WILMINGTON — Cape Fear Community College filed its official response to a federal audit of its Federal Student Aid program. While refuting some of the Department of Education’s findings, CFCC acknowledged that thousands of dollars in student aid may have to be repaid.
The findings
In the spring of 2016, the DOE reviewed student aid paperwork for 30 randomly selected students. On April 20, the DOE delivered its Program Review Report to CFCC. It cited four different issues:
- Failure to perform return to Title IV (student aid) for unofficial withdrawals
- Inaccurate enrollment reporting to the National Student Loan Data System
- Failure to document entrance and exit counseling for student loans
- Students failed to register for selective service (military draft)
The most common issue – but also the most serious – was the possibility that CFCC would owe money back to the Department of Education. This is money dispersed to students who had stopped attending class without officially withdrawing. According to CFCC, the amount of student aid dispersed to students that then unofficially withdrew totaled $78,501.39 from fall of 2015 to summer of 2016.
Fixing the problem
While the students may have to return this money to CFCC, the college is also on the hook to repay some or all of this aid to the Department of Education.
To address this situation, CFCC will utilize collection agencies as well as restrict students’ future registration and access to transcripts.
CFCC also overhauled its withdrawal policies for clarity.
A related issue, inaccurate enrollment reporting, was also acknoweldged by CFCC. The college has updated their policies on tracking and reporting withdrawals.
Refuting some findings
CFCC partially acknowledged the counseling issue. According to CFCC, one student was counseled for the wrong loan program (PLUS, instead of Stafford). However, according to CFCC the loan was never paid out, so there was no need for exit counseling.
CFCC refuted the final finding. While the DOE found two students in their sample had not registered for the selective service, CFCC reported that one of them was in fact an active duty Marine. The second student was not yet 18 years of age at the time of enrollment; according to CFCC, his registration would not have been processed until 30 days before his 18th birthday.
The DOE will now consider CFCC’s response and issue a Final Program Review Determination, which may require CFCC to pay back student aid.
Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at ben@localvoicemedia.com, @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001.
