The Department’s Implementation of CARES Act Flexibilities to TEACH Grant Service Obligations
Inspection / Evaluation · Department of Education OIG · 2022-01-20 · about Department of Education
Report
Title
The Department’s Implementation of CARES Act Flexibilities to TEACH Grant Service Obligations
Submitting OIG
Department of Education OIG
Component agency
Department of Education
Type
Inspection / Evaluation
Publication date
2022-01-20
Summary
The objective of our review was to evaluate the Department of Education’s plans and processes to ensure Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grantees receive full-time credit toward their service obligations for part-time and temporarily interrupted service due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). We found weaknesses in FSA’s development and implementation of plans and processes to ensure TEACH grantees receive full-time credit towards their service obligations for part-time or temporarily interrupted service due to COVID-19.
Recommendations (3)
#
Status
Text
1.1
Closed
Ensure potentially impacted recipients are notified that they may be eligible for a full year of qualifying teaching service if during the 2019–2020 or 2020–2021 school years their service was interrupted by the pandemic, including sending…
1.2
Closed
Ensure the servicer’s Processing Guide and Inbound and Outbound Calls Guide are updated to include applicable processes to follow for recipients that are eligible for CARES Act flexibilities consistent with the bulleted items noted in Recommendation 1…
1.3
Closed
Ensure FSA conducts adequate sampling to verify that CARES Act flexibilities were granted appropriately, to include recipients that may have been denied credit because their end date did not fall within the specified window, recipients that were…