U.S. Orders Proprietary School to Refund Pell Grants

The Education Department has ordered a Tennessee-based proprietary school to repay the government nearly $750,000 in Pell Grant funds.

The department said that to qualify for bigger Pell Grants than it deserved, the school had “inflated” the cost of the tuition it charged at 16 correctional facilities where it offers vocational training. Officials at the school, Branell College, said they would appeal.

The review covered Branell operations in prisons in Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Tennessee from 1989 to 1991. In addition to the $749,583 in Pell Grants, the department said the school must repay $58,122 from other federal student-aid and loan programs that it was not entitled to receive.

The department said Branell had established a $3,800 tuition charge for prisoners so it could receive the maximum Pell Grant of about $2,300 and then never collected the remaining $1,500 from the students. Branell called the $1,500 “in-kind” support for the incarcerated students.

Branell officials said they would appeal because department officials in other regions had approved similar arrangements at other schools.