Report 2021-611 Recommendation 16 Responses
Report 2021-611: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund: Some University Campuses Did Not Maximize Available Federal Pandemic Funds, and They Prioritized Students Differently When Awarding Relief Funds (Release Date: November 2021)
Recommendation #16 To: University of California, Merced
To comply with federal regulation, UC Merced should promptly spend the remainder of its CARES MSI funds and return the interest earned on those funds in excess of $500 to the federal government.
On December19,2022, the payment #96158 was issued to US for $1908.75
- Completion Date: December 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented
As the report describes, in November 2020 UC Merced transferred $967,000 in CARES MSI funds into its account, but at the time of our audit it had not yet spent $265,000 of those funds. According to federal regulation, UC Merced must pay to the federal government the interest in excess of $500 that it earned on those funds. The documents UC Merced provided suggest that it still has not spent $258,000 of those funds. Although it has paid interest to the federal government of $1,908.75, it needs to promptly spend the remainder of the funds it was granted and remit to the federal government any additional interest it has earned.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
The grant is still not fully expended. We will calculate the actual amount of interest in excess of $500 at the end of the grant and will provide the interest based on process outlined in the link : https://www2.ed.gov/documents/funding-101/g5-returning-interest.pdf.
- Estimated Completion Date: 6/30/2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending
UC Merced stated that it has not yet fully spent this grant. We will review its calculation of the interest owed to the U.S. Department of Education and obtain verification that this amount was repaid when the grant has been fully expended or the grant period ends.
We will calculate the actual amount of interest in excess of $500 at the end of the grant and will provide the interest based on process outlined in the link : https://www2.ed.gov/documents/funding-101/g5-returning-interest.pdf.
- Estimated Completion Date: 6/30/2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending
We look forward to reviewing the campus calculation of interest owed to the U.S. Department of Education and verification that this amount was submitted. UC Merced did not identify the end of the grant period in this response.
All Recommendations in 2021-611
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.