The Department of Education offers an innovative loan fund, The Direct Loan Program, for students to borrow money for their education. Schools that participate in Direct Loans receive the funds directly from the U.S. Department of Education and disburse them to eligible students. Participation in the program requires that the University at Buffalo Direct Loan expenditures must be reconciled between all campus budget offices, the State and SUNY Controllers’s Offices, and the Department of Education.

We invested many months in the resolution of the 1997-98 Direct Loan Reconciliation Project. The initial analysis involved a separate review in the UB Financial Aid, Student Accounts, and Accounting Departments. This successful research resulted with each area verifying the $ 79,258,743 in 1997-98 Direct Loan expenditures.

            A.        UB Financial Aid System 1997-98 Direct Loan Totals                               $ 79,258,743

            B.        UB Student Accounts 1997-98 Direct Loan Disbursements                       $ 79,258,743

            C.        UB Accounting Dept. 1997-98 Direct Loan Draw Downs and Returns      $ 79,258,743
 

Further reconciliation steps required discussion and audits of the SUNY, State, and Federal budget documentation to verify the expenditure totals for all the government funding agencies involved. We also prepared two detailed accounting reconciliation documents:

                1.  Documentation listing all of the University at Buffalo Direct Loan Draw Downs from 5/15/97 to 6/30/98,
                     detailing the aid year these draw downs were for.
 
                2.  Reconciliation with the Department of Education GAPS Accounting system draw down totals,
                     correcting any inconsistent financial information.
 
Our research and analysis has verified that the budget management and fiscal controls involved in the awarding, expenditures, and draw downs for the UB 1997-98 Direct Loan Program demonstrate the integrity of the University at Buffalo accounting structure and procedures.

Working with the participating finance agencies provided a detailed knowledge of SUNY and State budget procedures, which the following flowchart describes in greater detail: