The Office of the Inspector General (OIG)’s audit on Western Governor’s University (WGU) reminds us of a lyric from Neil Young’s classic, Four Strong Winds: “those winds sure can blow cold way out there.” The OIG concluded that WGU, one of the largest online universities in the country, violated federal student aid eligibility requirements for “regular and substantive” interaction between students and faculty, and wrongly distributed Title IV funds by misclassifying itself as a term-based school. OIG’s audit, begun nearly four years ago, calls on WGU to return $713m of federal aid, a sum that could put the school out of business.
Will this finding cast a chill on innovation in competency-based and online learning or is it an appropriate effort to guard against misuse of federal student aid? Will the U.S. Department of Education (ED) accept the findings?
With the ninety-three-page finding swirling about, as well as WGU’s spirited response – the university denies wrongdoing and stands by its model – we thought it would be helpful to explore four strong winds we think are essential to keep an eye on.