Audit: NC A&T improperly awarded $5 million in student aid

More than $5 million in student aid was improperly distributed through North Carolina A&T over eight years, using money tied to housing, dining and parking fees that state auditors said should not have been handled that way. The finding puts Greensboro’s largest university, and a major economic anchor in Guilford County, under scrutiny as current students and families weigh whether campus fees were used fairly.

NC A&T said the disbursements totaled $5.1 million and were routed through the Division of Business and Finance instead of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. The university said the payments came from Administrative Recovery Funds, not federal or state-appropriated aid. State auditors said the use of those funds for student financial assistance was inconsistent with the fund’s purpose and with university practice.

The investigative report, released April 23, said the university contacted the Office of the State Auditor after staff discovered improper conduct involving student financial aid. Auditors found internal control weaknesses and management override by the Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment Management. They also said more than $780,000 went to students who were employees, family members of employees or otherwise had direct personal or professional ties to the university, and that 24 students received more than $238,000 combined.

The report named several awards tied to university insiders, including the nephew of the former Executive Director of the Real Estate Foundation, who received $73,063; the daughter of an NC A&T Center for Teaching Excellence External Advisory Board member, who received $23,052; the son of a former part-time English instructor, who received $22,545; the son of the former Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Enterprise, who received $18,707; and the daughter of the former Assistant Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance, who received $14,888. Auditors also cited an instance in which the former Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance gave an out-of-state student $49,024, then authorized $36,654 and $12,000 in tuition assistance for two friends of that student.

State Auditor Dave Boliek called the case gross misconduct, and the auditor’s office said it made a criminal referral to the State Bureau of Investigation and informed the Guilford County District Attorney. UNC System President Peter Hans said Chancellor James R. Martin II and his team were working to correct the issues with transparency and accountability.

The stakes are high at NC A&T, which enrolled 15,275 students in fall 2025 and calls itself the nation’s largest public historically Black university. A 2008 audit also found scholarship money had been disproportionately awarded to relatives of university employees, a troubling precedent for a campus now facing questions about how long the practice continued and who benefited.