On July 17th, the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report containing the results of the Office’s review of the Office of Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) oversight of institutions’ compliance with Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Regulations.
Higher education institutions are required to send an annual compliance audit to FSA. If there is a SAP finding (of noncompliance), FSA’s responsibility is to either resolve the audits in the Office of Program Compliance (if the audit is deficient), or ensure the schools in question complete corrective actions (if the audit is found to be non-deficient).
The OIG found that FSA ” did not always ensure schools completed corrective actions related to the SAP findings identified in compliance audits and program reviews. This occurred because FSA’s Program Compliance office did not always perform the required resolution activities or address all SAP-related findings in the final determination letters.”
As listed by the OIG, the effects of this include:
- Schools with repeated SAP findings.
- Ineligible students receiving Title IV program funds.
- Noncompliant schools continuing to participate in Title IV programs.
- FSA not establishing liabilities payable from schools that disbursed Title IV program funds to students who did not meet SAP requirements.
The report also made recommendations for what FSA should do to resolve these issues.
- Ensure Program Compliance office staff are aware of the policies and procedures for addressing repeat findings in final audit determination letters and requesting additional documentation to determine students’ eligibility for Title IV program funds to assess liabilities when schools disburse funds to ineligible students due to SAP violations or when schools close before they complete their required file reviews;
- Revise the system logic in PEPS so that it identifies audits with repeat findings as deficient; and
- Develop and implement controls to identify deficient foreign school compliance audits for audit resolution.
More information can be found in the original report, which can be found here: Federal Student Aid’s Oversight of Schools’ Compliance with Satisfactory Academic Progress Regulations