Berkeley City College, which is part of California’s Peralta Community College District, has been ordered to repay more than $327,000 in extra federal financial aid it gave to students, the Contra Costa Times reported. College officials acknowledged that the district was repaying the money, but declined to elaborate further on a federal investigation that is seeking to determine whether the overpayments were deliberate.

Berkeley City is one of four colleges in the district. The college’s former financial-aid director, Robert Vergas, who retired in April shortly before district officials planned to fire him, has denied any wrongdoing and said he is being blamed for deficiencies in the district’s financial-aid process. All four colleges in the district have experienced problems this year in processing financial-aid checks for students on time.

According to the Contra Costa newspaper, the overpayments at Berkeley City came to light last year during an independent audit of the district’s 2005-6 budget. The audit also found that the college had underpaid Pell Grant recipients by nearly $40,000, the newspaper said, and the U.S. Department of Education has also ordered the college to repay that amount to students. —Charles Huckabee