Our audit objectives were to determine whether DeVry University completed verification of applicant data in accordance with Federal requirements and accurately reported verification results to Federal Student Aid. The audit covered award year 2017–2018 (July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018).
To answer the objectives, we gained an understanding of the school’s processes for verifying applicant data, reporting the results of verification to the U.S. Department of Education’s Central Processing System and Common Origination and Disbursement System, and disbursing student aid funds authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (Title IV), for students selected for verification. We selected a statistical random sample of 60 students from the population of 9,677 DeVry University students who received a Federal Pell Grant Program (Pell) disbursement and whose applications were selected for verification for award year 2017–2018. For each of the 60 students, we obtained and reviewed the records that the school obtained during its verification process. We then determined whether the student provided the required documentation and whether the records supported the information in the student’s Institutional Student Information Record.
We also compared the information in DeVry University’s information systems with the information in the Central Processing System and Common Origination and Disbursement System for all 60 students in our sample. We completed this comparison to determine whether the school accurately reported verification status codes to the systems and updated those codes when a student’s information changed as a result of the verification process.