CampusLogic

Eight Steps to Preparing for a Financial Aid Compliance Audit

CampusLogic — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:52:31 +0000

Review SFA’s top 10 list. Become familiar with the most recent “hot findings list” published on IFAP. Use this list as a starting point to implement financial aid quality assurance metrics and identify trends.
Obtain copies of the Program Review Guide and the Audit Guide both published on the IFAP website. These guides will help your team understand the expectations of field auditors and can provide a framework for internal and third party audits.
Review your school’s previous three (3) years of audit findings and pinpoint target areas requiring special attention. It is crucial to recognize that most audit findings are repeat offenses.
Conduct a thorough review of your school’s policies and procedures (P&P). Perform a gap analysis between the top 10 findings list, your previous audit concerns, and your documented policies.
Be in the know. Stay up-to-date with financial aid news, trends, and industry colleague experiences by monitoring Dear Colleague Letters and subscribing to financial aid association newsletters, blogs, list-servs, and other publications.
Communicate. Often other departments are not aware of the financial aid implications associated to their departmental policies. Share P&P’s with each department and identify gaps or overlaps that may create concern.
Prepare. Perform internal “dry run” financial aid audits using the guidelines outlined in the Audit or Program Review Guides. Look for consistency and timeliness of processes, and produce a Determination Letter with defined action steps.
Organize. Store and maintain all of the commonly requested documents, such as school catalogs, organizational charts, P&P manuals, etc. in an accessible area.

Want more details and in depth information on preparing for a financial aid audit? Check out our “Sailing through your Next TIV Compliance Audit or Program Review” Whitepaper by clicking here.

CampusLogic provides regulatory financial aid audit support tailored to meet your needs. Using automated products such as FileReview.com to perform thorough compliance audits and providing regulatory training and guidance from our industry leading compliance team, we are dedicated to improving your financial aid department quality levels. Contact us online or by phone at (877) 259-9137.

CampusLogic Hires Vice President of Information Technology

CampusLogic — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:37:40 +0000

CampusLogic, a student life cycle solutions company, has hired David Gemoll as its new Vice President of Information Technology. In this capacity, David will be responsible for product architecture, application development, and infrastructure management.

“We are accelerating our product development efforts in response to tremendous customer demand and we needed to add a someone to our executive team who has a track record of delivering innovative, web-based solutions,” said Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic. ”David possesses the rare blend of strategic and tactical skills coupled with a drive to deliver the innovative SaaS solutions we provide to our customers.”

Mr. Gemoll is a dedicated technology leader with over 20 years of comprehensive experience across multiple industries which include health care, finance, higher education, real estate, government and retail. He has also spent considerable time as both an on-premise and online adjunct instructor of graduate and undergraduate technical and business courses at several universities.

Before joining CampusLogic, David was responsible for internal publishing and collaboration platforms at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona where he led a major implementation of multiple productivity platforms. Prior to Blue Cross Blue Shield, he worked at OneNeck IT Services, a leading hosted application management and managed services provider and Wells Fargo where he participated in the largest bank merger in history.

Mr. Gemoll holds an MBA in Global Technology Management and Bachelor of Science degrees in both Information Technology and Business Management.

CampusLogic Launches Web-based Placement Verification Solution

CampusLogic — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:03:05 +0000

CampusLogic is pleased to announce the release of PlacementVerification.com, a web-based solution that helps achieve accurate and timely reporting of job placement rates for their graduated students.

Accreditation eligibility and compliance with the Department of Education’s gainful employment provisions, is an ongoing concern for colleges and universities. PlacementVerification.com ensures that regulatory compliance is measured, reported, and achieved.

“PlacementVerification.com allows schools to monitor and report job placement statistics in a compliant and cost-effective manner,” said Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic. “In addition to compliance, PlacementVerification.com gives school leaders accurate and meaningful insights into student employment and placement outcomes.”

Some of the key features of PlacementVerification.com include:

Cross reference analysis of data based on the school’s accreditation requirements
Standardized job placement reporting criteria
Dashboard reporting of verified placements at summary and detail levels
Student and employer web-surveys
Recorded student and employer contact calls
A secure web-portal for schools to download placement data requiring verification

To learn more about how PlacementVerification.com can reduce regulatory risk, improve process insight, and increase regulatory compliance for your institution please visit www.PlacementVerification.com.

CampusLogic and College Audit Solutions Partner to Offer Financial Aid and Accreditation Compliance Solutions

CampusLogic — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:08:45 +0000

CampusLogic, Inc., a leading provider of product and service solutions across the student lifecycle, has announced a partnership with College Audit Solutions, a software as a service (SaaS) provider specializing in accreditation and compliance management systems for private post-secondary institutions. This partnership allows collaboration between CampusLogic and College Audit Solutions to provide institutions of higher education a suite of products and services related to both compliance assessment and continuous accreditation. CampusLogic places emphasis on solutions that address top audit findings by both the Department of Education and national and regional accreditation agencies. Our partnership with College Audit Solutions will provide institutions with both an assessment tool for potential audit issues and the solutions to resolve any compliance gaps.

“CampusLogic’s position as a leader in the field of financial aid compliance and College Audit Solutions’ position as the go-to solution for educational institutions trying to simplify their compliance needs, made this partnership an obvious fit to serve each company’s clients,” stated Jason London, CEO of College Audit Solutions.

“We have seen a substantial increase in compliance initiatives across the higher education industry and I believe that College Audit Solutions is well positioned to address that need,” said Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic. “This partnership will allow us to integrate our solutions including StudentVerification.com, FileReview.com, and PlacementVerification.com with their EDUCOMPLY™ product in a way that will help schools create increased transparency and compliance.”

About CampusLogic

CampusLogic provides software-driven solutions across the student life cycle including financial aid, file quality assurance (FileReview.com), verification (StudentVerification.com), project-based consulting, student call center, placement verification (PlacementVerification.com), and default management. Since 2001, CampusLogic has established itself as an education industry leader by providing innovative solutions that increase efficiency, ensure compliance, and improve the student experience. For more information, go to www.CampusLogic.com

About College Audit Solutions

College Audit Solutions is a software as a service (SaaS) provider specializing in accreditation and compliance management systems for private post-secondary institutions operating in today’s complex regulatory environment. They provide a cloud-based, easy to use and understand web-based compliance management software solution called EDUCOMPLY™. For more information please call 1-888-515-3393 or visit www.CollegeAuditSolutions.com

Gainful Employment & Placement Verification

CampusLogic — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:42:48 +0000

Final gainful employment regulations have been in place for over 2 years. School administrators have a critical task of understanding institutional policies and procedures around gainful employment and the reporting of placement verification rates. The three main areas an institution needs to pay close attention to are disclosure statements, reporting, and understanding how to add a new program(s).

Here are a few key questions to ask to ensure you school administrators are appropriately managing gainful employment and placement verification regulations:

1. Disclosure Statements

How are you calculating median loan debt?
Where are your reported placement verification rates?
Are you including placement disclosures in promotional materials?

2. Reporting

Do you understand the reporting time frames?
Are you including summer terms?
Do you understand the field definitions for your reports?

3. Adding new programs

Do you know how to establish eligibility?
Do you know how to send notification to the Department?
Are you familiar with your Program Participation Agreement?

Talk to your colleagues in the industry and see what is working best for them. Don’t forget the online resources available for gainful employment as well as placement verification specifically. More information can be found online through sites like www.ifap.edu.gov.

Do you need help managing and reporting your placement verification rates? CampusLogic’s team of highly trained professionals are prepared to step in and perform student contact center assistance, process management, and reporting analysis for your placement verification process. Contact us to learn more, click here or call us at 1-877-259-9137.

Financial Aid Quality- Time for a File Review?

CampusLogic — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:24:27 +0000

Do you know the accuracy rate of your financial aid department? Do you have quality data that influences and supports the decisions you make? Compliance with Department of Education and school policy and procedure is an ongoing concern for every college and university financial aid department. Following a continuous improvement methodology can assist in improving and maintaining high levels of financial aid quality.

Measure

Start by defining criteria to measure, then capture and report on that criteria. Defining the correct criteria can be done in a few ways:

Read up on the top 10 findings in Title IV audits and program reviews
Select a sample population, review all file attributes, and identify trends
Review escalated student calls to determine key service issues

Analyze

After capturing and reporting key data critical to financial aid quality, use the data you have collected to enable data-driven decisions by:

Reviewing each opportunity for error
Extracting information regarding effectiveness
Interpreting the results for process improvements
Identifying the root cause of undesirable results

Control

Once you have analyzed the data, it is time to implement protocols to control variables that impact financial aid quality results:

Develop a plan to eliminate issues
Continuously monitor employee metrics
Replicate root cause of desired results

Identifying what to measure, analyzing the data, and controlling the variables is not a small undertaking to ensure financial aid quality is maintained. CampusLogic uses a web-based solution, FileReview.com, to ensure a consistent approach to quality assurance and provide insight into financial aid process performance.

FileReview.com helps our clients identify the root cause of quality issues, develop and evaluate proposed solutions, target training, and implement process improvements. FileReview.com improves the file accuracy, process efficiency, and regulatory compliance of your financial aid department. Contact us to learn more, click here or call us at 1-877-259-9137.

StudentVerification.com by CampusLogic, a Fully Automated Financial Aid Verification Solution

CampusLogic — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:15:32 +0000

Gilbert, Arizona – January 2013

CampusLogic is pleased to announce the release of its 2013-2014 version of StudentVerification.com, a web-based solution that automates the financial aid verification and C-Code resolution process. The new release features a new user interface, enhanced reporting, and supports mobile browsing.

Non-compliance with financial aid verification regulations is a leading finding in Department of Education program reviews and Title IV audits. The verification process can also be expensive for schools to administer and a source of frustration for students.

“Our clients have been asking for a product that will help them lower financial aid verification processing costs, increase compliance and improve the student experience,” said Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic. “I believe that no other product can solve these problems like StudentVerification.com.”

StudentVerification.com is a secure, school-branded web application that automates ISIR processing, walks the student through the verification and c-code resolution process, manages document submission, runs data validation, and identifies required ISIR corrections. The software incorporates a powerful regulatory workflow engine and is designed to easily integrate with any student information system.

The primary features of StudentVerification.com are:

School-branded, FERPA compliant web application
Web forms with e-signature
Custom workflows
Remote document capture
Auto-validation of FAFSA data
No upfront hardware or software costs
Per student per award year pricing with no long term contracts
Simple integration with existing student information system
Real-time dashboard reporting for process management
2 week implementation

To learn more about how StudentVerification.com simplifies and automates the financial aid verification and c-code resolution process or to schedule a product demo, please visit our newly designed and mobile friendly website at StudentVerification.com.

About CampusLogic

Since 2001, CampusLogic has established itself as an education industry leader by providing innovative financial aid solutions that create efficiency, enable compliance, and improve the student experience.

Thinking About Outsourcing your Financial Aid Student Contact Center?

ftadmin — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:29:00 +0000

Many schools consider outsourcing their financial aid student contact center as they seek to improve efficiency, better the student experience, and grow to fit the needs of increasing call volumes. However, before you write that Request for Proposal (RFP), or start asking for help from a financial aid outsourcing company, take some time to collect the necessary information on your current operation.

1. What are the current service levels your financial aid student contact center is providing?

It is necessary to have a clear understanding of your financial aid student contact center’s service metrics. Including but not limited to, current average hold time, average call duration, number of unanswered calls, and the daily and weekly call volumes. You will be asked for this information when seeking a financial aid outsourcing company.

2. What is the current cost of doing business?

Without knowing the current operating costs, you will be unable to compare the benefit or expense of outsourcing. Use the standard Full Time Equivalent (FTE) cost divided by the number of calls received over a set period of time to determine the costs of current operations.

3. How should I evaluate the pricing model?

Financial aid student contact center proposals can offer pricing in a variety of ways. Pricing can be based on a ‘per call’, ‘per minute’, or a ‘per FTE’ rate. Determine the format you will be most comfortable operating under and request that all proposals be presented in the same format. Your job will be much easier when comparing apples-to-apples.

4. How will I integrate calls with my current operations?

Outsourcing your financial aid student contact center can be great way to infuse new technologies and reporting into your operations. Consider where you want student contacts recorded and how the new technology will interface with your current systems.

5. What types of communication do I want supported?

Think about including the channels used by students to communicate. It is standard for a financial aid outsourcing company to offer a call center, but offering instant-message chat and email response features may provide additional benefits to your students.

CampusLogic provides financial aid outsourcing services including services for your financial aid student contact center. Our experienced staff of higher education consultants has an excellent track record in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of financial aid offices around the country and can help you improve the financial aid services you provide. Call us today at (877) 259-9137 or visit us online.

VerificationWorksheet.com Offers Free Customized Financial Aid Verification Worksheets for 2013-14

CampusLogic — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:45:07 +0000

Gilbert, Arizona – January 2013

CampusLogic is pleased to announce the release of VerificationWorksheet.com, a free service that allows schools to download fillable PDF worksheets that support the Department of Education’s verification tracking groups. As the Department of Education moves toward a customized approach to financial aid verification, schools must use verification forms aligned with each tracking group.

The Department of Education no longer provides verification worksheet templates and has suggested schools create their own financial aid verification forms for the 2013-14 award year. CampusLogic created VerificationWorksheet.com to allow schools to avoid the effort of creating their own forms.

“In the first 24 hours after we launched VerificationWorksheet.com, we had over 100 schools use the free service,” said Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic. “In addition to giving schools this valuable service for free, it also gives us a platform to introduce our fully automated verification solution, StudentVerification.com. We like to think of StudentVerification.com as the TurboTax of the financial aid verification process.”

About CampusLogic

2013-14 Financial Aid Verification is Quickly Approaching

ftadmin — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:00:55 +0000

With the end of standardized financial aid verification worksheets from the Department of Education (ED), the implementation of new criteria for financial aid verification, and a transition to a more customized approach to include verification tracking groups, the 2013-14 financial aid award year holds many challenges for financial aid professionals. To prepare for these changes and ensure your school is properly equipped, CampusLogic recommends the following steps:

Notify your Students

Often students and parents do not understand the necessity of having filed tax returns to complete the FAFSA, or that the filing deadline for FASFA falls before tax day to secure certain grants. Informing both parents and students of these important deadlines will underscore the urgency of filing income tax returns as early as possible.

Prepare your Office

Coordinating FAFSA collection, updating student information systems, and ensuring compliance with ED regulations can be overwhelming for financial aid offices of any size. Utilizing these tips in January and throughout the year can help solidify your success:

1. VerificationWorksheet.com offers a FREE, no obligation resource for downloading customized, fillable PDF financial aid verification worksheets for all tracking groups for the 2013-14 year.

2. Visit StudentVerification.com for a fully automated verification and C-Code resolution system, the first of its kind. Guaranteed to save your financial aid department time, money, and resources.

3. Contact CampusLogic to learn more about optimizing your student information system, student contact center services, and support services for the financial aid verification process. These resources are designed to make your financial aid office more efficient and effective.

To learn more about improving your school’s financial aid department for the 2013-14 award year contact CampusLogic at (877)259-9137 or online to schedule a demo and receive the first 400 verification transactions for free ($10,000 value). All of our products, including StudentVerification.com, are designed to support the new customized financial aid verification structure designed by the Department of Education.