How to Prepare for an Audit
- Don't Panic: An audit is a cooperative process. The auditors
are looking for information that shows you are in compliance with
institutional policies and federal regulations related to the delivery
of federal student aid. The key to a successful audit is presenting
information to the auditor in an organized manner with appropriate
narratives.
- Provide the auditors with a copy of the Clearinghouse's
audit report. This document shows that the our processes have
been reviewed by independent auditors and are in compliance with the
federal audit guide, "Audits
of the Federal Student Financial Assistance Programs at Participating
Institutions and Institution Servicers."
- Inform the Clearinghouse that auditors are coming to your campus by
emailing us at auditresource@studentclearinghouse.org.
- The auditors will request a sample population of your students who
have received financial aid, which you will need to provide to them. With
this sample, they will compare the enrollment information maintained in
your system to the information you reported to the Clearinghouse and the
information's subsequent reporting to the student loan organizations. The auditors will also
confirm that your NSLDS SSCRs were processed within 30 days.
You can access the information you reported to
the Clearinghouse via our secure Web site.
- From the "Student Look-Up" tab, you can print
the following information for each student:
- Enrollment History
- Enrollment Data Reported to Lenders, Servicers, and
Guarantors
- NSLDS SSCR Notification History
- From the "Core" tab, you can print the following
information for your institution:
- History of Transmissions Processed by the
Clearinghouse
- History of NSLDS SSCRs Processed by the Clearinghouse
If you don't have access to our secure Web site, email us at auditresource@studentclearinghouse.org.
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- The auditors will create an event timeline that includes the following
information:
- Enrollment status
- Effective date of an enrollment status change
- Date you determined that an enrollment status change
occurred
- Date you reported the enrollment status change to the
Clearinghouse
- Enrollment status and effective date you reported to the
Clearinghouse match the information in your system
- Date the student loan organizations were notified of the
enrollment status change
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- The timeline will allow the auditors to determine that:
- You are accurately capturing when a student ceases to be
enrolled on an at least half-time basis in accordance with
institutional policies and federal regulations.
- You are reporting the information to the Clearinghouse in
a timely fashion.
- The Clearinghouse is maintaining the information you
reported accurately.
- The Clearinghouse is reporting the information to the
appropriate student loan organizations in accordance with
the federal regulations.
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- If you provided the auditors with the information above and they still have
questions, email auditresource@studentclearinghouse.org
to request assistance from a member of our Audit Resource Team.
- Let the Clearinghouse know how the audit goes. Your feedback
will help us improve the information we provide you to make future
audits as easy and pain-free as possible.
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