Quality in Student Financial Aid Programs A New Approach (1993) / Chapter Skim
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8 A New Strategy for the Department of Education
8 A New Strategy for the Department of Education
Pages 149-162
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From page 149... ...
As reported to the panel, the department has been operating with a "zero error" standard, which is unattainable in practice and therefore not effective in promoting quality improvements. Departmental staff reported to the panel on efforts to develop new strategies, which have been characterized by delegation of au 149
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From page 150... ...
At the same time, they are intended to meet the need to assess overall system performance by measuring quality on an ongoing basis. THE INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY CONTROL PROJECT The panel was asked to study the Department of Education's IQC Pilot Project, a management experiment that seeks to implement a system of accountability at the institutional level to ensure quality performance in the administration of student financial aid.
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From page 151... ...
Conduct a management assessment review the procedures and practices of the financial aid office, assess internal controls, and identify enhanced management procedures. This step helps to build team commitment and to make the project more visible throughout the institution.
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From page 152... ...
The methods for the sampling schemes and procedures described in the IQC workbook reflect statistically valid approaches, but the statistical knowledge available in most student financial aid offices is very limited, and the institutions are provided with few tools to help them determine either the causes for the errors or appropriate solutions. Thus, the panel found that, despite the periodic training programs offered by the department, the IQC institutions will not be able to utilize fully the instructions and software provided to them for statistical analysis of their sample data without further help.
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From page 153... ...
Although the incentive to reduce verification is in place, in practice many institutions in the pilot program apparently continue to verify applications selected by the central processor. Also, if the department would want institutions with small numbers of aid students to participate in pilot activities in the future, this incentive may not work.
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From page 154... ...
More important are the benefits to the institution and the department's success in achieving its desired compliance objectives. Some institutional changes have been made as a result of information learned from the IQC sample, but panel members, in visits to institutions and discussions with aid officers, found that many if not most of the institutions were not sure how to proceed or even how to generate useful reports using the IQC software and that the amount of work required to complete the IQC process is generally greater than the institution had anticipated.
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From page 155... ...
There is little evidence in any of the studies that student error can be greatly reduced by pilot or additional verification activities, yet the potential exists to reduce institutional errors through pilot activities. Of equal importance, pilot schools provide the possibility of early and repeated mea
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From page 156... ...
In addition, future IQC activities should go beyond the emphasis on reduction of verification error rates to improvement of a wide range of financial aid management tasks and investigation of other quality concerns, such as the complexity of the forms and the need to improve outreach activities. Support of the IQC Project the Department of Education has instituted many positive activities in support of IQC institutions, including training programs for new and continuing institutions, providing software, developing recognition and awards processes, publishing a newsletter, holding state and regional meetings, and providing technical assistance (using departmental and contracted person
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From page 157... ...
, the need to improve the procedure for updating the software and the timing for delivering updates to institutions, the fact that computer memory requirements often exceed the hardware capabilities in aid offices, the need for a help feature in the online access software, and the need to provide software to automate worksheets and quarterly reports. Recognition and Awards Although recognition and awards are often used in IQC pilot activities to encourage participation and commitment to new approaches, the recognition and awards should be monitored carefully.
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From page 158... ...
Newsletter The newsletter has great potential for increasing communication and understanding among the various organizations participating in the IQC project. More use should be made of this vehicle to educate IQC institutions about the value of making real changes which improve processes.
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From page 159... ...
To some extent this can be accomplished by improving the training of internal staff. Adding training material on basic statistical skills to the training program could help, but more effective strategies might include subsidizing locally obtained coursework for financial aid office staff or developing cooperative agreements with local quantitative departments to provide ongoing assistance.
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From page 160... ...
Has it had a noticeable effect on any measures of improvement, or is it impossible for structural changes that are limited to activities within the financial aid offices to result in noticeable improvement? The fact that there has been a high attrition rate in the project raises several questions.
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From page 161... ...
Possibly, it could pretest the application form in a special study. Perhaps the training sessions could be used as a mechanism for obtaining suggestions from the institutions about improving the IQC process.
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From page 162... ...
For example, the Department of Education should inform all institutions about the progress of the IQC program and suggest use of measurements and practices found to be successful in addressing specific concerns about quality.
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