State Grants and Scholarships Department Financial Aid Audit Process

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State Grants and Scholarships Department
Financial Aid Audit Process

• Charles Shahid, Assistant Director
• Ohio Board of Regents
• State Grants and Scholarships Department
• May 30, 2003

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Financial Aid Audit ProcessOverview

• Institutions are selected randomly for an audit
• SGS HEI staff gather internal financial aid
  information
• Information is placed in an Excel spreadsheet
• Spreadsheet is then entered into the audit
  database (extraction)
• Listing of students who received any form of
  financial aid is generated for review by
  institution
• E-mail notification sent to audit contact with
  list of students attached
• Schools are then given roughly six (6) weeks to
  review the list and send in required
  documentation
• Documentation is then reviewed in the SGS office
  for any discrepancies
• If discrepancies are discovered, institutions are
  given an additional one (1) week to ten (10) days
  to address them
• Audit is complete once discrepancies are cleared
  or a check is received

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step One -

• Institutions Are Selected Randomly For An Audit
• SGS and HEI staff select schools to be audited
  from a list of all schools that participate in
  our financial aid programs.
• Letter sent to President of school and Financial
  Aid Director informing them of the audit

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Two -

• SGS HEI staff gather internal financial aid
  information
• A list of students that participated in any State
  funded financial aid program is gathered from
  State Grants Scholarships staff

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Three -

• Information is placed in an Excel spreadsheet
• School Name
• Four Digit HEI Code
• All SGS Financial Aid Programs
• 100 students for each institution listed

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Four -

• Spreadsheet is then entered into the audit
  database
• Ohio Instructional Grant and Ohio Academic
  Scholarship audits are conducted on the HEI
  database. All other programs are extracted via a
  manual process
• Once all programs are converted to HEI, there
  will be no need for manual input

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Five -

• Listing of students who received any form of
  financial aid is generated for review by
  institution
• The extracted file is placed into an Excel
  spreadsheet in Social Security Number order

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Six -

• E-mail notification sent to audit contact with
  list of students attached

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Seven -

• Schools are then given roughly six (6) weeks to
  review the list and send in required
  documentation
• Examples of documentation include
• Admission Application
• Academic Transcripts
• Add/Drop Forms
• Schedule Registration Form
• Account Statements
• Verification of Selective Service (if not
  available, we can access on-line)

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Eight -

• Documentation is then reviewed in the SGS office
  for any discrepancies
• Common discrepancies include
• Students not enrolled in an Associate or
  Bachelors degree program
• Students not enrolled on a full-time basis
• Students drop before 100 charge date
• Financial aid awards do not appear on the account
  statement
• Schools fail to supply add/drop forms

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Nine -

• If discrepancies are discovered, institutions are
  given an additional one (1) week to ten (10) days
  to address them
• Discrepancies are sent to schools in an Excel
  spreadsheet that includes the following
  information
• Student Social Security Number
• Student Name
• Term involved (summer, fall, winter or spring)
• Discrepancy
• Possible Amount Owed to SGS

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Financial Aid Audit Process- Step Ten -

• Audit is complete once discrepancies are cleared
  or a check is received
• A Letter is mailed to the Financial Aid Director
  informing him/her that the audit is complete. A
  copy of the same letter is also mailed to the
  school President
• When the audit is complete, audit results are
  posted to the HEI website at
• http//www.regents.state.oh.us/hei/faidreport.
  html