The University of Southern California’s Compliance with Federal Verification and Reporting Requirements

The University of Southern California did not complete verification of applicant data in accordance with Federal requirements for 7 of the 60 students included in our statistical random sample. As a result, the university improperly disbursed $21,530 in Title IV aid to four students and improperly disbursed $1,000 less in Title IV aid than one student was eligible to receive. There was no effect on the amount of Title IV aid disbursed for the other two students. Based on the results of our statistical random sample, we estimate that the University of Southern California did not complete verification in accordance with Federal requirements for 184 (12 percent) of the 1,534 Pell recipientsselected for verification for award year 2017–2018.We also found that the University of Southern California did not accurately report verification results to the Central Processing System and Common Origination and Disbursement System for 8 of the 60 students included in our statistical random sample. Based on the results of our statistical random sample, we estimate that the University of Southern California did not accurately report verification results for 199 (13 percent) of the 1,534 Pell recipients selected for verification for award year 2017–2018.