Bishop State Community College, an Alabama institution where financial-aid practices have led to state and federal investigations (The Chronicle, September 28 and September 5), is also facing scrutiny over money it received from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to repair property damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, a Mobile newspaper, the Press-Register, reported.

According to the newspaper, the college requested and was given $880,392 from the fund, but state officials estimated that Bishop State would need only $608,000 for hurricane repairs and awarded the college enough insurance money to cover that amount.

Herb Jordan, a spokesman for Bishop State, disputed the state’s damage estimate, saying repairs to just one campus building, the Fredericka G. Evans Cultural Centre, would cost more than $3-million. He added that Bishop State would make public the full cost of its hurricane damage once repairs were finished.

Constance B. Newman, executive director of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, said that Bishop State had not yet reported to the charity how it had used the money, and that any discrepancies could be resolved then. She said that the charity would be concerned about “any discrepancy” between the stated purpose for which a college requested funds and how it used the money. “It is very important for us to be assured that the money that people graciously gave is spent properly,” she said.