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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released a follow-up audit that found the City University of New York (CUNY) failed to implement nine recommendations that resulted from a 2003 audit of the College Discovery Program (CDP).

“This follow up audit demonstrates that CUNY continues to have limited success in ensuring that students take full advantage of the counseling and tutoring services provided by CDP,” Thompson said.  “This program is of vital importance for educationally and economically disadvantaged students, and must be utilized to its full potential.”

The follow-up audit – which can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov – covered Fiscal Year 2007. During that time period, CDP enrollment at CUNY’s six, two-year community colleges totaled 2,433 students, and its expenses totaled $3,023,981.

CUNY’s community colleges are: Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College, and Queensborough Community College.

CDP was created by CUNY 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.

The 2003 audit – Audit Report on the Operating Practices of the City University of New York College Discovery Program (MD02-067A) – 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 and that counselors at the colleges did not monitor student progress adequately.

Thompson’s new follow-up audit found that, of the 11 recommendations made in the previous audit, CUNY implemented one, partially implemented another, and did not implement the remaining nine.

“Without the proper controls in place, CUNY cannot ensure that the CDP resources are providing the necessary assistance to students,” Thompson said. “As such, I believe that CUNY should implement minimum counseling and tutoring standards for CDPs in order to better monitor their performance.”

Thompson’s audit used a sample of 63 students to measure CDP success. Twenty-six (41%) of the sampled students who registered for classes in Fall 2006 did not receive the required number of counseling sessions during the semester. Statistics for the Spring 2007 semester were even worse: 43 (68%) of the sampled students did not receive the required number of counseling sessions.

Concerning tutoring, 50 (79%) students in the sample did not receive tutoring services during the Fall 2006 semester, while 57 (90%) who registered for the Spring 2007 semester did not receive tutoring services.

“CDPs often fell short when it came to providing counseling and tutoring services to students who were at risk of failing,” Thompson said. “This is a major problem that should immediately be addressed by CUNY officials.”

As a result of the follow-up audit, Thompson recommended 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 and CDP officials disagreed with several of the audit’s findings but agreed or partially agreed with three of the audit’s four recommendations.

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