Chyrl Ayers

Peggy,

It is important for colleges to develop sound practices to ensure that all aspects of TIV funding is within compliance. Colleges should review these practices periodically to make changes or update their review process.

Thanks, Chyrl

Fiona Troope

Definetly internal review practices are necessary in keeping with compliance of Title IV funding at times it may feel repetitive and tedious however it is acts as a welcome safety net during audits and possible program reviews.

Heather Bermudez

An annual review of all policies and procedures should be done to ensure that they are being and followed and that they are up to date with current regulations.

Lindsay Prayne-Zuluaga

Who wants to prepare an enormous amount of corrective action responses?

Nydia Bonilla

I think that the revisions can not be considered as a negative act although it evaluate all the processes and regulations to be taken in the best form.

Jennifer Delbaugh

You need to have a positive attitude when it comes to internal audits. Although, they can feel like a burden, they should also be used as a learning tool, and are done to help make the compliance audits a lot less stressful.

Chyrl Ayers

Jennifer,

I think a positive attitude toward all aspects of aid processing is imprtant. It is important to all have all documentation stored in a manner that is consistent and easily accessible. Some FA professionals will do mock Compliance Audits to insure that their files are in the proper working order. Also, include other departments files such as: Academics, Admissions, etc to insure there is not conflicting information.

Thanks, Chyrl

Christa Pellegrino

I like to do an "in-house" audit once a month. I will pull a few files at random and just check to see if everything is in order.

Chyrl Ayers

Christa,

That is a great process. If you are reviewing files monthly, you should never have a surprise during an annual audit or any type of agency review. I think it is better to catch and correct an issue early on than wait until the audit process occurs.

Chyrl

Richard Lokey

I agree. Making sure that we are compliant with all the regulations needs to be seen as a benefit to the school not as a burden weighing us down. It needs to be approached with a positive attitude and made a part of eveyone' daily routine in order to be ready for any audit.

Chyrl Ayers

Dear Richard,

Positive attitude is the best approach to audits and a desire to view these as a growth experieince is beneficially. It is important to correct any errors and to develop processes or procedures to prevent in the future. The more open one is to learning the apt for an experience to lead to growth.

Sincerely, Chyrl

Kimberly Adams

At my school practices are in place to minimize findings on occasion the compliance director does Intitutional Self Assessments on each department to aviod findings once major audits are completed.

tanya thach

I think the best thing to avoid repeat findings and program review is that the schools should do 100% file review for each award year before the compliance audit is conducted to avoid verifications, overawards, uderawards, late refunds etc findings. The schools also should pay close attention to each of the findings that the auditors may find. So by next year audit, the schools will know exactly what the auditors is looking for in the students financial aid files. This will eliminate less findings in the furture and maybe no findings for the coming year.

Chyrl Ayers

Tanya,

Your suggestion is excellent. It is important for the FA staff to understand the approach taken by their auditor. Observation and particpation is an excellent method to develop.

I appreciate your participation in this forum.

Sincerely, Chyrl

Ricardo Puello

I agree with you, internal audit always it's good helps to control the any error in files, also to avoids finding on next Compliant audit.