University’s $70M debt to state mysteriously disappears in a blur of lawmaking

watchdog.org...

The University of North Texas system will skate on a bill for $70 million in public money that it received and then spent on ineligible employee pay and benefits.
The university system collected the cash between 2004 and 2014 because of its poor accounting and other factors, state auditors said.

Here's the part that get's me -

Auditors said misuse of the money “involved a coordinated effort at the university” but found no evidence of malfeasance.

A "coordinated effort" but no wrong doing? How does that work?

Several months before the state auditor’s findings were announced, three of UNT’s top financial officials resigned, citing personal reasons.

Personal reasons? Like, Oh, I don't know, maybe afraid of jail time?

Now get this -

The school has also promised that it will boost revenue through tuition increases in the future:

So, they screwed the public out of a boat load of money and since that's not enough, they're going to raise tuition. Texans, you are 70 million out of pocket and the guys who did it, get to just walk away. Are you starting to realize why college is so expensive?

Why are you so worried about it? Kids will just get loans to pay for it. That's free government money ... /sarc

It's not like they will spend most of their lives in indentured servitude to the state to pay it back or anything.

a reply to: DAVID64

Public Education: +1
Taxpayers: 0 (-$70million)

The folks running the finance department at this educational institution sound as bad as the wall street scums.

Nobody will be held accountable and the "oops, $70 million is missing" factor will quiet out of the media until it's a distant memory. Rinse, repeat.

a reply to: DAVID64

Universities in Ontario (Canada) do exactly the same thing and worse while sitting on more than 5 billion dollars in their "savings" accounts. Nobody does anything about it even when there is clear and distinct evidence of fraud, conflict of interest and malfeasance. Universities are in bed with the politicians and the media, so whistle blowers get slapped with injunctions and gag orders.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: DAVID64

Soon you will be able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on your masters of Microsoft Word degree.

Why not $70 million in student loan debt suddenly forgiven???

Oh wait, even Bankruptcy will not let you forgive that...

originally posted by: AboveBoard
Why not $70 million in student loan debt suddenly forgiven???

Oh wait, even Bankruptcy will not let you forgive that...

Of course not, the government controls those now. That would be like forgiving taxes and you know they don't forgive those either.

It's a great racket.

The government education complex tells you that you must go to college so they funnel you to university. Then the schools price into the government pocket. You party for four years to get a nearly worthless degree for an exorbitant price without guessing that what you're really doing is signing your indenture. And when you get out, they get you out both ends - you pay loan payments AND taxes.

a reply to: ketsuko

I agree with you. You know we don't agree on too many things.

I find the way our country handles college and the debt it incurs absolutely ridiculous, as are the costs of higher education, and the viability of the actual "Bachelor's Degree" programs to provide you with future employment options. Granted, a lot of people require a degree to hire you, but is it really worth it? I guess it depends on the degree, but seriously, this is messed up and destroying an entire generation's opportunities.

- AB

No doubt a barrage of phone calls by NTU alumni to Texas politicians had some bearing on this.
It seems the University system is learning new tricks from the Pentagon.
"our computers are outdated and can't keep up!"
We'll need an additional $22M to modernize our bookkeeping system.