Non-compliance with student verification regulations is a leading finding in Department of Education program reviews and Title IV financial aid audits. It is also an expensive process for schools to administer and often a source of frustration for students. The followinge are 3 ways to improve the financial aid verification process at your school.

 1. Develop and Retain Great People

• Invest in finding people who want to learn, care about quality, have a history of solving problems, and care about financial aid compliance
• Conduct ongoing training to ensure financial aid verification process understanding and regulatory awareness
• Consider using an outside financial aid consultant to analyze and redesign processes as well as perform a staffing assessment and conduct training
• Build and follow communication protocol and implement controls to ensure your departments are working together across the verification process
• Consider outsourcing financial aid verification to a third party to allow your staff to focus on other aspects of the financial aid process

 2. Monitor and Communicate Regulatory Changes

• Dedicate resources to continually review financial aid verification regulations and regularly revise and communicate internal policies and procedures
• Participate in peer reviews and industry groups to share best practices for the student financial aid verification process
• Utilize a financial aid consultant to perform a file review to ensure compliance with Title IV financial aid regulations and FAFSA verification requirements

 3. Automate the Verification Process

• Ensure that your student information system is adequately configured and optimized to ensure compliance and process efficiency
• Use an outside financial aid consultant to review your system configuration as well as ensure consistency between your processes and your technology
• Implement verification automation tools like StudentVerification.com to reduce human error and improve student satisfaction

By focusing on developing people, monitoring regulatory changes, and using technology to manage and control the process, schools can lower their financial aid verification compliance risk and improve student satisfaction.