Ah, compliance. The critical part of student financial aid for schools that is also occasionally (frequently) the bane of financial aid admins’ existence. As a financial aid director, you are held to a rigid standards for maintaining compliance in your office. Are there ways you could make it less painful for your staff?

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4 WAYS TO BOOST
COMPLIANCE IN YOUR
FINANCIAL AID OFFICE

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Ah, compliance.
The critical part of student financial aid for
schools that is also occasionally (frequently)
the bane of financial aid admins’ existence.

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How can financial directors make it easier for staff to
maintain compliance?

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Below, we discuss how a financial aid director can
improve compliance office wide (short of public
floggings.)
Kidding.
Directors put forth huge efforts to support staff with
compliance-related issues.

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Our job is to make this even easier.
Read our four best tips for painlessly reducing
compliance issues...

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
Humans make mistakes, especially when they are
rushing to meet deadlines and juggling multiple tasks.
Where compliance is concerned, a “mistake” can be
costly, both for the school and for students.

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
Software rarely makes mistakes.
The perfect combination for meeting
compliance standards
=
Financial Aid Software
+
Experienced
Financial Aid Administrator.

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
For example, AutoReconciliation is a
software-as-a-service (SaaS) that allows FA counselors
to reconcile COD and SIS data in mere seconds.

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
FA admins simply request their monthly SAS report in
the following classes:
• DSLF (for Direct Loans)
• PGRC (for Pell grants)
• THSY (for TEACH grants)

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
This request must take place during the week before
the first full weekend in a month.
For example, the February 2015 request would need to
be submitted to the Department of Education by
February 5.

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
Once the school has the SAS files, it’s as simple as
importing SAS and SIS files into AutoReconciliation.
The software does the work from there, almost
instantly generating a report identifying
all discrepancies.

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1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROCESSES
Then financial aid admins may sort discrepancies to
quickly and easily see where adjustments
need to be made.
Sure beats poring over Excel spreadsheets!

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2. COMMUNICATE ACROSS
DEPARTMENTS

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2. COMMUNICATE ACROSS DEPARTMENTS
It’s crucial to lead the way for your team to
communicate with the other departments that support
financial aid.

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2. COMMUNICATE ACROSS DEPARTMENTS
Lack of communication can lead to other departments
using outdated information, which creates more
discrepancies and issues down the road for the
financial aid department.

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2. COMMUNICATE ACROSS DEPARTMENTS
You must set the example of being cooperative with
other departments, especially accounting, enrollment
and the other administrative functions.
Be sure to update other departments in a timely man-
ner when compliance regulations change.
Avoid fostering an “us vs. them” mentality, even on the
days when that feels like the reality.

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2. COMMUNICATE ACROSS DEPARTMENTS
Adam Castro wrote a great piece from the admissions
perspective about how transparency, cooperation and
shared learning between departments contribute to the
success of the system as a whole, as well as produce
more knowledgeable, valuable staff members.

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3. DETERMINE AREAS OF
WEAKNESS

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3. DETERMINE AREAS OF WEAKNESS
The National Association of Student Financial Aid
Administrators (NASFAA) offers a Standards of
Excellence (SOE) Review Program.
A Standards of Excellence Review means experienced,
currently practicing financial aid professionals will come
into your office and provide:

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3. DETERMINE AREAS OF WEAKNESS
• Peer reviews of your office’s operations to
assess strengths and weaknesses
• Access to the most current and accurate
information about financial aid
• Answers or clarification from the Department of
Education
• Unbiased advice on staffing, benchmarking,
electronic services, student service and more

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3. DETERMINE AREAS OF WEAKNESS
Whether you choose the NASFAA review program, or
to QA your staff internally, it’s crucial to find out your
areas of weakness.
Then you may provide additional training in those
areas.

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3. DETERMINE AREAS OF WEAKNESS
Do your best to create an environment where people
feel safe to be open with their mistakes so everyone
can learn from them.

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4. ACT ON THE METRICS

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4. ACT ON THE METRICS
Nearly every financial aid director tracks metrics (find
out here if you’re tracking the right ones).
Most schools have more data than they know what to
do with, and this ends up being the problem.

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4. ACT ON THE METRICS
How does an institution turn the collected data into
actionable information?
The financial aid director must be the driving force
behind this.

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4. ACT ON THE METRICS
Review the data to find answers to questions like
“What activities contribute to peak processing times,
and which of these can be streamlined or automated?”
“Are we targeting the right students in the right way?”
“In which areas do we have the most audit findings?”

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4. ACT ON THE METRICS
Once these types of analytical questions are answered,
they can be translated into department directives to
drive efficiency.

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THANK YOU.
campuslogic
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