美国国家公共电台 NPR Senators To DeVos On TEACH Grant Debacle: 'Urgent That These Mistakes Are Fixed'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have an update now of a story about a troubled federal grant program for public school teachers. It's supposed to help them. Many teachers have had grants unfairly converted to loans, leaving some of them with more than $20,000 in debt that they never expected. In recent weeks, 19 U.S. senators signed a letter to the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, citing NPR's reporting and saying, quote, "it is urgent that these mistakes are fixed¹."

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Well, now we have learned that the problem is even bigger than we thought. The Education Department knew years ago that thousands of people had been hurt by this program, but the department did not help them. NPR's Chris Arnold and Cory Turner have the story.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE²: This debacle began with the best of intentions. The TEACH grant program was created at the end of the George W. Bush administration to reward promising³ future teachers for agreeing to teach high-need subjects, like math, in low-income schools.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: The reward was a grant, free money to help them pay for their own college or a master's degree. But the program has been mismanaged from the beginning, and a lot of teachers have had their grants unfairly taken away and turned into loans.

TURNER: It's like being given a gift for doing something good and then being told you have to pay for it.

KAITLYN MCCOLLUM: All right, guys. Can you team up for me? Get in your color groups. Awesome⁴. Blue's good. Yellow's good. Orange is good.

TURNER: Kaitlyn McCollum is one of the teachers we've been following. She teaches high school in Columbia, Tenn. We caught up with her recently as she helped lead a troupe⁵ of school kids on a trip to Washington, D.C., and New York City.

MCCOLLUM: One of my students, I was absolutely thrilled when she said that Ellis Island was her favorite part of the trip.

ARNOLD: McCollum loves being a teacher, and she's doing what she said she'd do to keep her TEACH grants, teaching in a low-income school. But her grants were converted, anyway, into $22,000 in loans, money she now has to pay back. She says that's left her feeling really hurt by her own government.

MCCOLLUM: Anger. Frustration⁶. Hopelessness. And, it's so unjust and wrong on all accounts.

TURNER: NPR's previous reporting found many teachers like McCollum have been unfairly hurt by this program, often because of minor⁷ issues with paperwork. If teachers send it in even a day late or missing a signature, it can trigger this catastrophic outcome where they owe all this money.

ARNOLD: That's sparked an internal review at the Department of Education, but now previously⁸ unreleased documents show that the mismanagement here is even worse than first thought. It turns out that the department has known about all this for years and done little to correct it.

TURNER: In 2014, the Obama administration ordered an audit⁹ of the TEACH grant program. It kept quiet about it, but we now know the results were remarkable¹⁰.

JULIE MURRAY: More than 10,000 TEACH grant recipients¹¹ had had their grants apparently¹² converted to loans in error.

ARNOLD: Julie Murray is an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group. She unearthed¹³ this audit through a Freedom of Information request.

TURNER: As she said, the department was told that more than 10,000 people apparently had their grants converted to loans in error, based on mistakes made by the program.

ARNOLD: But these documents that Murray got, they didn't answer one pretty important question. We know how many people appear to have been hurt by this...

MURRAY: But from there, the trail went cold. It's been a mystery how many individuals had their grants converted back after this audit.

TURNER: In short, did the Education Department ever fix this? What happened to these more than 10,000 people? A group of U.S. senators wants to know that, too. They recently wrote the education secretary, demanding an answer.

ARNOLD: Well, now NPR has that answer, and it's not pretty. According to documents we obtained from the department, the vast majority of people flagged by this audit received no help.

TURNER: The department confirms that just 15 percent - that's one-five, 15 - had their loans changed back to grants. That means 9,000 people who didn't do anything wrong got no help at all.

MURRAY: Those numbers are appalling¹⁴. It doesn't appear that the department undertook a really serious effort to reconvert these grants back.

TURNER: The Ed Department sent each person flagged by the audit one letter in the mail. Some also received an email.

ARNOLD: But they didn't just say, hey, look, we made a mistake and we want to give you your money back.

TURNER: Instead, the letter says, quote, "your TEACH grants may have been converted to loans prematurely¹⁵."

ARNOLD: Prematurely.

TURNER: Which implies that losing your grants is kind of inevitable¹⁶.

ARNOLD: And this one letter was your only chance. It was on you. You had to respond and say, please, give me my money back. But the whole thing wasn't spelled out very clearly, and the vast majority of people did not respond. In a statement, the Education Department tells NPR that it, quote, "communicated with potentially impacted recipients," and, quote, "when requested, corrected the error."

TURNER: But, Julie Murray wonders, why wasn't this fixed automatically?

MURRAY: The department could have used an opt-out system. It could have contacted teachers and said that it and its servicer were going to reconvert these loans back to grants unless people didn't want them to.

ARNOLD: Again, these mistakes were made years ago, but now it's fallen to Education Secretary DeVos to fix things. Her department insists in a statement that it is, quote, "committed to improving this program."

TURNER: But even if this program is improved for future teachers, it's not clear what will happen to the many who are still stuck with big loans they shouldn't have to pay. Many teachers, including Kaitlyn McCollum, say the TEACH grant serves an important purpose, and they hope this time around they'll get their money back and the department finally gets things right. For NPR News, I'm Cory Turner.

ARNOLD: And I'm Chris Arnold.

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

4 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

5 troupe   

n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团

参考例句：

• The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
• The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。

6 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

9 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

10 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

11 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

14 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

15 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

16 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。