Maintained for Historical Purposes

This resource is being maintained for historical purposes only and is not currently applicable.

(Verification) Subject: Program Integrity Questions and Answers (Q&A) Website Update

Posted Date:April 11, 2014

Author: Lynn B. Mahaffie, Senior Director, Policy Coordination, Development and Accreditation Service

Subject: Program Integrity Questions and Answers (Q&A) Website Update

As described in the Electronic Announcement dated September 2, 2011, the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) maintains a website containing Q&As pertaining to the Program Integrity final regulations that were published on October 29, 2010. We will continue to post new Q&As to the website and recently updated the verification portion of this website to archive guidance that pertains only to the 2012-2013 award year. We have also removed references that aligned the guidance to a particular award year in order for that guidance to apply across multiple award years.

The updates are as follows:

  1. A link was added to access archived Q&As for award years that have ended.
  2. The statement “UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, THE GUIDANCE BELOW APPLIES TO BOTH THE 2012-2013 AND THE 2013-2014 AWARD YEARS” was modified to apply to all award years beginning with 2012-2013.
  3. General Questions section—The resources under VER-Q1/A1 for the 2012-2013 Award Year was archived, and updated as appropriate for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 award years.
  4. Verification Items section under—
    1. VI-A2, the reference to “(see questions 74 through 78 and 95 through 99 on the FAFSA)” was removed to make the guidance applicable across multiple award years particularly as the question numbers on the FAFSA change. Note that the numbering for the 2014-2015 FAFSA questions have changed since this guidance was first issued.
    2. VI-Q3/A3, the reference to “(FAFSA Questions 74, 76-78 and 95, 97-99)?” and years specific to the 2012-2013 award year when documenting the receipt of SNAP benefits was removed to allow the guidance to apply across multiple award years.
    3. VI-A4, the reference to FAFSA questions 44e, 92e, 44f and 92f was removed.
    4. VI-Q5/A5 and VI-Q8/A8 guidance apply only to the 2012-2013 award year and was archived.
  5. Updating Applicant’s FAFSA Information section under -UPD-A2, the reference to the 2012-2013 ISIR Guide pages 19, A-2; and 2013-2014 ISIR Guide page 19 was removed.
  6. Acceptable Documentation for FAFSA Information Selected for Verification section under—
    1. DOC-A3, “See the attachment to DCL GEN-11-13 for guidance on the IRS Tax Return Transcript Request Process at http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1113.html.” was removed.
    2. DOC-A5, removed reference to the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 award years to make the guidance applicable across multiple award years.
    3. DOC-A6, removed reference to “(FAFSA Questions 72 and 93)” and specific calendar and award years.
    4. DOC-A7, removed reference to specific award years.
    5. DOC-Q11/A11, guidance applied only to the 2012-2013 award year and was archived.
    6. DOC-A13, removed reference to the “2012-2013 ISIR Guide on pages 25-26 and the 2013-2014 ISIR Guide on page 26.”
    7. DOC-A15, was modified by adding “and applies to 2013-2014 and previous award years. Guidance for 2014-2015 and subsequent award years is provided in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-14-05”.
    8. DOC-A17, “July 12, 2012” was replaced with “annual” Federal Register notice.
    9. DOC-A18, “applicants” was changed to “students” and applies “only to” was changed to “beginning with” the 2013-2014 award year.

To view these updates, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/integrity-qa.html, click on the applicable topics, and look for a bolded revised date next to those Q&As that have been modified.

If you have any questions about the information provided on the program integrity Q&A website regarding verification, please contact Jackie Butler at 202-502-7890 or via email at jacquelyn.butler@ed.gov.