CCSF can’t prove it taught 16,000 students, must pay $39 million

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

City College of San Francisco, struggling for every dollar it can muster, must repay the state nearly $39 million because it can’t prove that instructors taught thousands of students in hundreds of online classes from 2011 to 2014, an audit revealed.

City College has been unable to verify teaching about 16,000 students in 587 online courses — from Accent Improvement to Cardiorespiratory Emergencies — over the three-year period, according to the state-commissioned audit that ended in September.

No fraud is suspected. State officials say the college simply bungled the way it tracked course participation and will give the college a decade to repay the money. But having to give up $3.9 million a year exacerbates City College’s budget woes, brought on by what the college says has been a severe plunge in enrollment due to its ongoing accreditation troubles.

Imagine that.