Report Summary
Community College System
Student Financial Aid Programs
Fiscal Year 1994
| Public Release Date: June 28, 1995 |
No. 95-26 |
Background
Test compliance with certain finance-related legal provisions
relating to selected federal student financial aid programs
administered by the Community College System. We included the
following federal programs: Federal Family Educational Loans (FFEL),
Federal Perkins Loans, and Federal Pell Grants.
Review significant internal control structure policies and
procedures concerning federal student financial aid including:
federal financial aid revenues and cash management, federal
financial aid packaging and disbursements on selected community
college campuses, as well as the systemwide Federal Perkins loan
management and repayment process.
Conclusions:
We found 24 areas where community colleges had not complied with
federal regulations and 9 areas where internal controls needed to be
improved:
-
We found that Anoka Ramsey Community College had not adequately
defined exceptional need for awarding Federal Perkins Loans and
had not complied with certain federal cash management
requirements.
-
We found that Austin Community College did not adequately
safeguard incoming FFEL checks, did not make its Federal Perkins
capital contribution in compliance with federal timelines, had
inadequate controls over federal financial aid cash, and did not
receive federal reimbursement for $4,356 in Federal Pell Grants.
-
We found that Brainerd Community College certified a Stafford Loan
for more than the annual loan limit, did not adequately safeguard
incoming FFEL checks, did not complete independent and timely
reconciliations of the federal financial aid checking account, and
did not receive federal reimbursement for $450 in Federal Pell
Grants.
-
We found that Cambridge Community College did not have a
satisfactory academic progress policy that met federal guidelines,
had not adequately forecasted federal cash needs, and did not
resolve conflicting information in three student files.
-
We found that Minneapolis Community College did not have exit
counseling procedures for FFEL that met federal requirements,
allowed certain of its employees to have unnecessary access to the
Perkins Loan management System, did not have adequate controls
over its federal cash, and had not properly managed its Federal
Perkins loan cash.
-
We found that Worthington Community College did not have a
satisfactory academic progress policy that met federal guidelines,
did not comply with federal cash management requirements,
submitted inaccurate information on its federal reports, certified
several FFEL loans using incorrect information, paid financial aid
to an ineligible student, used unreasonable and inaccurate cost of
attendance budgets in several areas of the federal aid awarding
process, had not adequately defined exceptional need for awarding
Federal Perkins Loans, did not comply with federal financial aid
transcript requirements, did not receive federal reimbursement for
$575 in Federal Pell Grants, and did not comply with Federal Pell
Grant regulations concerning consortium agreements.
-
We also found that Inver Hills Community College paid an
inappropriate Supplemental Loan for Students (SLS) to one student
and that Vermilion Community College improperly posted a Federal
Perkins loan payment to the college Federal Pell Grant account.
