System-Level Accountability Scorecard
Assurances: Meeting Legal & Policy Expectations
Policy Compliance

Monitoring Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid Recipients

A significant incident of non-compliance with board policy or law has occurrerd (Red).

Rationale: In April 2003, the Executive Director of Internal Auditing and General Counsel notified trustees that a federal program review at Metropolitan State University had revealed significant non-compliance with federal regulations requiring that institutions monitor the academic progress of financial aid recipients. In June 2003, Metropolitan State University President Wilson Bradshaw settled this matter with the U.S. Department of Education. The settlement included repayment of $1.1 million to the department and a commitment to revise the university’s policy.

At the request of Chancellor McCormick and President Bradshaw, Internal Auditing conducted an investigation into the root causes of the problems experienced by the university. Internal Auditing issued a final report in early September 2003. Some data in the report remains redacted, however, as the university conducts personnel investigations.

Chancellor McCormick also requested Internal Auditing to conduct an assessment of other MnSCU institutions’ practices for monitoring satisfactory academic progress for financial aid recipients. This assessment addressed three areas:

1. Do institutions’ policies comply with the requirements of federal regulations and Board Policy 2.9?
2. Have institutions used ISRS to implement an effective academic monitoring program for financial aid recipients?
3. Is there evidence to suggest that institutions have suspended financial aid recipients who have not made satisfactory academic progress?

Internal Auditing will present the results of its risk assessment to the Audit Committee.

At the direction of Chancellor McCormick, an action plan has been developed to address issues revealed by the risk assessment. Associate Vice Chancellor Mike Lopez and System Director for Student Financial Aid Christopher Halling will present the action plan to the committee. Further review of Board Policy 2.9 may be referred to the Educational Policy Committee for further deliberation.

October 2003 report (in PDF format)

Date Presented to the Board of Trustee: September 17, 2003

For more information contact: John Asmussen, Executive Director for the Office of Internal Auditing.

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