The following is a press release from Ashland University regarding a complaint AU sent to the US Department of Education, and attached below are the court documents from the US Department of Education’s initial findings to AU and the verified complaint from AU:
“On Sept. 23, 2023, Ashland University filed a complaint against the Secretary of the United States Department of Education in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The complaint seeks judicial review of the Secretary’s decision in a case involving the calculation of federal student aid for Ashland’s incarcerated students.
Ashland is the country’s longest-serving provider of corrections education, dedicated to the mission of teaching incarcerated individuals since 1964. In 2021, the Department conducted a review of Ashland’s financial aid program.
The Department noted in its Program Review Report that Ashland’s incarcerated students have the same academic program content as other Ashland students. However, the Department asserted that Ashland had used an incorrect formula for determining the amount of the Pell Grants that its incarcerated students were entitled to receive.
The Department asserted that the incorrect formula resulted in the Department’s overpayment of more than $6 million, and the Department seeks reimbursement of that amount from Ashland.
Ashland disagrees with the Department’s position, and it plans to vigorously oppose the Department’s position through the federal court system. Contrary to the Department’s position that the formula should be applied based on a department funding experiment, Ashland submits that it applied the correct formula, which is applicable to its eligible academic programs. As a result of Ashland’s application of the correct formula, Ashland asserts that it owes no reimbursement.”
