State Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle announced Grambling State University received a satisfactory audit for the 2001-2002 fiscal year and has forwarded it to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Kyle announced his decision Wednesday, September 25 to more than 600 students, faculty, and staff in the Favrot Student Union.
However, auditors could not issue an opinion for the 2000-2001 fiscal year because financial records were in such disarray.
President of the University of Louisiana System Sally Clausen told The Advocate that a clean audit for the 2001-2002 fiscal year was essential for the school’s re-accreditation.
“What SACS absolutely required was that the last year had to be clean and that’s where most of the effort was,” Clausen said.
SACS, an Atlanta-based national accrediting group, set the deadline for September 16 for an approved audit for the past two academic years.
If Grambling didn’t pass the audit of its most recent fiscal year, the 101-year-old institution faced losing its accreditation by SACS.
SACs will send a team of education inspectors to Grambling in October to follow through on the reaccredidation process. A final decision should be made in December.
“This is just the beginning of getting Grambling back to where it need to be,” interim President Neari Warner.
The commission placed Grambling on probation in December 2001.
If Grambling loses its accreditation, it will also lose federal funding including financial aid for its students–90 percent of whom receive aid. Grambling’s degrees would also lose value with graduate school admissions offices and professional licensing boards.
According to Kyle, the state has not been able to issue an opinion on Grambling since 1997.
Many blame the problems on a lack of administrative leadership. Grambling has seen four presidents since the early 1990s. The University of Louisiana System appoints presidents to Grambling and seven other state schools.
Grambling is one of seven historically black colleges and universities on probation with SACS. Others include Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, Tex., Mary Holmes College in West Point, Miss., and Talladega College in Talladega, Ala.
