Cape Cod Community College - Student Financial Assistance Programs

This is a follow-up audit of Cape Cod Community College's federal student financial aid programs for July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.

“In accordance with Chapter 11, Section 12, of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a follow-up audit of the issues contained in our prior audit report (2011-0193-16S) and the Single Audit of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of CCCC’s Federal Student Financial Assistance (SFA) programs funded through the United States Department of Education (ED) for the period July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.”

The audit was done to see whether the college had fixed problems found in an earlier audit.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine if CCCC had taken corrective action and made improvements on the audit results identified in our prior audit report (2011-0193-16S).”

These programs involve federal student aid, so the college must follow federal rules and keep accurate records about loans, work-study hours, and student enrollment status.

“SFA regulations governing Title IV student aid programs require institutions, lenders, guaranty agencies, and the loan servicers to monitor and update the enrollment status of all students who receive federal student loans.”

If you are a student or taxpayer, this matters because accurate notices, work-study controls, and enrollment reporting help protect students from loan confusion and help ensure public aid money is handled properly.

“CCCC now issues Disbursement Notification Letters that indicate the date of disbursement and the letters clearly specify the limited timeframe for accepting or rejecting the loan.”

The college fixed its loan disbursement notification letters, but still had problems with work-study scheduling controls and timely reporting of student status changes.

“Our follow-up audit disclosed that CCCC has not taken sufficient corrective action to address prior audit issues regarding (a) improvements in Federal Work Study (FWS) program internal control procedures and (b) student status changes not submitted as required.”

The auditor recommended stronger controls and written procedures, and the college said it had changed timesheets, reminders, monitoring, and reporting schedules for the 2011-2012 academic year.

“All documents were updated and procedures were in place for the 2011-2012 academic year.”

The unresolved findings were limited but concrete: three sampled students worked during scheduled class time, creating $366 in questioned payroll costs, and six sampled students' status changes were reported late.

“We found that three of the five students worked 45.75 hours in FWS during scheduled class time, resulting in a scheduling conflict in violation of established CCCC SFA policies and procedures that prohibit students from working during scheduled class time.”

FWS means Federal Work Study, a student job program tied to financial aid. NSLDS is the federal loan data system, and NSC is the clearinghouse the college used to send enrollment changes to that system.

“CCCC utilizes the NSC to facilitate its responsibility to notify NSLDS of these changes in the enrollment status of its students.”