1. The document provides 5 steps that financial aid offices can take to improve their FAFSA verification process: 1) Create a workflow to standardize procedures, 2) Implement quality assurance to check for errors, 3) Encourage collaboration between staff, 4) Provide students with informational resources, and 5) Use automated verification software to streamline the process. 2. Creating a workflow includes setting up processes to flag students for verification, monitor their progress, and ensure staff understand standard procedures. Quality assurance involves randomly checking records and providing feedback to reduce mistakes. 3. Encouraging collaboration allows staff to solve problems faster by working together, while providing students information empowers them to complete parts of verification on their

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5 STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR FAFSA VERIFICATION PROCESS

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Processing FAFSA verifications is not easy.
For financial aid admins, it can feel like a game of pin
the tail on the verification, as you’re being spun in
circles trying to provide high quality service to
students and maintain compliance – all in a
timely manner.

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We understand.
Financial aid directors and officers are in a constant
struggle to find the balance between speed,
compliance and accuracy.

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How do you improve verification process efficiency?
Here are 5 proven methods to reduce your office’s
verification processing time and cost so that your team
can focus on the ultimate objective: helping students
succeed in college

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1. CREATE A WORKFLOW

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1. CREATE A WORKFLOW
Process is king.
Financial aid offices must have standard operating
procedures (SOP) in place.

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1. CREATE A WORKFLOW
For example, there should be a process to determine
which students need to be verified and a queuing
system to monitor students’ progress and what
documents have been submitted.
Many student information systems can even be set up
to automatically flag students for verification, yet often
schools do not activate this tool.

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1. CREATE A WORKFLOW
Make sure every employee understands how to queue
a student and how to move them through the
progression.
This will guarantee students are being helped in the
proper order and will eliminate unnecessary holdups.

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2. QA YOUR STAFF

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2. QA YOUR STAFF
Know your department’s weak spots, and
correct them.
Quality assurance (QA) systems help eliminate risk of
error. Implement a system of monitoring records (even
with random samples) and providing feedback.
This improves employee diligence and fosters an envi-ronment
of continuous learning.

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2. QA YOUR STAFF
Humans make mistakes.
The QA process ensures those mistakes are not
repeated by the same person or across the
department.
QA will ensure higher quality service to students and
save countless hours down the road during audit prep.

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3. ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION

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3. ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION
Teamwork facilitates trust and promotes responsibility.
Maintaining compliance is no small task, and it’s even
more challenging when the rules change every
award year.
You may conduct thorough training, provide resources
and push staffers to be diligent, but not much beats
the power of two minds tackling an issue.

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3. ENCOURAGE COLLABORATION
Suggest employees take tough questions to each other
and work together on solutions.
A collaborative environment leads to:
• Faster problem solving
• Better solutions
• An end to repetitive mistakes
• A more cohesive team

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
Empower your students.
The school website is likely the first place students will
go for information when they find out they’ve been
selected for verification.

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
Many financial aid websites have limited search
function, do not employ an FAQ section and do not
make resource information readily available to
students.
These are crucial mistakes, because it means students
will either be misinformed after they turn to Google for
help or students will seek hand fed
assistance from your financial aid admin.

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
With enough of the right information, it’s possible for
students to undertake the entire verification process
without calling your school, saving your team
countless hours.

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
Supply students with resources, such as:
• Step-by-step guides
• FAQ pages
• Video tutorials
• Best practices/advice
• Links to official sources

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
Once you have created helpful resource content, the
next step is to make it readily available.
Put an eye-catching link from your school’s financial aid
homepage with clear copy such as “Easy Steps to
Complete Verification” or “All You Need to Know
About Verification.”

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
Access is the key here.
It doesn’t matter how great your resources are if
students can’t locate them quickly and easily.

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4. GIVE STUDENTS INFORMATION
For example, University of Phoenix produced a helpful
piece addressing a topic all students would be interest-ed
in – how to speed up the verification process – but
they put it in the financial services blog, where it would
have a short life and quickly be buried by other posts.

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5. USE AUTOMATED VERIFICATION SOFTWARE

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5. USE AUTOMATED VERIFICATION SOFTWARE
Automation saves time and money.
StudentVerification is a self-service solution that
automates the verification process. It can stand alone
or be integrated with any major student information
system or school imaging system.

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5. USE AUTOMATED VERIFICATION SOFTWARE
It automates every step of the student verification
process, including:
• Student notification
• Document collection
• Data validation and
• School communication
Contact CampusLogic to find out how a California
community college reduced their verification
processing time from nearly six weeks to 48 hours.

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THANK YOU.
from the team at
campuslogic