, they received $2,227 in Unsubsidized Direct Loan funding, resulting in an overpayment of Direct Loan funding of $477. Cause: The controls in place did not detect that the student had incorrectly been awarded assistance based on more than 30 credits when they actually had 25 credits. The additional 5 credits needed for the amount of the award were not earned until the following semester. Effect: Internal controls related to student financial assistance were not operating properly. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Questioned costs: $477 Recommendation: We recommend the College develop systems that would detect credits posted but not earned to ensure proper student assistance is awarded. View of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Management agrees. See Corrective Action Plan.

Finding 2025-003: Late Student Status Change Reporting Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Education Program: Student Financial Assistance Cluster Criteria: 34 CFR 668.32 requires that an organization reports student status changes within 60 days of graduation, withdrawal, or other roster status changes. Condition: The change in status for 4 of 40 students tested was not reported to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) within 60 days of the change. Cause: Staffing changes during the year impacting the College’s internal control structure resulted in an administrative delay in reporting the changes to NSLDS. Effect: The effect of the condition described above was that the College was not in compliance with NSLDS reporting requirements. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Questioned costs: There are no known questioned costs to report. Recommendation: We recommend that the College ensures sufficient staffing is available to report NSLDS requirements timely. View of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: Management agrees. See Corrective Action Plan.

U.S. Department of Education - COVID-19 Education Stabilization Fund (ALN 84.425) Statement of Condition: The College reported 1,083 students who received student aid in the amount of $2,670,299 in the current year, however those students were reported correctly in the previous year. In the current year student aid was not disbursed. Also, the College reported calendar year 2021 lost revenue in the amount of $1,421,437 on the calendar year 2022 annual report, the lost revenue should have been reported on the Calendar year 2021 report. Criteria: The Federal Department of Education utilizing 34 CFR 75.720(b) requires an annual report for all institutional and student expenditures that were made in the preceding calendar year. Cause: There was not a review of the completed form before the College submitted the form to the federal reporting portal. Effect of the Condition: The annual report did not reflect the actual amount of student and institutional expenditures of the College. Recommendation: We recommend that the College review reporting that is submitted to the federal agency for accuracy before submission. Questioned Costs: There are no questioned costs associated with this finding. Repeat Finding: This is not considered a repeat finding. Views of Responsible Officials: See separate Corrective Action Plan.

Finding 2022-001: Cash Management U.S. Department of Education- COVID-19 Education Stabilization Fund (ALN 84.425) Statement of Condition: The College drew down all Higher Educational Emergency Relief Funding (HEERF) 1 and 2 money and maintained an excess cash balance (funds drew down were greater than expenditures claimed on previous SEFAs). In the current year the College drew down the correct amount of HEERF money. Criteria: Per 48 CFR section 53.216.7(b) and the Certification Agreements for the Educational Stabilization Fund, any cash drawn down should occur after or shortly before the expenditure is paid. For student aid related payments, the funds drawn down should be disbursed within 15 calendar days to students and for the institutional aid portion the funds should be disbursed within 3 calendar days from the drawn down date in the G5 system. Cause: The College drew down all HEERF money made available to them to expend and only began to draw down money as needed during fiscal year 2022. All money withdrawn in previous years were not expended in full before additional draws were made. Effect of the Condition: The College has drawn down monies in excess of expenditures in the amount of $421,437. Recommendation: We recommend that the College review their excess cash and utilize that cash before drawing additional funds from the HEERF funding to ensure that there is not any additional excess cash on hand. In addition, we recommend that the College implements a procedures or additional procedure to ensure that cash draw downs only occur shortly before or after eligible expenses are paid. Repeat Finding: This is not considered a repeat finding. Views of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the Finding. Management will put a process in place to review and monitor changes in HEERF reporting requirements. As part of this revised process, all data will be subject to final review prior to submission of any HEERF information to ensure accuracy and consistency.

2020-001 ? National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster CFDA Numbers: 84.063 ? Federal Pell Grant Program 84.268 ? Federal Direct Student Loans Award Period: July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance; Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 685.309 requires that enrollment status changes for students be reported to National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS) within 30 days or within 60 days if the student with the status change will be reported on a scheduled transmission within 60 days of the change in status. Regulations require the status include an accurate effective date. In addition, regulations require that an institution make necessary corrections and return the records within 10 days for any roster files that don?t pass the NSLDS enrollment reporting edits. Condition: Students were not being reported to NSLDS in a timely manner. Questioned Costs: None Context: For 4 of the 40 students selected for testing, it was noted that their change in enrollment status was not timely reported by the College to the NSLDS. Cause: The College?s policies/procedures failed to ensure that enrollment status changes were timely reported to the NSLDS for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Effect: The College did not timely report enrollment status changes to the NSLDS for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Repeat Finding: Yes, 2019-001. Recommendation: We recommend that the College review its policies/procedures to ensure that all enrollment statuses are timely and accurately reported to the NSLDS for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

2020-002 ? National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Reporting Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster CFDA Numbers: 84.063 ? Federal Pell Grant Program 84.268 ? Federal Direct Student Loans Award Period: July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance; Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: Per U.S. Department of Education (ED) regulations, all schools participating (or approved to participate) in the Federal Student Aid programs must have an arrangement to report student enrollment data to NSLDS through a roster file. The school is required to report enrollment status at both the school and program level. The school is required to report changes in the student?s enrollment status, the effective date of the status and an anticipated completion date. An academic program is defined as the combination of your school?s Office of Postsecondary Education Identification (OPEID) number and the program?s Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) code, credential level, and published program length. The Department of Education requires the College to report changes in enrollment status and indicate the date that the changes occurred (34 CFR 685.309). Condition: Certain students? enrollment information was not reported accurately to the NSLDS. Questioned Costs: None Context: During our testing, we noted the following: ? 2 of 40 students were reported to NSLDS with an incorrect enrollment effective date. ? 4 of 40 students were not reported twice to NSLDS for the withdrawal status. Cause: The College?s policies/procedures failed to ensure that student?s effective dates were reported accurately, and student?s statuses were reported to NSLDS every 60 days throughout the semester or at least twice for graduates and withdrawals for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Effect: Incorrect reporting to NSLDS can result in students entering repayment periods or affect their interest rates. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the College review procedures around sending correct information to NSLDS. In addition, we recommend the College develop a process to help better oversee the submissions completed by the third-party servicer. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

2020-003 ? Credit Balance Refunds Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster CFDA Numbers: 84.007 ? Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants 84.063 ? Federal Pell Grant Program 84.268 ? Federal Direct Student Loans Award Period: July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance; Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 668.164(e) states, Whenever an institution disburses title IV, HEA program funds by crediting a student?s account and the total amount of all title IV, HEA program funds credited exceeds the amount of tuition and fees, room and board, and other authorized charges the institution assessed the student, the institution must pay the resulting credit balance directly to the student or parent as soon as possible but? (1) No later than 14 days after the balance occurred if the credit balance occurred after the first day of class of a payment period; or (2) No later than 14 days after the first day of class of a payment period if the credit balance occurred on or before the first day of class of that payment period. Condition: Through our testing of 7 students whose accounts had a credit balance resulting from federal funds during the year, we noted that one student did not have the credit balance refunded within the 14 day period. Questioned Costs: None Context: Through our testing of 7 students whose accounts had a credit balance resulting from federal funds during the year, we noted that one student did not have the credit balance refunded within the 14 day period but was refunded to the student in 19 days. Cause: When refunds of room and board were applied to the student?s account, the College?s policies and procedures failed to identify credit balances from Title IV monies once these refunds were applied. Effect: The College did not refund students within 14 days for credit balances that arose from federal funds as required by DOE regulations. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend that the College put a process in place to refund student credit balances that arose from federal funds within 14 days. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

2019-001 Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program Title: Student Financial Assistance Cluster CFDA Numbers: 84.063 ? Federal Pell Grant Program 84.268 ? Federal Direct Student Loans Award Period: July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance; Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: The Code of Federal Regulations, 34 CFR 685.309 requires that enrollment status changes for students be reported to NSLDS within 30 days or within 60 days if the student with the status change will be reported on a scheduled transmission within 60 days of the change in status. Regulations require the status include an accurate effective date. In addition, regulations require that an institution make necessary corrections and return the records within 10 days for any roster files that don?t pass the NSLDS enrollment reporting edits. Condition: For 1 of the 40 students selected for testing, it was noted that their change in enrollment status was not timely reported by the College to the National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS). Questioned Costs: None Context: The above condition was noted for a student that was due to a social security number input error that was reported by the student on their FASFA. Based on the testing performed and discussions with management, it can be expected that this was an isolated incident. Cause: The College?s policies/procedures failed to ensure that enrollment status changes were timely reported to the NSLDS for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Effect: The College did not timely report enrollment status changes to the NSLDS for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend that the College review its policies/procedures to ensure that all enrollment statuses are timely and accurately reported to the NSLDS for Pell and Direct Loan recipient students. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION