Comprehensive Program Review
Are you as good as you want to be?
Organizations that desire to have a student financial aid program be the best that it can be, with the help of a comprehensive review, are taking timely and necessary action in the dynamic higher education administrative environment of today. Todd & Associates will complete a review and have the comprehensive report in the hands of college officials within 60 days of the review start date.
An organization has to take extra precautions to avoid serious compliance problems and operate in a cost-effective manner. Regulatory changes resulting from the 1998 Reauthorization of Title IV Programs have a great impact on financial aid delivery systems due to changes in student eligibility, disbursements, reconciliation and reporting requirements. Even features that did not change require constant monitoring to ensure appropriate operating results.
Todd & Associates (T&A) utilizes its 22 plus years of experience with conducting management audits, program and quality assurance reviews to assist an organization with operating a financial aid program so that it can be the best that it can be. The firm’s approach includes close collaboration with affected management staff in the many areas that share responsibility for some aspect of the financial aid program. A major portion of T&A’s compliance testing is based on the organization’s readiness and implementation of program features impacted by recent, current and anticipated regulatory initiatives resulting from the 1998 Title IV Reauthorization.
T&A incorporates information from recent audits, reviews and other management evaluations of issues and challenges facing the organization. Information from observations, interviews, T&A’s technical library and other sources of “best practices”, including the U.S. Department of Education program review tools are part of the review process. Systematic sampling of various transactions involved in service delivery is a major part of the compliance portion of the review. Additionally, students and staff are interviewed to identify any issues that may impact service delivery, compliance and effectiveness.
T&A assigns senior staff with extensive backgrounds in the administration of financial aid programs at organizations similar to the organization being reviewed. Additionally, the college has an opportunity to assemble a variety of records and information that will be reviewed by the firm prior to the initial onsite entrance interview. Once onsite, the firm participates in entrance interviews and immediately begins compliance testing, observing and conferring with officials regarding the conduct of the review activities.