NYSFAAA Conference October 20, 2010 Adams Mark Hotel Buffalo, NY

 Provides Documentation of all that you do  Collects Documentation of all practices/policies/procedures in one place  Reference guide  Training manual  Evidence of administrative capabilities  “Because you has to!”(Not a regulation??)  Best Practice  Facilitates continuity if a staff member is not present for any length of time

 20 USC §1094(a)(3)  34 CFR §668.14(b)(4)  34 CFR §  34 CFR §

 Develop a process to create, review, and update regularly  Creating it the first time is the most difficult part  Involve all staff  Gather what you have  Beg, borrow, steal –Be careful how you steal!  Develop a plan with timetable  Start small with easiest first – Fax procedures vs. R2T4

 Yesterday!  Provide a timeline for stages of completion:  Each person’s individual procedures  Work group completion dates  Draft due date  Comment/Review period  Final draft and review

 Everyone  Appoint a project leader  Each member of the staff needs to provide detailed procedures of what they do  Establish working groups – Cross sectional – By function – Inter-office

 Have a hardcopy version available for auditors, training, etc  Electronic Version  Web page?  Office/College server – Access for all staff – Link to web access/forms center

 Create and compile individual task procedures  Work through the NASFAA Policy and Procedure tool or similar format  Mission statements / philosophies  Related school information – Catalog – Handbooks – Web

You only have to do it once, but….  The manual should be reviewed at least annually  Each staff member needs to be responsible for updating their information whenever there is a change  Have someone responsible for following up on this each year

Suggested Content Based on NASFAA Policies and Procedures model ualindex.htm

 Introduction – Mission (school/office) – Philosophy or purpose – Purpose of manual – Responsible parties

Administrative organization and office management – School structure – Role of Financial Aid – Inter-office connections – Records management – Sharing of records

 Financial Aid programs – Eligibility to participate – Administratively capable – Fiscally responsible o management.html management.html – Administered programs – General student aid criteria

 Consumer information requirements – List of information disclosures – How disseminated o information.html o foAct6.doc foAct6.doc

 Applications and forms – School’s applications and forms – Deadlines – Routing procedures – Appeal procedures

File review – Verification policies and procedures – Collection and review of non-federal items – Database matching, reject and c-codes

 Student budgets – Budgets and cost of attendance for various student populations – How budgets derived and updated – Additional costs and budget appeals

 Awarding and packaging of aid – General packaging philosophies – Student population specific packaging criteria – Original and revised award letter notifications – Effect of appeals and enrollment changes – Enrollment verification – Appeal policies and procedures

 Professional judgment – Who may exercise – Circumstances that may be appealed – Appeal procedures – Documentation requirements

 Disbursement – Financial Aid role in disbursements and cash management – Cross reference policies and procedures of other offices involved

° Remedial ° ESL ° Transfer ° Consortium ° Second degree ° Incomplete ° Withdrawn ° Reported Satisfactory Academic Progress – Standards – Measurement time frame – Assessment procedures – Treatment of special courses Extenuating Circumstances appeal procedures

 Return of Title IV funds – Policies – Procedures utilized to perform R2T4

 Institutional refunds – Policies and Procedures for Title IV – Refund policies for state and institutional funds

 Fraud – Difference between academic and financial aid fraud with examples – Responsible individuals – Fraud procedures

 Audits – Procedures and policies for audit ° Federal ° State (if applicable) ° Institutional – Financial audit requirements

 Institutional Policies and Procedures – Any institutional specific policies and procedures not covered above

 Appendices – Forms – Correspondence – Resource documents – Other

 NASFAA Tools – Introduction and Instructions – Template with sample – Table of contents – Formatting document IFAP – Quality Assurance Program – Beginning-Intermediate- Advanced tools ° procedures/designprocessforpandp.doc ° ° °

Discussion and Questions?