by Marjorie Cortez, KSL

SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt says a newly released audit of Western Governors University by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General was a “sneak attack by the past on the future.”

The audit report recommends that the nonprofit online university repay $713 million in federal student financial aid claiming faculty did not have “regular and substantive” interaction with students, something WGU officials dispute. Moreover, the audit says the university, based in Salt Lake City, should be ineligible to receive any more federal aid.