UNC-Chapel Hill, ECU accused of inflating student volunteer hours in government program

AmeriCorps is designed to strengthen communities through community service, including providing grant funds for salaries and various school programs.

The program provided grant funds as student education awards to UNC-Chapel Hill and ECU students based upon the schools certifying their service hours and paid funds directly to the state commission for salaries of certain employees who oversaw AmeriCorps programs.

Government auditors accused the two universities and the commission of "widespread violations of grant requirements" from 2014 to 2019, saying they certified false hours, "including taking mere seconds to electronically approve hours falsely claimed to be worked on holidays and weekends, and excessive hours claimed toward the end of school years."

“These AmeriCorps programs were meant to support at-risk and low-income youth academically. Instead, the universities and agency involved here ran them in a way that allowed participants to falsify their timesheets and robbed North Carolina communities of the assistance they were supposed to receive,” AmeriCorps Inspector General Deborah Jeffrey said in a statement.

UNC-Chapel Hill agreed to pay the government $375,000, while ECU agreed to pay $140,000 and the commission $327,500 to resolve the claims. The universities and the commission denied any wrongdoing in making the settlements.

“These settlements demonstrate our firm commitment to protect taxpayer money and to guard the integrity of federal grant programs,” Acting U.S. Attorney Norman Acker said in a statement. “Universities, state agencies and all those seeking federal funds are required to make honest claims for payment. Those who do not will be held accountable."