NCAA DIVISION III FINANCIAL AID AUDIT TASK FORCE

 

 

Summary of Recommendations

 

 

PRESIDENTS COUNCIL ACTION ITEM

 

ISSUE:

Timeline  -- Delay Submission of Legislation. 

Task Force Recommendation:

 

Amend the timeline to delay the submission of legislation to 2004, noting the development of Web-based technology to facilitate the membership submission of the financial aid information.

 

Fall 2002

Begin developing audit-reporting technology (i.e., NCAA compliance assistant software or other tool).

January 2003

NCAA Convention -- task force update.

Summer 2003

Task force report to the NCAA Division III Management Council and Presidents Council including sponsorship of legislation for January 2004 Convention.

Fall 2003

Preliminary test of audit process (sampling of institutions represented on the task force).

January 2004

NCAA Convention discussion session and legislative vote.  [Audit legislation requiring institutions to perform annual audits of financial aid, beginning with the 2004-05 academic year (2003-04 financial aid data).] 

Fall 2004

Audit performed in the 2004-05 academic year (2003-04 data) will be conducted as a pilot for the entire division.

Fall 2005

First year of "official" audit results and committee review process.

Management Council Recommendation:

Approve the recommendation to delay proposed legislation to 2004. 

 

ITEMS OF INFORMATION

 

1.

ISSUE:

Audit Methodology.

Task Force Action:

 

The task force reviewed an audit methodology proposal developed by the task force subcommittee and NCAA staff.  The task force was generally supportive of the proposed methodology; however, several concerns were noted:

 

(1)         A larger number of students and student-athletes may need to be included in the audit samples to examine more accurately financial aid packaging practices.

 

(2)         Critical demographic information (e.g., race, test scores, grade-point averages) must be reported by institutions regarding their students and student-athletes.

 

(3)         Current legislation may need to be amended to accommodate the impact of the proposed audit.

 

(4)         The burden of annually auditing and responding to member institutions placed on the Division III Financial Aid and Awards Committee (FAAC) must be appropriate.

 

The task force agreed on additional areas of consensus:

 

·              Every Division III institution should annually perform the audit (rather than just those randomly selected by the FAAC). 

 

·              All types of financial aid must be included in the audit, not just need-based institutional aid. 

 

All freshman and transfer student-athletes on all teams would be included in the audit sample with a potential cap of not more than 100 student-athletes per institution.  However, the task force agreed that such numerical limitations would not be necessary if technology could be developed that would efficiently and effectively allow institutions to transmit financial aid data to the NCAA staff.

Management Council Action:

Accepted the information noting that the NCAA compliance assistant software continues to have merit for use as a tool to assist with the audit.

2.

ISSUE:

Reporting Methodology. 

Task Force Action:

 

The task force agreed that technology played a significant role in determining the way in which the audit will be performed and reported.  It agreed that the NCAA Compliance Assistant software (CAS) should be explored as a mechanism to facilitate the collection and transfer of financial aid data.  The task force noted the diverse financial aid data systems being used by the Division III membership.  However, the committee noted that previously budgeted Division III funds may be accessed in the event the CAS is unable to meet the needs of the audit.  Given the time needed to develop and test such technology, the task force began preliminary discussions about delaying the effective date for the proposed audit until the 2004-05 academic year.

 

Management Council Action:

Accepted the information. 

3.

ISSUE:

Role of the FAAC. 

Task Force Action:

 

The task force noted that it is imperative that the FAAC be able to perform the audits and respond to member institutions in a reasonable amount of time.  Inasmuch as the FAAC may be confronted with performing numerous audits in a given year, it may be necessary for the FAAC to use its judgment in prioritizing its audit workload or increasing the number of financial aid administrators on the committee.  The FAAC would also be charged with reevaluating the audit methodology after a predetermined period of time.

Management Council Action:

Accepted the information.