Is your institution facing a program review or audit?

We provide support for colleges and universities to help them prepare for audits and manage their risk. CHESS professionals identify weaknesses and help institutions implement corrective action before the auditor arrives. We help the school respond to each finding — challenging those with no basis in law or regulation, and minimizing the impact, where possible, of those that are on target. And if error rates in the audit require reconstruction of student records, CHESS can help the institution reconstruct records from managing the process with the institution's staff, to performing the process with our own staff.

For example, at one institution, the school initially was determined to owe more than $250,000 in refunds. And the audit came in the busiest time of year. Hence, institutional officials did not have the capacity to perform reconstruction, feeling they needed to focus on awarding aid for the new year instead of dealing with the past. To help them bridge the gap, they hired CHESS to reconstruct the records. The result? We saved them $200,000.

Most of our clients call us after the audit. Call us before the audit, and we can better help you manage your risk.

Are you facing a lawsuit from a student on financial aid or a student-service related issue? Are you appearing before an administrative law judge to seek relief from an audit or program review?

If so, our staff can support your legal counsel. CHESS consultants are experts in financial aid and have the skills and experience to perform the required legal research to assist your legal counsel. So turn to us to get an edge in the legal process.

For example, when one institution was facing a lawsuit, they turned to our staff for support. We assisted their legal counsel by preparing expert testimony on staffing and salary issues to help resolve a heated union dispute.

And when a student asserted a claim against another institution for failure to award her funds from a Title IV aid program, which resulted in her loss of benefits from another program, they turned to CHESS for assistance. While the university attorney was initially inclined to settle the case, we provided support to the attorney by researching federal regulations and explaining university policy. The result? The plaintiff dropped the case.

Our team also has experience in assisting counsel in preparing data from institutional records and student files for use in administrative proceedings regarding Title IV audits.

Contact CHESS today, and learn how we can support your legal counsel.