Dive Brief:
- Fewer colleges are under heightened cash monitoring, a level of financial scrutiny that inhibits a school’s access to federal financial aid, according to an updated list from the U.S. Department of Education.
- The department’s update shows 483 institutions being monitored, only 70 of which are identified for the second and more restrictive level of scrutiny.
- Of the identified institutions, 274 are proprietary, 104 are private nonprofit, and 74 are public.
Dive Insight:
Thirty-one foreign schools, both public and private, are eligible for federal financial aid and are under heightened cash monitoring. Six of them in Bulgaria, Canada, and the Dominican Republic are under the stricter level of scrutiny.
The Department of Education first released the list of schools under financial scrutiny at the end of March following repeated requests by Inside Higher Ed. Consumer advocates called on the department to release the list in the name of transparency.
Cash monitoring and a reimbursement delay from the Department of Education were key factors in the demise of Corinthian Colleges, which caught thousands of students, as well as the department, by surprise.
