Indiana-based Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is no longer required to return $42 million in federal student aid, according to a new resolution reached between the college and U.S. Department of Education.
The relief comes nine years after the Education Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found the college not in compliance with its distance education funding program. The audit alleged that 50 percent or more of its students were enrolled in correspondence courses.
The college was found ineligible to participate in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 programs and improperly receiving $42-million in Title IV student-aid funds from 2005 to 2010
The resolution was reached after the department did a comprehensive review by analyzing interactions between students and academic staff and received a positive response on its academic model by the accrediting agency.
“This is an affirmation that we were always compliant,” President Dottie L. King, said in a release.
“We continue to focus on the future by embodying a spirit of student-centered academic innovation, faith and leadership to transform ourselves and to benefit our communities.,” King added.