BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College is having its financial aid program reviewed after being required to repay the state student aid agency $13,000 due to an error in processing grants for out-of-county students.

BC3’s board of trustees Wednesday approved a $30,000 contract to have the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators conduct a peer review of its financial aid program, which administers state and federal student tuition grants.

The review is a proactive move, BC3 President Nicholas Neupauer said, to ensure accuracy in the student aid program.

“This is a precautionary move to make sure we’re accurate,” Neupauer added.

BC3 processes $9.5 million a year in state and federal grants, and errors are discovered occasionally, he said. Regulations for state and federal aid change frequently, he pointed out.

In September, the trustees were told that a review of the seven grant programs offered through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency found discrepancies in the grants processed for out-of-county students. The findings required the school to repay PHEAA $13,000.

BC3 processes $1.5 million a year in state aid and $8 million federal grants and loans.

Neupauer said the $13,000 that had to be repaid is a lot of money, but is a small amount considering the amount of aid the college processes every year.

“It is not unusual from the federal grant perspective and the state grant perspective that there are some findings,” Neupauer said.

Seventy percent of BC3’s students receive financial aid, said Jim Hrabosky, vice president for administration and finance

The peer review was not required. It was recommended by the director of financial aid, Hrabosky told the trustees Wednesday.

The review team will look at all aspects of state and federal aid administration including staffing and technology, Hrabosky said. The review will start in February and take two or three weeks to complete, he said.

Case Willoughby, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said adding and dropping classes, which students frequently do, impacts financial aid.

Most students pay their tuition with credit cards or debit cards and BC3 plans to look for a way to reduce the $90,000 a year it pays in transaction fees.

“Eighty-five percent of our students pay by credit card,” Hrabosky said. Transaction fees are not passed onto students, he added.

He has scheduled meetings with credit card processors to gather information for a request for proposals (RFP) the college will issue later in the year for a credit card processing firm.

It has been eight or nine years since the college issued an RFP for credit card processing, he said.