# Presentation: 138457

## Improving Administration in Your

- <footer>

**Improving Administration in Your**
**Financial Aid Office**
**SFA’s Tools for Success**

## Quality 

-  How Do We Get There from Here?

**Quality**** **

**Notes:**
Welcome and thank you for the opportunity today to discuss SFA’s Quality Process, a quest for quality that has resulted in a series of new tools -- that institutions have helped to design – for improving aid administration.

During the course of this presentation I will discuss the SFA Quality Process, what tools are available for schools to use, and the benefits for doing so.

Later in the session, we will be joined by a school representative who will share his perspective with you.  So without further delay let’s get going.

## Session Objectives

- Introduce SFA’s Tools for Success
- Review the SFA Title IV Assessment Tool
- Review the Quality Analysis Tool
- Share Institutional Perspectives on the Tools and How They Can Help _All_ Schools

**Notes:**
The objectives of this session are: 
To introduce schools to SFA’s tools for success;
To review the SFA assessment tool
To discuss plans for sharing effective practices
To discuss Advancing Quality through regulatory relief
To review the SFA’s new software analysis tool
To share institutional perspective.

## Three

- “Advance” Tools for Approved QA Member Schools

- “Sustain” Tools for All (on the Web)

- Attain

- Sustain

- Advance

- “Attain” Tools for All (on the Web)

**Notes:**
SFA’s quality process hopes to assure quality for all Title IV schools.  Basically the process is never ending, but it does have 3 distinct components.  Each component will provide a set of tools to assist schools to attain, sustain and advance the quality of financial aid operations.

What do I mean by saying “SFA will provide tools?”  From our experience in working with schools in the QA Program SFA has taken effective practices and resources from the QA Program and incorporated them into a process that is available to any Title IV school.  

The tools will help schools improve compliance and attain quality.  Assessment modules will be the tools devoted find and fix vulnerable areas or confirm compliance.  I will talk in depth about the assessments very shortly.
In addition, SFA will provide Tools to share Effective Practices to assist schools in sustaining quality.  This tool will be developed based on information collected from schools, who want to share their effective practices and make them available to others in the Title IV community.
Advance quality provides schools an opportunity to volunteer to participate in the Quality Assurance Program.  Schools must apply and be accepted to the QA Program in order to participate in testing alternative management approaches such as verification.  To provide for alternatives for entrance/exit counseling and processing and disbursing of financial aid.  SFA will use the authority provided for in section 487 of the HEA (Regulatory Improvement and Streamlining Experiments to test proposed innovations.)  The data gained from these alternative approaches as well as other experiments would be used to propose regulatory and statutory changes that would impact all Title IV schools.

## Thinking Out of the Box

- ... by providing all Title IV Schools with tools to succeed ...

-  Available for all Case Management 	referrals involving specific assistance
-  Most recent assessments online:   	*http://qaprogram.air.org*

**Notes:**
Let’s talk a little more about the SFA tools.  You see on this slide that I have a big toolbox.  What do you use a toolbox for:  to fix things, to build things, to improve things.  Many aid administrators know what the regs, the law, and the handbook say.  But what specific activities achieve the objectives of the regs, the law, and the handbook or to give “how to examples”?  Specific activities can help schools improve and enhance their compliance activities.
Continuous improvement is an important theme.  SFA wants to be a partner in helping schools succeed.  The tools provided for to attain quality are designed to help ANY school achieve an acceptable level of compliance.

SFA has developed assessment modules that will help schools review and evaluate their processes, procedures and business operations.  The assessments cover a wide range of Title IV compliance areas, many of which have been identified by schools as most problematic.  The assessments have recently been updated, they are on-line and they are linked to applicable regulations, statute, and pertinent chapters in the SFA Handbook.  

## SFA Assessment Tools

- Enhance the work of SFA and schools
- Help schools by providing guidance on key questions about their Title IV stewardship

**Notes:**
SFA’s strategy is to provide schools with tools to help them help themselves.  This proactive approach allows schools to self assess, identify areas needing improvement, and develop corrective actions to improve overall performance in financial aid operations.  We have learned through our work with Quality Assurance Program schools that schools much rather find something that is not working, and fix it before it turns up in an audit and/or program review.
Using the SFA assessments, can help a school ensure that they are in compliance and can demonstrate that they are meeting the requirements of the Title IV programs.  
If a school is having trouble administering the Title IV programs, then they need help to attain an acceptable level of compliance.  The assessment tools do just that.  
Does anyone know what SFA’s  mission is?  It’s “We help Put America Through School.”  If we don’t provide our partners with the assistance they need to help them administer the Title IV programs, then we can’t meet our mission of helping students.

So now that you have a general understanding of this tool, lets talk about how schools and SFA will benefit.

## Benefiting Schools, Students, SFA

- Partnership in compliance
- Better technical assistance
- Enhanced administration of Title IV Program
- Better service to institutions requiring more comprehensive assistance
- Better service to students

**Notes:**
Now, what are the benefits of these assessment tools to Schools, Students and SFA.
The benefits are:
Partnership in compliance
SFA and Schools are partners in this billion dollar delivery system.  Partners are helpers not adversaries.
Better Technical Assistance
Quoting rules and regs may not be enough for some schools, better technical assistance is needed in the form of specific activities needed to understand how to comply.
Enhanced Administration of Title IV Program
A basic level of compliance will serve to improve the management of Title IV funds at an institution.
Better Service to Institutions Requiring more comprehensive assistance
Comprehensive assistance is targeted effort through specific action and best practices.
Better Service to Students
The improvement by schools (through tools and resources) will lead to a system-wide approach to deliver better service to students.

## What is Self Assessment?

**Notes:**
There are currently eight components in SFA’s Assessment Tools. Schools can view the assessment tools via the QA Program Website.   At this time the assessments cannot be completed on line, however, schools can download the assessments as a word file and complete the assessment.  
Schools have the choice of completing one or all of the assessments.  It’s really up to the school and they know that there are areas that require immediate attention.  Gone are the checklists of the past.  The assessments require the user to do some thinking, to evaluate student files and records and measure how well the school is fulfilling the requirement.  This tool allows a school to take stock of how well its doing, to identify areas for improvement and to celebrate its successes.  As individuals and as organizations we tend to accept criticism when it comes from within, rather than from an outside source.  We encourage schools to take advantage of this powerful resource, and be on the proactive side, rather than reacting to findings from an audit or program reviews.
The case teams and IIS’s  in our SFA regional offices will also use the assessment tool to help schools and to provide technical assistance.  This is an effort to work with schools as partners, not as adversaries. Let’s look at some of the questions that Assessment Tools A-through-H have been designed to help schools address.

## A:

- for Title IV?

*A:*

**Notes:**
Assessment A addresses this critical question:  Can you ensure your school meets all the requirements for Title IV eligibility.

In this assessment a school will evaluate its management procedures regarding Institutional Participation.  To benefit fully from this assessment, schools should have on hand the following documents:

Accrediting Agency Approval Letter
State Licensing Information (if applicable)
Program Participation Agreement
Eligibility and Certification Approval Report (ECAR) and
Consumer Information and publications.

## Assessment A:  Institutional Participation

**Notes:**
Here’s a screen shot from Assessment A.  This was taken directly from the website.

## Assessment A: Continued

**Notes:**
As I had mentioned previously, the SFA Assessments are linked to pertinent regulations, the law and the SFA Handbook.  A user can click directly on the link and it will take you to the information.  It’s not enough to simply ask the questions, a school must know what the requirement is, how it should be met, and so on.  By adding the links, the assessments have become more helpful, more resourceful and address the concerns we had heard from schools who needed more information.

## B:

*B:*

**Notes:**
In this assessment a school will evaluate the effectiveness of its Title IV procedures.  Useful resources to have on hand are:  Year to date reports, fiscal records and financial aid paid to date records.

Often times it’s the financial aid office that takes the blame when an audit or program review reveals areas of non compliance in fiscal operations.  However, Financial Aid is not the only office involved in this process. Compliance is a joint responsibility.   Share this assessment with staff from your business office and any other enterprise that has a role in requesting, maintaining, disbursing and otherwise managing funds under the Pell, FSEOG, Perkins Loan, Direct Loaned and FFEL programs.

## Assessment B: Fiscal Requirements

-   A sound fiscal system includes rules and procedures for requesting, maintaining, disbursing and otherwise managing funds under Title IV
-   Variables to consider:
**Establishing Accounting Systems****	**
**Cash Management Procedures**
**Disbursement Policies****	****	****	**
**Coordinating Specific Funds**

**Notes:**
In conducting the assessment, some variables to consider are:

Establishing accounting systems - do you have one?
Cash Management - can you follow the cash
Disbursement policies ensuring the office that awards, does not disburse the money
Coordination of funds from the specific programs.

If a school completes the assessment and finds that there are procedures that require improvement, there is a management enhancement worksheet  for schools to use as performance improvement plan. Additionally, if a school has identified areas of improvement, help is provided.  Schools are encouraged to call the Customer Service Branch, contact its regional training officer or Institutional Improvement Specialist.  SFA wants you to succeed, and we want to work with you in partnership to achieve compliance and service excellence. If a school finds problems in any of the assessment areas, we hope you will develop solutions to correct the problem(s) and be assured that SFA is willing to help.

## C:

*C:*

**Notes:**
Can you verify that you are awarding Title IV aid to eligible students?  Assessment C can help a school determine whether it students are meeting eligibility requirements.

## Assessment C:  Student Eligibility

- All students must meet eligibility requirements outlined in 668.130-139
- Select a small sample of student files to assess your school’s current procedures for determining recipient eligibility.
- Take note of  missing, inadequate, and/or conflicting documentation

**Notes:**
SFA designed this assessment to have schools select a small sample of student files.  Review the assessment for each of the 5 students to determine if they meet the regulatory requirements.

If the file review demonstrates reoccurring instances of missing, inadequate or conflicting documentation, this may be an indication that performance improvement is needed.  Document required improvements and corrective actions on a management enhancement worksheet.

## D:

*D:*

**Notes:**
Can a school demonstrate the effectiveness of its Title IV awarding procedures?

##  Assessment D:  Award Requirements

- For evaluating the effectiveness of awarding procedures
- Use a sample of five student files
- Variables to consider:  *Program specific eligibility, Institutional Award Allocations (CB), Institutional Awarding Policies (Packaging), Program Specific Award Rules, Minimum and Maximum Program Award Amounts, and Award Notification Requirements*

**Notes:**
Continue reviewing the 5 student files selected during the Student Eligibility assessment.  Or select 5 new student files.  Review the factors involved in awarding aid:

Does your school comply with the program specific student eligibility requirements; ?
Does your school comply with institutional award allocations for the Campus Based Programs?
Does your school have documented procedures for packaging? 
Does your school comply with Program Specific Award Rules?
Does your school comply with minimum and maximum Program Award amounts? (loan limits, Pell, etc)
Does your school provide sufficient award notification to eligible students?
If your school comes up short in any of these areas, it signals a need for improvement.  Again, document the area that needs improvement and the appropriate corrective action using a management enhancement worksheet.  If you require technical assistance, help is just a phone call away.

## E:

*E:*

**Notes:**
Does your school have disbursement procedures in place that ensure that Title IV money is given to eligible recipients?

## Assessment E:  Disbursement Requirements

- For evaluating the effectiveness of disbursement procedures
- Use a sample of 5 student files
- Use the Student Financial Aid Handbook in addition to Title IV regulations to review disbursement procedures

**Notes:**
In this assessment a school will evaluate the effectiveness of the institution’s Title IV disbursement procedures.  You can choose the same 5 student files used in the recipient eligibility assessment, or a school can choose five new files.

We recommend that schools use the Program sections of the Student Financial Aid Handbook, in addition to program regulations, to evaluate disbursement procedures.

Review the results of the assessment of the five student files.  Is your school in compliance with Title IV disbursement rules?  

If you have good practices, this may be a good time to complete an Effective Practice Report, so that others can learn from your good work.

If your school does not meet all the Title IV Disbursement rules, then note the areas that need improvement and develop corrective actions to address each improvement area.

## F:

*F:*

**Notes:**
Your school must have procedures in place for reporting and reconciling Title IV funds. Does your school reconcile within the timeframes specified for each Title IV program?  Does your school provide refunds in accordance with the Return of Title IV Requirements?

## Area F:  Reconciliation and Reporting

- For assessing reporting and reconciliation procedures
- Select 10 random student files
- Verify that your school’s reporting and reconciliation policies are carried out on a student-specific basis

**Notes:**
The following areas are critical in this assessment:

Adjusting Awards
Return of Title IV funds
Reporting and recordkeeping

Review 10 random cases to determine if your school’s reporting and reconciliation policies are carried out on a student specific basis.

Does your school have a system to verify that it meets all reporting and reconciliation requirements?
If you have good practices, this may be a good time to complete an Effective Practice Report, so that others can learn from your good work.

If your school does not meet all the reporting and reconciliation requirements then note the areas that need improvement and develop corrective actions to address each improvement area.

## G:

*G:*

**Notes:**
Can your school document that your computer systems are doing what they are suppose to do?

## Assessment G:  Automation

- To help determine if your school is in compliance, locate a copy of your policies and procedures related to automation.
- [To be considered administratively capable to participate in the SFA Programs, a school must participate in all electronic processes required by the Department]

**Notes:**
Does your school participate in all the electronic processes required by the Department?

Can you replicate automated procedures?
Does your school have adequate security procedures in place to safeguard automated transactions?

Does your school produce and update regularly users manuals for all automated systems used in the awarding and disbursing of Title IV aid?
If your school cannot verify that it meets all the automation requirements in this assessment, then note the areas that need improvement and develop corrective actions to address each improvement area.

## H:

*H:*

**Notes:**
Are there other institution-specific areas where assessment could be beneficial?

## Assessment H:  Administrative Practices

- For assessing institution-specific 	management operations
- Assessment worksheet topics:  NCAA, FERPA, Drug Free Schools and Campuses, etc.

**Notes:**
Schools can develop their own assessment procedures to examine institution-specific such as NCAA, FERPA, etc, as well as other areas identified by the school.

If areas requiring improvement are identified, identify corrective actions and follow up as needed.

If you find that your school is performing well in these areas, consider sharing an Effective Practice by completing an Effective Practice Report.

## Work in Progress

- New Web-based & interactive modules under development
- Unveiling at EAC’s in Nov/Dec ‘01
- Most problematic areas:  RT24, SAP, and Recertification

**Notes:**
Over the last year a group of SFA employees from the case management team have been working on developing new assessment modules.  We had learned from schools during our last QA conference that there were several areas of compliance that were most problematic to schools.  Return of Title IV funds, Satisfactory Academic Progress,  Recertification, and Perkins Due Diligence.

The workgroup will complete its work on  3 modules and will unveil them at the upcoming Electronic Access Conferences.  These modules will be more interactive than ever before.  Direct links to the EAPP will be featured on the Recertification module.  The assessments can be completed on line, as the web interface will be greatly improved.  Look for the sessions on the new assessments at each of the EAC’s in Reno, Baltimore, and Chicago.

## Promote greater sharing of information between Title IV institutions
Share Effective Practices information with:
the entire Title IV community
SFA leaders – to facilitate change

- Share Effective Practices information with:
*the entire Title IV community*
*SFA leaders – to facilitate change*

- Sustaining Quality

**Notes:**
Referring back to SFA’s Quality Process, the second thrust of the process is sustain quality.  We will help schools sustain quality through information sharing.  The main focus of this tool is to provide an opportunity for institutions to share information with each other and with SFA to assist in strengthening administration of the Title IV programs.  Dissemination of Effective Practices used by Title IV schools will promote quality in administering the Title IV programs, and accuracy in award and disbursing Title IV dollars to students.  While the details are still being developed, we envision schools voluntarily sharing effective practice information with SFA.

Goals:	To promote greater sharing of information between 		schools. 
	To develop a nationwide network for sharing information 	among schools to enhance Title IV operations at all 		schools.
	To provide data and information to SFA to support change 	in SFA rules, regulations and laws.

## Effective Practice

- Reports

- Online form for sharing practical knowledge:

**Your colleagues need your insights.**
*** ***
***For more than 15 years, the Quality Assurance Program has promoted***
***student financial aid practices that work, in part by relaying accounts of problem solving ***
***efforts that schools have devised and implemented.  In advance, we thank you for again sharing***
***your practical knowledge with your student financial aid colleagues.  Your partnership***
***in this continuing information effort will help all concerned to further the goal ***
***of putting America’s students through school.***
*** ***

**Notes:**
The SFA Effective Practice Form is under development.  This tool will be available in the very near future and it will facilitate collection of practices, policies and procedures that you and your colleagues have found to work well at the campus level.

The hope is to share the good work of others with the rest of the Title IV community to enable schools to sustain quality and build upon the good work of others.  The form will be on-line, schools can complete it and submit information via the web.  SFA will then enter the information into a master database.  Schools will have access to the data through one of SFA’s main website, possibly the School’s Portal, or IFAP.  

We’ve learned through experience with the Quality Assurance and Experimental Sites Programs that your colleagues are your greatest teachers.  We hope we can encourage schools to share the good work that they are doing so that others can benefit.  Everyone benefits from this process, schools, SFA, and most importantly, STUDENTS.

## Flexibility to pilot alternative management approaches in administering Title IV aid
Schools must volunteer and be approved for participation in the QA Program.  
Coming: A Federal Register Notice inviting schools to apply to participate in QA.

- Schools must _volunteer_ and _be approved_ for participation in the QA Program.
- Coming: A Federal Register Notice inviting schools to apply to participate in QA.

- Advancing Quality

**Notes:**
The last component in SFA’s Quality Process is Advance Quality.  This is the component that encompasses the current Quality Assurance Program.  Schools can volunteer to participate in the QA Program.  Once accepted and the PPA is signed, schools receive exemption from certain verification requirements so that they may design and implement their own institutional verification program.  This is the only regulatory flexibility given under the Quality Assurance authority in the law.

In order to allow for regulatory changes in other areas listed for alternative management approaches in the QA Program, SFA will need to invoke the authority for flexibility that is provided in the Experimental Sites section in the law.  As you can imagin, this adds complexity to the process, including a review committee and notification to the Congress.
Fundamentally, SFA hopes to provide an avenue for schools who are performing well to test other ways to meet the intent of the law. 
 From the findings we hope to:
 To initiate another avenue of data collection and analysis to promote regulatory relief and improvement.
 To enhance program integrity with the student aid delivery system.

## Quality Analysis Tool

- Available to all schools in ‘02-’03
- Analyze FAFSA application/ISIR data
- Generate reports showing effect of data element changes on EFC/Pell Grant eligibility
- Improve/customize verification program
- Data to suggest future changes in federal verification selection criteria

**Notes:**
Have you ever wondered how effectively verification edits target students in your recipient Population? The Quality Analysis Tool is part of the EDExpress Suite of the Software.  QA Program schools were the first to test out this new product.  Their feedback has helped us improve the tool and it will be available for any school to use starting with the 02-03 award year, although only QA participants will have full verification flexibility.  The tool will assist schools in analyzing FAFSA application/ISIR data for their recipient population and determine if changes in student reported data elements had an impact on EFC and Pell eligibility. Users will import ISIR records into the tool.. Through the use of queries and specialized reports, users will obtain data about aid applicants at their school. Schools can use this data to design an institutional verification process that focuses in on problematic areas and zeros in on specific EFC ranges, data elements and populations.   
The data generated from the reports can be used to help identify information on the FAFSA that is often misreported and or troublesome for students and parents. That is powerful information, and could possibly lead to changes in the FAFSA and federal verification selection criteria. 

## Locally Designed Verification

- Focuses on local sources of error
- Identifies changes to FAFSA fields that have an impact on awards
*What are the benefits of school-designed verification procedures?*

**Notes:**
Through the QA Program, we have learned that locally-designed verification is not a panacea; the schools are not necessarily doing everything perfectly.  But they are willing to do more.

What do I mean by focusing on local sources of error?
At a given school, instead of post hoc identification of mistakes, the QA Tool enables schools to identify practices that have an impact on aid awards.  For common errors, students and parents can be advised and educated.

On a practical level, when you are dealing with the impact that changes on applications have on the Expected Family Contribution, awards can be adjusted so that deserving students who are missed can be helped.  At the same time, knowing the real impact of changes, a school will not have to burden students with unnecessary follow up procedures.

School-designed verification procedures permit schools to redirect their resources from pushing paper to handling activities that make a difference.

## The Power of Data

- The QA Tool allows schools to conduct in-depth analysis of applicant data
- A series of reports can be constructed using custom formats, selected fields and queries to extract specific information about your applicant population

**Notes:**
Schools will have the ability to conduct analysis using a series of reports to determine how well its verification procedures are working.  Using this approach, an institution can stop spinning its wheels and develop verification criteria that fits its particular population.  It can know which application errors occur locally, educate students and parents, and work to eliminate errors.  Thus, schools not only can save money, but make it available to students whose mistakes otherwise might cost them eligibility.
The QA Tool helps schools separate verification practices that make a difference in aid awards from those that take time but make little difference.  The analysis capabilities are quite powerful.  Schools will have the opportunity to deal effectively with two kinds of practices - their best and worst.

SFA is excited to provide a tool that helps schools make their work more productive and more service oriented.

## QA Tool Reports –    Fine Tuning Verification Procedures

- Corrected Records in EFC Range
- Custom Reports
- Field Change Report
- Field Range Report
- Pell Corrected Records Report
- Student Listing with Verification Flags
- Transaction Comparison

**Notes:**
Using a series of reports, a school can start out with a broad overview of its ISIR data and the changes reported between transactions and then move to more specific types of information such as income bands, dependency status, problematic data items.  You can target the issues and items that are relevant to your population.

Briefly, here’s a description of the reports that were included in the 2000-01 QA Tool:

Corrected Records in initial EFC Range.  This report prints the corrected records in an initial EFC range for a selected sample.  For example students whose EFC range is 200-300, this report would should how many records were corrected within this range.  Do lower or higher EFC’s tend to have more corrections?
Custom Report.  Custom Reports are reports designed by the users.
Field Change Report.  This report lists fields that affect the EFC and displays the number of corrections made to those fields with corresponding percentages of the total number of corrections 
Field Range Report. This report shows the number of corrections made to the selected field for a specific increment and the corresponding percentage of the number of corrections for that field.
Pell Corrected Records Report.  This report shows counts and percentages for Pell-eligible corrected records. 
Student Listing with Verification Flags.  This report shows values for CPS verification flags (Initial and Paid On) and school verification flags.  These values show students who became Pell eligible and ineligible and students whose EFC changed and whose EFC stayed the same.
Transaction Comparison Report - This report shows the demographic data and transaction comparison data for a student or a group of students.  This report provides student level data.  Specifically any changes in data elements from the first valid ISIR transaction in comparison to the paid on ISIR transaction.

## What We’ve Learned So Far

- Improve FAFSA instructions for and/or education efforts regarding estimating income and tax information
- Incorporate tax “estimators” into verification profiles
- Use - but don’t overly rely on student/family income level when deciding who to verify
- Consider collecting information on the cost of verification.

**Notes:**
The three most problematic ISIR elements identified through analysis of QA Tool data were AGI, US Taxes, and Worksheet A.  While the creation of a new Worksheet C on the FASFA since 99-00 may have improved the ability of applicants to report untaxed income, being able to accurately complete all three of these items is very much dependent on having a completed tax form.

Verification profiles at most schools should probably include student and family income level, but in the context of other information.  The CPS verification flags seem to focus disproportionately on dependent students with moderately low family incomes ($20,000 - $39,999). While this group constituted 16.5% of the title IV population, they made up 30.2 % of cases flagged by CPS.    To focus so heavily within this particular income band leads one to think that these students are being “pestered.”  One quarter (24.9%) of students flagged by the CPS for verification that recorded a zero change in EFC were dependent students with incomes between $20,000-$39,999.  Moreover, 23.7 percent of the applications “missed” by CPS verification were among dependent students in the next higher income band $40,000 to $59,999.
Finally, the analysis of verification does not address the cost of verification either to the institution or the student.  Knowing the cost of verification would make for more informed decision making.  Being able to identify situations where the cost of verifying a given type of applicant is greater than the expected change in financial aid would be useful in fine tuning verification profiles.

We hope to learn more when we release the 2nd version of the QA Tool in 02-03.  
SFA  is excited about the QA Tool and envisions schools using the tool to improve service delivery to students.

## Institutional Perspective

*Craig Cornell* –
- Associate Director of Financial Aid
- Kent State University
- 			**2001 Winner**
- 			The Quality Assurance 			Program - **Model of Quality ****	****	****Award**** **

**Notes:**
AT this time, I’d like to introduce Mr.. Craig Cornell.  He is the Associate Director of Financial Aid at Kent State University.  Kent State was this year’s recipient of the Quality Assurance Model of Quality Award.  This award is presented to a QA Program school that has met rigorous criteria, modeled after the government’s Malcolm Baldrige award.

Craig and his colleagues at Kent have been leading advocates for quality and innovation as participants in both the Quality Assurance and Experimental Sites Programs.  I asked Craig to stop by today to share his institutional perspective with you and how the assessments and other SFA tools have helped his school.. And can help yours even if you are not in the Quality Assurance Program.

## If you have questions, more information can be found online at: http://qaprogram.air.org
Thank you for your interest

- Thank you for your interest

**Notes:**
If you would like more information about the SFA tools discussed today, you can find them at the QA Program web site at address on the screen.  They are also directly linked from the School’s Portal web site.

At this point I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have.