The U.S. Education Department must conduct greater oversight of grants to minority-serving institutions and other developing colleges, says a government watchdog agency that cites management challenges and, in a few cases, improper spending among grantees.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the federal government has largely abandoned site visits to grantees in the Title III and Title V programs under the Higher Education Act. In conducting its own visits, GAO said it uncovered at least $142,000 in questionable expenses from total grant funding of $1.9 million.
Title III includes federal aid to historically Black colleges, tribal colleges and “developing institutions,” a category that includes many community colleges. Title V is the federal program of aid to Hispanic-serving colleges and universities.
GAO made visits to seven campuses this year and recommended that the Education Department investigate its reports of improper spending. For example, one unnamed institution spent $79,975 earmarked for service learning projects on “numerous student trips” to resorts and amusement parks, the agency said. The same institution spent $4,578 on an airplane global positioning system even though the school did not own an airplane, the agency said.
