Follow-up Audit Report on the Operating Practices of the City University of New York College Discovery Program

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

This audit determined whether the City University of New York (CUNY) implemented the eleven recommendations made in the Audit Report on the Operating Practices of the City University of New York College Discovery Program (MD02-067A), issued on February 2, 2003. CUNY’s College Discovery Program (CDP) was created in 1964 as a special program for educationally and economically disadvantaged students who otherwise might not be able to attend college. CDP provides academic and financial support to students through specialized counseling, tutorial services, remedial instruction, and payments for book expenses at the six community colleges.

The previous audit report concluded that there was no comprehensive process to measure and report on the effectiveness of the six community college CDPs. In addition, the audit found that students did not fully use CDP counseling and tutoring services at two sampled schools and that counselors at the colleges did not monitor student progress adequately.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

Of the 11 recommendations made in the previous audit, CUNY implemented one, partially implemented another, and did not implement nine.

CUNY’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) now prepares many informative tables relating to the performance of the community college CDPs. These tables provide a comprehensive picture of students’ academic progress, including their retention rates, Grade Point Averages (GPAs), credit accumulation, and graduation rates. The tables allow for comparisons of CDP student performance at each of the six community colleges and between CDP students and non-CDP students.

However, CDPs continue to have limited success in ensuring that their students take advantage of counseling and tutoring services provided by the program. Twenty-six (41%) of the 63 sampled students who registered for the Fall 2006 semester did not receive the required number of counseling sessions during the semester, and 43 (68%) of the 63 sampled students who registered during the Spring 2007 semester did not receive the required number of counseling sessions during the semester. Concerning tutoring, 50 (79%) of the 63 sampled students who registered for the Fall 2006 semester did not receive tutoring services during the semester and 57 (90%) of the 63 sampled students who registered for the Spring 2007 semester did not receive tutoring services during the semester. Furthermore, CDPs often fell short when it came to providing counseling and tutoring services to students who were “at risk” of failing.

This follow-up audit concluded that CDPs could benefit from the establishment of minimum CUNY counseling and tutoring standards that would provide guidance to the CDPs and better enable CUNY to monitor their performance.

Audit Recommendations

To address the issues that still exist, we recommend that CUNY:

• Ensure that CDP counselors and tutors follow up with CDP students, including “at risk” students, who do not receive counseling or tutoring services.

• Ensure that the counselors and tutors document their follow-up efforts.

• Set minimum standards for the provision of counseling and tutoring services to CDP students, including “at risk” students.

• Develop a procedure for tracking the mid-semester progress of CDP students.

CUNY Response

CUNY and CDP officials disagreed with several of the audit’s findings but agreed or partially agreed with three of the audit’s four recommendations.