Title IV Financial Aid Compliance: How Intelligent Insights Can Help

[carlycurran]

Higher education institutions that participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs must comply with a complex set of regulations. These regulations are designed to protect students and ensure that they receive the financial aid they need to succeed in college.

Course Readiness and Students In Need of Attention, two of the modules of Intelligent Insights, can be used to help higher ed institutions comply with some Title IV financial aid regulations. Here’s how:

Use the Course Readiness module to ensure courses are published and have methods of participation available

1. Create a criteria set in Course Readiness named “Term start participation check” or similar. 
2. Set your criteria. Set a check that the course is published, and define what else is important to you in terms of the course structure. This might be different for different departments. Each sub-account in Canvas can set up their own Course Readiness criteria. 

Use the Students in Need of Attention module to determine which students have not participated in a Canvas course

Having a standard method of ensuring that a student participated in class can help institutions avoid audits and penalties.

1. Create a criteria set in Students in Need of Attention called “Financial Aid report” or similar.

Students In Need of Attention criteria

2. Set one criteria: Minimum Days Since Last Participation is 14

Participation details

3. Two weeks into the term, view the Students in Need of Attention dashboard using this criteria set. You can do this at the sub-account level. You will see this per student, per course. So if a student has not participated in two courses, you will see that student show up twice – once for each course.  

Students in Need of Attention dashboard

4. Spot check students where you need/want to by clicking on a student name and looking at a student profile. 

Students In Need of Attention profile dashboard

 

5. View a student across all courses or in one course.

Students in Need of Attention student profile detail

Message students who have not participated early

Proactively work with students to ensure they receive the financial aid they need by participating in class. 

1. Message the student or teacher. Click the “Message” button at the top right of your screen.

Message a teacher or student

2. Click into the Canvas course (if needed) by clicking the course name under the student name.  

Export the list of students who have not participated

Export by department, and send to the financial aid office.

1. Export the CSV file of students/course that have not participated (SIS ID is a column).

2. Cross-reference this list against the list of students who received financial aid. 

Intelligent Insights is a valuable tool for higher ed institutions that participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Course Readiness and Students In Need of Attention can help your institution comply with Title IV regulations, save time and money, and improve student service.