The institution audits financial aid programs as required by federal and state regulations.

  X   Compliance                     ___Partial Compliance                       ___Non-Compliance

Narrative

St. Petersburg College is in compliance with this comprehensive standard because it does conduct financial audits required by state and federal governments.

Public Institution Audits

St. Petersburg College provides financial assistance to students via Federal and State of Florida programs.  The Florida Auditor General audits all financial aid programs annually as required by the Code of Federal Regulations 34 CFR and Florida Statutes.  The Federal Financial Aid Handbook and the Federal Blue Book are sources for auditing Federal Title IV programs. The Rules of the State of Florida Auditor General Local Governmental Entity Audits is the source for auditing State programs.

St. Petersburg College participates in the following Federal Student Financial Aid programs for which audits are conducted on a regular basis: the Federal Pell Grant, the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), the Federal Work-Study Program (FWS), the Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan and Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS).

The College President is authorized by Florida Statute1001.65, Community College president, powers and duties and the College’s Board of Trustees Rules and Procedures (P6Hx23-5.906, Disbursement Procedures; P6Hx23-5.915 Encumbrance of Funds for Temporary Help, Work-Study, and Student Assistants; P6Hx23-4.03 and Rule 6Hx23-4.03 Scholarships, Athletic Grants-in-Aid, and Student Financial Assistance) to establish and maintain Federal, State, and College-funded financial aid programs.

For the 2004-05 academic year SPC awarded $66,119,369 dollars in assistance to our students.  A chart showing the breakdown of these funds is provided on the page below:

             Funds provided to students for assistance, 2004-05

In the 2004-2005 academic year the enrollment of credit students at SPC was 35,420.  Of these students 58% applied for financial assistance or Veteran Benefits.  See chart below:

                                                               Tuition-paying students

The College’s financial awards programs are audited annually by the State of Florida Auditor General Office in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United Sates of America, the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States; and U.S. Office of Management and Budget Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations.  The audits included a review of Title IV Financial Aid Programs (State of Florida Auditor General Federal Audit Reports for fiscal years ended June 30, 2006, June 30, 2005, June 30, 2004, June 30, 2003 and June 30, 2002; the audit report for fiscal year ended June 30, 2006 will be published no later than 03/31/07). The College received no findings in the Federal Audits for 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.  There were three findings received in the Federal Audits for 2003-2004, five findings in 2004-2005 and four findings in 2005-2006.

• Finding FA 06-102 (official withdrawal) pertains to the Return of Title IV (R2T4) funds. For standard term students the College did not have adequate procedures to timely return all unearned funds to the Title IV programs and lenders.  Also, the College did not have procedures to correctly calculate return of Title IV funds for students enrolled entirely in non-standard term course; nor a procedure to obtain required student confirmations for students that withdrew from a module when enrolled in two sequential modules in anon-standard term.
  • Response:  The College is absolutely committed to continuous improvement of the management and control over the Federal aid funds provided for our students.  The College has developed procedures, including system changes as applicable, to ensure the timely calculation and return of Title IV funds.  For example, effective Fall term 2006, Faculty are required to take attendance in the Learning Management System.  Program Directors are providing oversight to insure that the attendance is posted and that withdrawals are performed on a timely basis in the separate Student Administration System.  The College has implemented a separate R2T4 date for the non-standard term courses and is accurately calculating the return of Title IV for students who are enrolling only in non-standard term classes.  The estimated corrective action date is October 24, 2006.
• FA 06-103 (unofficial withdrawals) pertains to the return of Title IV funds.  The College had not implemented adequate procedures to determine whether Title IV funds were earned for students enrolled in standard or non-standard terms.  As a result, the College did not always timely return unearned Title IV funds to the applicable lenders for those students who unofficially withdrew prior to the 60 percent point of the payment period.
  • Response:  The College continues its commitment to compliance to the highest audit standards and requirements.  An additional $600,000 has been dedicated to increasing financial aid staffing. Effective Fall term 2006, the College has synchronized its academic and R2T4 withdrawal dates.  The new WF grade is now available to indicate the following: 1) a withdrawal by a student who is attempting to complete a course for the third or subsequent attempt or 2) a grade given by an instructor to a student after the last date to withdraw has passed and the student’s attendance has ceased prior to the end of the term.  The W and WF grades enable the Registrar to identify, through weekly system reports any student who has unofficially withdrawn.  Term withdrawal is then completed and, if applicable, R2T4 is calculated.  Estimated Corrective Action Date is October 24, 2006.
• Finding FA 06-100 pertains to the disbursement of FFEL funds by electronic funds transfer (EFT) to students’ accounts.  The College did not have procedures in place to notify and provide all required information, in writing or electronically, to student or parent FFEL loan borrowers within 30 days before or after crediting a student’s account with FFEL funds.   The College implemented electronic notification procedures of all required data utilizing the Collegewide Student email system for all new loans disbursed effective March 13, 2006.  For 30 students tested, 23 received FFEL loans for which notifications were required. Of the 23 students, 21 had loans disbursed prior to March 13, 2006, for which students’ notifications were not done; however, for the 2 students that had loans disbursed on or after March 13, 2006, the required notice was provided.
  • Response:  The College implemented an electronic notification of all required data utilizing the Collegewide student email system in March, 2006. Studies were conducted to determine the effectiveness of using student email notifications; results indicated that students underutilized this service.  Therefore, the College is currently developing a process to incorporate both email and hard copy, through the postal service, notification of this data to enhance communication to the student.
• Finding FA 06-105 pertains to the timely report changes in FFEL student loan borrowers’ enrollment status.  Due to programming errors (finding FA 05-105), enrollment data submitted to SNLDS did not accurately reflect the enrollment status changes of the FFEL student loan borrowers.  These programming errors remained uncorrected for most of the 2005-06 fiscal year.  However, on June 28, 2006, the College corrected the programming errors noted in the prior audit and submitted to NSC the final Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 file changes.  The test of 20 FFEL student loan borrowers who withdrew from the institution during the Fall 2005 or Spring 2006 terms disclosed that the enrollment status changes submitted to NSC on June 28, 2006, agreed with the College’s records.  However, these enrollment status changes were not timely reported to NSLDS for 10 of the students.
  • Response:  Programming changes were made in June 2006 to report the correct enrollment status change date when the student is term withdrawn.  The College’s Office of Scholarships & Financial Assistance changed the NSLDS calendar to request data from the NSLDS on the first of every month.  Prior to this change; there was a 2-3 month gap in requests from NSLDS to NSLC during the summer months.  Also, the College Registrar’s Office is in the process of getting access to the NSLDS system so they can monitor the timely notification of the transmissions from the National Student Clearinghouse.  Estimated Corrective Action Date is September 26, 2006.

The SSFA department is committed to continuous improvement of the management and control over the financial funds provided to our students.  The department has evaluated and developed new procedures, including the R2T4 process to insure timely notification of R2T4.  A new full-time position was created to handle the R2T4 process full time for the SSFA department.  This new position processes weekly R2T4 reports after the term withdrawal reports are provided by the College Registrar to assure the timely notification to the Department of Education and students.  Also, a procedures/operational manual for R2T4 was created to ensure college procedures were being followed.  The department continues to evaluate policies and procedures to ensure compliance in all areas of the department.

Electronic Transfer or Direct Reimbursement Method of Federal Funds

St. Petersburg College is on electronic transfer method for federal funds.  As a result of SPC meeting the responsibility for proper administration of federal funds, the College is noted as a Just-In-Time Institution for the Federal Pell Grant Program with United States Department of Education (USDOE).

Letter of Credit on Behalf of the U.S. Department of Education

No, St. Petersburg College has not been obligated to post a letter of credit on behalf of the U. S. Department of Education or other financial regulatory agencies.

The College received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Program regarding those portions of a single audit report for the State of Florida that relate to programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education for the fiscal year 2004-2005.

References