At a meeting of the state's community technical college trustees, the focus was on the problems with student financial aid. The technical college system has struggled with flawed management of the 20 million dollar program for many years. The trustees were responding to recent news that the system has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants to keep the financial aid program running. --an expense that caught lawmakers by surprise.
A day after key lawmakers said the technical college system needed to do more to keep them abreast of ongoing efforts to address financial aid irregularities, Commissioner Bill Simonton faced some basic questions from his own board of trustees……Board Vice Chairman Dan McLeod put things most bluntly.
"At what point are we going to be able to say, we don’t' need to have financial aid items on our agenda -- and that it's fixed?"
--"I think probably 06/07 is going to be the test year. I mean if....
--"I think everybody understands the seriousness of and the emergency of getting this done and you know we all do. And frankly, I don't want see it on an agenda. I want it to be finished."
It may be a while before McLeod gets his wish……The Executive Council will next week take up an extension on the contract of system financial aid consultant Milton Kerstein…….He's the Massachusetts Lawyer the tech college system has so far paid more than $300,000 to help administer federal financial aid…….Most of Kerstein's fees went to address issues at the Manchester and Stratham campuses…….The host of problems there ranged from sloppy record keeping to a former financial aid director who is alleged to have improperly awarded money to her non-student boyfriend……..The new agreement with Kerstein will likely cost at least as much…..It apparently also anticipates the need to take action to address problems the Tech's Nashua campus…….which had not previously been identified as a trouble spot……While details of the new agreement have not yet been made public, Kerstein's existing deal paid him and his 6 staffers by the hour……Commissioner Simonton held out hope this deal might not prove as costly.
"It is our hope not to spend all the money that is allocated. But it was the advice of the Attorney General to put it all on the table and say 'this is where we are. So, we've done that."
In the meantime, the system is still facing the final report of the state's independent auditors, KPMG……That's due next month…..Further off, the system could be subject to potential sanctions from the federal government…….Those could include required repayment of scholarship money, fines, or even suspension of all federal aid --which board members agree would force the system to at least temporarily close…… The community technical college system board next meets next week…….Among the things they will vote on are the requirement that each of the systems seven campuses have a standardized financial aid system in place by July 1st…
