Bethel University meets with federal education officials over financial assessment

We're listening (Coolcaesar via Wikimedia Commons)
800px-Usdepartmentofeducationbuilding
We're listening (Coolcaesar via Wikimedia Commons)

Just a quick update on the Bethel-University-vs-the-Feds story:

Bethel Director of Communications Suzanne McInroy emailed me last night that Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter met with Bethel officials Thursday in Washington, D.C.

  • President Jay Barnes, Senior Vice President Kathleen Nelson, a rep from the university's auditor, CliftonLarsonAllen, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and her staff. Members of the office of Democratic U.S. Rep. George Miller of California --ranking minority member on the House Education and Workforce Committee -- also attended.

Nelson called the discussion "a good meeting," McInroy said, in which Bethel was able to lay out its position and supporting information.

The Department of Education is now reviewing the case, she said.

In May, Bethel received a letter from department saying it had failed to meet federal financial standards for the 2012 fiscal year. The school was supposed to post a multimillion-dollar letter of credit. But after McCollum intervened, it received an extension so it could argue its case.

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