Grambling’s audit a key step in attempt to be removed from probation

GRAMBLING — A new financial audit is considered a crucial step in Grambling State University’s attempt to be removed from an accreditation group’s probation list for the first time since 2000.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools decided last year that Grambling could keep its accreditation because the school had received an audit without significant problems, known as an unqualified audit. However, the group kept the school on probation for another year.
The state legislative auditor said the new audit would be released Thursday.
“Getting the unqualified audit is very important,” said Catherine Heitman, a spokeswoman for the University of Louisiana System.
Without accreditation, a college loses federal funding, including financial aid for students. At Grambling, about 90 percent of students receive financial aid.
Grambling has been on probation because financial records have been so scrambled that the legislative auditor could not verify whether the school was in solid financial shape.
The university spent a year on a warning sanction for the same offense prior to the probation. In 2000, then-President Steve Favors stepped down amid pressure from the ULS Board of Supervisors and Neari Warner was named acting president in 2001.
Warner was given the power to hire more financial officers in an effort to clear up the bookkeeping problems.
Funding at Grambling has been boosted since 1997, when the school had a $3 million deficit because it overestimated enrollment. The SACS committee said the school now seems to be well financed and has the highest state funding per full-time student in the Louisiana system.