Community Colleges - Are they Fiscally Responsible?

When it comes to State Community Colleges how does yours stack up when it comes to fiscal responsibility?

In Michigan a recent audit report was published in October with little or no press coverage. I guess it doesn’t matter that overstatement after overstatement is consistently mentioned with millions of dollars at risk.

Perhaps it was because of the recent elections or maybe you don’t care unless you have a student attending one of the Community Colleges.

Audit Objective:
To assess whether community colleges reported ACS (Activities Classification Data) data to DLEG (Department of Labor & Economic Growth) in accordance with the provisions of the annual appropriations act for community colleges (Act 154, P.A. 2005), the ACS Manual 2003 for Michigan Community Colleges (ACS Manual), the Manual for Uniform Financial Reporting of Michigan Public Community Colleges (MUFR), and DLEG's annual instructions.
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Audit Conclusion:
We concluded that the selected community colleges generally did not report ACS data to DLEG in accordance with the provisions of the annual appropriations act for community colleges (Act 154, P.A. 2005), the ACS Manual, MUFR, and DLEG's annual instructions.
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Material Conditions:
Eight colleges did not accurately report occupational contact hour data on their ACS 6 reports, including four colleges that materially overstated their reported occupational contact hours (Finding 1). Two colleges did not maintain documentation to support the accuracy of course enrollment data reported on their ACS 6 reports in accordance with Act 154, P.A. 2005, and DLEG's annual instructions (Finding 2). Seven colleges did not accurately report ACS 3 expenditure data in accordance with the ACS Manual and DLEG's annual instructions (Finding 3). One college did not report student headcount and contact hour data on its ACS 6 reports in accordance with the ACS Manual and DLEG's annual instructions (Finding 4). Five colleges reported data for ineligible courses to DLEG on their ACS 6 reports (Finding 5).

For a complete review of the report go to http://audgen.michigan.gov/ Select # 6450006 “Performance Audit – Selected Community Colleges’ Reporting of Activities

This is another reason why we need to transform our education system into K – 16.

qualityg says … There should be no tuition or tax hikes unless these type of infractions are fixed and the dollars accounted for.

Oh yeah, this is just one type of audit.