Objective

To assess the extent of implementation of the two recommendations included in our initial audit report, Oversight of the Educational Opportunity Program (Report 2024-S-2).

About the Program

SUNY is the largest comprehensive system of public education in the nation, comprising 64 institutions (14 of which are University Centers and Doctoral Degree Granting Institutions), including research universities, academic medical centers, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, colleges of technology, and an online learning network. SUNY’s mission is to provide educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population in a complete range of academic, professional, and vocational post-secondary programs.

To support this mission, SUNY’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP)—which is outlined in sections 6451 and 6452 of State Education Law—aims to provide access, support, and financial aid for disadvantaged students who show the potential to succeed despite poor academic preparation and limited financial resources. EOP includes a pre-freshman summer orientation program (summer program) for incoming students and provides support and enrichment programs, including career advising, tutoring, and personal counseling, throughout students’ enrollment.

Responsibility for the administration and management of EOP is shared between SUNY Administration’s Office of Opportunity Programs (Office) and the sponsoring EOP campuses. The Office is responsible for monitoring EOP, including expenditures and operations as well as compliance with SUNY’s objectives, policies, and procedures. Accordingly, the Office developed guidance for the EOP summer program along with Guidelines for the Operation of EOP (Guidelines), which specify the requirements of EOP operations and include such things as administrative roles and responsibilities, student eligibility, and acceptable use of funds. Each participating campus must develop a plan outlining its approach to the administration of EOP and is responsible for, among other things, ensuring that EOP funds are used in a manner consistent with both the Guidelines and State Education Law and the documentation is adequate. During the fall 2025 semester, EOP operated on 28 SUNY State-operated campuses and served 6,883 participants. Expenditures for EOP in State fiscal year 2024–2025 totaled $47 million.

The objectives of our initial audit, issued in March 2025, were to determine whether SUNY was adequately monitoring the EOP and if SUNY and the campuses were using EOP funding for allowed purposes. The audit covered the period from July 2019 through December 2024. The audit found that SUNY is monitoring EOP, and campuses were generally using the funds for allowable purposes. However, the audit identified opportunities for SUNY to improve its oversight of the campuses’ use of EOP funds and maintenance of adequate documentation for program-related expenses and services. 

The audit identified 10 (3.3%) of 304 transactions, totaling $20,142, that were unallowable or insufficiently supported. Seven of the 10 transactions, totaling $5,974, were for unallowable goods or services, such as bowling events and amusement park visits. Documentation for the three other transactions, totaling $14,168 for the summer program and related vehicle mileage, did not clearly support the services received or the full amount of the expenditure. Furthermore, we identified insufficient documentation for counseling services for 16 (4%) of 400 EOP students assigned to five counselors. Consequently, we couldn’t determine whether the counseling services were actually provided.

Key Finding

SUNY made significant progress in addressing the issues we identified in the initial audit report. Both of the initial audit report's recommendations were implemented.