Press Release  Audit Finds No Deficiencies in Spending of Federal CARES Act Funding by Greenfield Community College

Boston — Today, the Office of State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump (OSA) released an audit of Greenfield Community College (GCC) that found the college’s use of federal assistance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act has been consistent with federal guidelines. The CARES Act was enacted by Congress on March 27, 2020 and provided $30.75 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the audit, which examined March 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020, GCC received $1,070,523 in CARES Act grants and spent $709,249.

Today’s audit is the first in a series of upcoming reports that will review state spending of COVID-19 federal funding.

“The CARES Act provided an economic boost and lifeline to so many of our public sector entities, including Greenfield Community College and its students. Now, as our state continues to recover from COVID-19, public trust demands that we provide an honest assessment of the appropriateness of state spending of these federal dollars,” Bump said. “I commend GCC for its appropriate administration of these funds and for taking this process seriously.”

Under the CARES Act, the United States Department of Education (US DOE) awarded grants to provide local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and other education-related entities with emergency assistance funds. The Massachusetts Department of Education received $50.8 million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Fund which it then distributed to elementary, secondary, and higher education recipients. The funds were meant to provide both institutional support for emergency assistance, as well as to students who have significantly impacted by COVID-19. Today’s audit found GCC effectively and appropriately administered its CARES Act grants.

The audit found that initially two of GCC’s CARES Act expenses which were used to recover previous lost revenue, were considered unallowable under US DOE spending guidance. However, after the guidance was modified and updated on March, 19, 2021, GCC’s transactions became retroactively acceptable.

In addition, unrelated to the examination of CARES Act spending, the audit notes GCC had not established a program to ensure all IT system users had received IT security training, which is required under state regulations. The audit encourages GCC to require IT security training for all new employees and annually for all personnel.

GCC is a member of the Massachusetts public higher education system, which consists of 15 community colleges, nine state universities, and five University of Massachusetts campuses. GCC was founded in 1962, and its current campus was constructed and opened in 1974. In the 2019–2020 academic year, 3,409 students were enrolled at GCC, and as of December 2020, GCC offered 76 degree and certificate programs to students.

The full audit report is available here.

###