u.s. department of education

Estoy segura de que todos nuestros oyentes en alguna manera tienen experiencia con los préstamos estudiantiles. Algunos han sacado un préstamo para pagar sus estudios universitarios, otros quizás han ayudado a sus hijos obtener un préstamo, o conocen a alguien que ha obtenido uno. 

Y desafortunadamente esto también lo saben las empresas deshonestas, los delincuentes cibernéticos, y los estafadores. Por esta razón ellos se dirigen a los prestatarios de préstamos estudiantiles con la intención de llevar a cabo esquemas o estafas de fraude. Estas estafas tienen el propósito de separarte de tu dinero, robar tu información personal, o ambas cosas. Caer víctima de estas estafas tiene consecuencias muy graves como el robo de tu identidad, el abrir de cuentas de tarjetas de crédito u otros préstamos usando tu nombre, el robo de tu cuenta bancaria. Y también puede tener un efecto negativo en tu puntaje de crédito. 

Los esquemas y las estafas de préstamos estudiantiles no es algo nuevo, y por décadas la Oficina del Inspector General del Departamento de Educación ha estado luchando para pararlos y alertando de estas actividades—cómo identificarlas, evitarlas, y qué hacer si piensas que has sido víctima de un fraude.

Cyber criminals and fraudsters are targeting student loan borrowers with schemes and scams aimed at separating you from your money, stealing your personal information, or both. The impact of falling victim to these scams can be severe—your identity stolen, credit cards and loans taken out in your name, your bank account zeroed out, and your credit score ruined.

Student loan schemes and scams are not new, and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General has been fighting them and alerting people to them for decades. In this episode, we talk about student loan scams—how to spot them, how to avoid them, and what to do if you think you’ve been a victim of one. Leading our discussion is Rob Mancuso, Assistant Inspector General for Investigation Services. Rob’s team of law enforcement professionals is leading the OIG’s efforts to help identify and stop these student loan scammers. And he has information you need to keep your personal information and your money safe.

July 30 is National Whistleblower Appreciation Day—a day our nation celebrates the brave individuals who step forward to report fraud, corruption, and other wrongdoing in government programs, sometimes at great personal risk. Their contributions have helped to root out fraud and restore integrity in government programs. Fighting fraud and ensuring integrity in U.S. Department of Education programs and operations is part of our mission here at the Office of Inspector General. So this is the perfect time to talk about whistleblowers, whistleblower reprisal, and whistleblower protections involving Federal education programs and the role of the OIG in those efforts. 

Our guests:

Nicole Gardner, Special Agent in Charge of Headquarters Operations in the OIG’s Investigation Services component.

Antigone Potamianos, Counsel to the Inspector General and a member of the OIG’s senior leadership team. 

Have more questions about whistleblower protections? Learn more here:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/hotlinewb.html

Suspect fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or violations of laws and regulations involving ED funds or programs? Report it to our Hotline! This includes allegations of suspected wrongdoing by ED employees, contractors, grantees, schools and school officials, persons in positions of trust involving ED funds or programs, collection agencies, recipients of student financial assistance, or lending institutions. If you have knowledge of any wrongdoing involving ED funds or operations, let us know!
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/hotline.html

PHARR, RGV - Vanguard Academy Charter Schools has received a School Climate Transformation Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez recently announced.

Vanguard was awarded $739,887 for a period of five years, which will total $3,699,435. 

“This grant is a game changer for the communities of Pharr, San Juan, Alamo and Edinburg as it will provide a school psychologist for Vanguard Academy Charter School along with several social workers, a Response to Intervention (RTI) specialist and several school resource officers,” said Dr. Narciso Garcia, superintendent of Vanguard Academy.

Congressman Gonzalez said the School Climate Transformation Grants initiative builds on evidence-based strategies to for schools to improve school climate and behavioral outcome for all students.

“Students who learn in positive learning environments are more likely to improve academically, participate more fully in the classroom, and develop skills that will help them be successful in school and in life,” Gonzalez said.

In the above podcast, Vanguard Superintendent Dr. Narciso Garcia discusses not only the School Climate Transformation Grant, but a range of other projects he is working on. 

One of the other topics discussed is the $10.6 million GEAR UP grant Vanguard received last year.

Garcia said the School Climate Transformation Grant would not have been possible without the support of the City of Pharr, the City of Edinburg, Region One Education Service Center, Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, Tropical Texas Behavioral Health, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and Evaluation Grants & Training Institute, Inc.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

In this episode, we talk about the Education OIG's work involving improper payments. Improper payments are payments made by the government to the wrong person, in the wrong amount, or for the wrong reason. Identifying and recovering improper payments is a statutory requirement for Federal agencies, as effective stewardship of taxpayer funds is a critical responsibility of every agency within the Federal Government. 

For fiscal year 2018, the Department’s improper payments estimate was about $6 billion, which mainly comes from two of its student aid programs: the Pell Grant program and the Direct Loan program. Per its Agency Financial Report, the Department says that improper payments in these programs are generally a result of administrative or process errors made by recipients of Federal money. 

That amount may sound very high, but it is not nearly as large as some other Federal programs at other agencies. But anytime you are talking about billions of taxpayer dollars, improper payments are an issue. In fact, it’s one of the Education OIG's top Management Challenges for the Department. Every year, we are required to identify and report on the most serious management challenges the Department faces. Improper payments is regularly one of the top challenges that we identify. 

The subject of improper payments may sound like a challenging topic for a short podcast, but we have two people who are up for the challenge. In this episode, you'll hear from Robert Janney, an auditor from our Philadelphia office, and Michelene Matthews, an auditor from our Atlanta office.

Read the full Education OIG audit report on The U.S. Department of Education’s Compliance with Improper Payment Reporting Requirements for Fiscal Year 2018.
Read the transcript for Eye on ED episode 5.