Southern University Audit Notes Problems With Waiver Program

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An audit of the Southern University System for the fiscal year that ended last June says there is no evidence students at the Southern Law Center and the New Orleans and Shreveport campuses were informed in a timely manner on how to apply for hardship fee waivers.

The university acknowledged that it was late adopting a system-wide policy on fee waivers, but said campus websites have information on the waivers. It said it's taking steps to posted waiver information in various social media.

The Legislative Auditor's report, released Monday, details several alleged errors or omissions in various aspects of the system's fiscal reporting and records. The university disagreed with some of the findings, but also outlined numerous steps it is taking to improve timeliness and completeness of financial reporting.