ED Watchdog Releases Fiscal Year 2021-22 Work Plan With Focus on CARES Act Oversight

By Hugh T. Ferguson, NASFAA Staff Reporter

The Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Inspector General (OIG) unveiled its annual plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 with the intention of completing a series of audits and inspections related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

According to the report, the agency plans to “include reviews of [the] Department’s oversight of multiple grant programs and relief funds, grantee management and use of CARES Act awards, and the effectiveness of the Department’s processes to implement flexibilities in the student financial assistance programs.”

Since implementation of the CARES Act, NASFAA has tracked how ED has carried out the congressionally approved guidelines in our newly updated timeline

OIG plans to conduct reviews of a number of flexibilities provided in the student financial assistance programs including, cancellation of borrower loans and implementation of Title IV waiver requirements, exclusion of subsidized loan usage and federal Pell Grant lifetime usage, and flexibilities related to Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant service obligations.

There are also plans to review states’ initial reports to identify how they planned to use the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, as well as recount implementation and reporting requirements related to the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund for institutions of higher education as well as the Office of Postsecondary Education.

 

Publication Date: 10/29/2020


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