Howard University has been placed on a list that could heighten financial aid issues for the already troubled institution.
On August 13, the prestigious HBCU received a letter from education secretary Betsy DeVos informing the school it was added to the “heightened cash monitoring” list or HCM2, reports The Washington Post.
The classification means the school will not receive upfront funds for financial aid. Instead, it will be required to distribute the funds and ask the government for reimbursement. The change will affect $31,352,790 in funds. Other schools on this list include a hair school in Kentucky.
In the letter, the Education Department listed a number of issues that led to this decision:
“The Department is taking this action as a result of serious administrative capabilities identified in Howard’s compliance audits for award years 2015 through 2017 and during the program review conducted in May 2018. The issues include, among other things, a lack of internal controls, the failure to reconcile Title IV disbursements, the failure to reconcile account records, the failure to ensure students begin attendance and are eligible to receive Title IV funds, the failure to separate the functions of authorizing and disbursing Title IV funds, and the failure to follow Title IV credit balance requirements. In addition, Howard has failed to provide all documentation requested during the resolution of its annual compliance audits and during the recent program review. The Department has determined that these issues warrant moving Howard to the HCM2 method of payment.”
When asked about the reclassification, Howard president Wayne A.I. Frederick said he wasn’t sure why the institution was placed on the list.
However, Frederick cited the university’s financial aid scandal in an open letter:
“The Department of Education began an extensive program review of Howard University in April of 2018 following the public dissemination of information regarding the internal investigation of misappropriation of funds in our financial aid office. While this program review is still in progress, the Department of Education has elected to place Howard University on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 status so that the DOE can closely monitor the institution’s financial aid management. It is important to note that we are taking all necessary measures to avoid any adverse impact to students in the processing of aid and receipt of funds.”
Frederick seemed optimistic during an interview with Fox5 DC. He said the school has doubled its staff and hired a new financial aid director. The reclassification didn’t seem to bother him.
“The issue with federal funding is that we will still get the same federal funding, we just have to go through a different process of payment,” Frederick continued. “So we'll end up getting the same payment over the course of the year but just that we have to submit more documentation and make sure our internal controls and those things are better.”
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