Reports
University of Cincinnati’s Use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Student Aid and Institutional Grants
Audit of the State of Michigan’s Administration of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) Grant
Determine whether Michigan designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured that the GEER grant was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services, and (2) monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER grant funds in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other applicable Federal requirements.
Review of Local Educational Agencies’ Use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds for Technology
The review will cover selected LEAs’ experience with purchasing technology to continue students’ instruction as schools closed and reopened in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The review will include a survey to obtain information regarding the types of technology purchased, the impact the technology had on student learning, and the challenges LEAs faced related to the purchase and maintenance of that technology.
Risk of Closed Institutions of Higher Education Receiving Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Grants
The purpose of this report is to share with the U.S. Department of Education (Department) observations made by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concerning institutions of higher education (IHE) that ceased to provide educational instruction in all programs of study (closed) and received or had access to coronavirus response and relief aid through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). We found that 17 IHEs that closed on or before December 31, 2020, applied for and were awarded a total of $4,912,675 of HEERF grants by OPE. Of these 17 IHEs, 14 drew down HEERF funds and 3 did...
Audit of the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Oversight of Higher Education Emergency Relief Grant Funds
The purpose of the audit is to determine whether the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) has an adequate process in place to ensure that grantees use Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grant funds appropriately and performance goals are met.
Review of State Plans for Use of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Funds
The objectives of our review are to (1) review states’ initial 45-day GEER Fund reports to determine how states plan to allocate funds to entities within the three authorized categories: (a) local educational agencies, (b) institutions of higher education, and (c) education-related entities, and the criteria upon which these decisions were based; and (2) review GEER Fund annual reports to identify changes to and progress made from the initial plans in the 45-day reports.
Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting Requirements
The objective of our inspection was to determine (1) whether selected institutions receiving funds under the Institutional Portion of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) met public reporting requirements and (2) the reported usage of the Institutional Portion of HEERF by selected institutions. We determined that 81 of the 100 institutions included in our sample complied with Institutional Portion reporting requirements. We were unable to locate Institutional Portion reports anywhere on the websites associated with 19 of the 100 (19 percent) institutions included in our sample.
State of Missouri's Administration of the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund Grant
Determine whether Missouri designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured that the GEER Fund grant was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services, and (2) monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER Fund grant funds in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other applicable Federal requirements.
State of Oklahoma's Administration of the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund Grant
Determine whether Oklahoma designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured that the GEER Fund grant was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services, and (2) monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER Fund grant funds in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other applicable Federal requirements.