Report 2021-611 Recommendation 19 Responses

Report 2021-611: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund: Some University Campuses Did Not Maximize Available Federal Pandemic Funds, and They Prioritized Students Differently When Awarding Relief Funds (Release Date: November 2021)

Recommendation #19 To: University of California, San Diego

To allow UC San Diego to apply for funds to expand its capacity to serve its minority students, it should immediately develop an interim plan for supporting its Asian American and Native Pacific Islander student population and apply for MSI status during the next available application cycle.

UCSD has previously received an MSI designation in February 2022. UCSD has also completed an interim plan outlining the steps that are being taken to support the AANAPISI student population while the formal plan is still under review by leadership.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

UCSD received AANAPISI MSI designation, and it provided its interim plan to support its Asian American and Native Pacific Islander student population. Although its response indicates that it has not yet applied for federal funds to support this population, we consider this recommendation to be fully implemented, because it has applied for a waiver and obtained the MSI designation.

In January 2022, UCSD submitted an AANAPISI eligibility designation application to the Department of Education, which was approved by the DOE in February 2022. UCSD is now AANAPISI eligible. UCSD established a task force to develop a formalized plan to support the AANAPISI student population, which is anticipated to be approved by UCSD leadership near the end of calendar year 2022. In the meantime UCSD is drafting an interim plan, which should be completed by August 2022, outlining the steps that are being taken to support the AANAPISI student population while the formal plan is still under review by leadership.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

We look forward to reviewing UC San Diego's plan to support its its Asian American and Native Pacific Islander student population.

In January 2022, UCSD submitted an AANAPISI eligibility designation application to the Department of Education. Supporting documents to be emailed: Submitted fy22.pdf, UCSD Waiver 2 2022.pdf and UCSD Waiver 2 2022.pdf. UCSD anticipates that a response will be received by late Spring 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

UC San Diego received an MSI designation in February 2022 based on its Asian American and Native Pacific Islander student population. However, UC San Diego did not address the portion of our recommendation suggesting that it establish a plan for supporting its Asian American and Native Pacific Islander student population, the absence of which it referenced as a rationale for its previous failure to apply for MSI funds. We look forward to reviewing that plan upon its completion.

All Recommendations in 2021-611

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.