Grambling earns reaccreditation: decision keeps students eligible for aid.Grambling State University Grambling State University, at Grambling, La.; coeducational; state supported; est. 1901, attained university status 1974; predominantly African American. It has colleges of liberal arts, science and technology, and education as well of schools of nursing and social (LA), on probation since 2001 because of years of bad bookkeeping bookkeeping, maintenance of systematic and convenient records of money transactions in order to show the condition of a business enterprise. The essential purpose of bookkeeping is to reveal the amounts and sources of the losses and profits for any given period. , was reaccredited in December, a move that saved the historically black school from a potentially fatal blow. Without accreditation, Grambling students would be ineligible for federal financial aid. About 92 percent of the schools 4,000 undergraduate students receive such aid. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditation agency for over 13,000 public and private educational institutions ranging from preschool to college level in the southern United States. (www.sac-scoc.org) had placed the 102-year-old university on probation after financial records from the school dating to 1997 were found to be inadequate. Because of a two-year limit for probation cases, the association had to remove Grambling's accreditation blemish blem·ish n. A small circumscribed alteration of the skin considered to be unesthetic but insignificant. blemish or revoke its accreditation entirely. Although Grambling maintained a good academic reputation, faulty accounting reports made it impossible for state auditors to complete their work. "They've always had the money. They just didn't know where it was," commented Mike Woods Mike Woods (born January 28, 1968 in Sacramento, California) is a meteorologist for Fox 5 WNYW in New York City. He reports the weather for their morning news program Good Day New York and the Fox 5 midday newscast. , a board member of the University of Louisiana system The University of Louisiana System is one of four public University systems in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Since its formation in 1974, the University of Louisiana System, one of the nation's twenty largest public systems of higher education, has provided access to higher that oversees Grambling. A clean audit in 2002 and a second in October 2003 convinced SACS that Grambling had corrected its bookkeeping errors. Grambling's well-publicized effort to get back on track apparently had an additional benefit: The institution's undergraduate enrollment increased by 5 percent last fall. "This has been a long road, but I honestly believe that Grambling is emerging a stronger, more vital university as a result," said acting Grambling President Neari Warner after hearing of the SACS verdict. The decision maintains the school's accreditation until 2010. |
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