The Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued new findings into how institutions of higher education are utilizing funds provided by Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, finding a number of institutions still need to post quarterly reports to their institutions’ web sites or risk having their grants terminated.
The announcement comes via a report unveiled last week, which randomly sampled 100 institutions to review their compliance with the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) quarterly reporting requirements.
As a part of the CARES Act, HEERF provided more than $14 billion in emergency funding to higher education. Institutions were then required to report the use of funds distributed from HEERF, with the first report being due Oct. 30, 2020. That report was meant to cover an institution’s use of funding from its first award through Sept. 20, 2020. Subsequent reports are due quarterly and must be posted no later than 10 days after the calendar quarter.
This OIG report focuses on the first quarterly report, covering the period from the date of the first HEERF grant award through Sept. 30, 2020.