The Quality Assurance Program was authorized under Section 487A of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended in 1998. To learn how to apply to the Quality Assurance Program access the Federal Register published on 4/12/2011. 

Schools that are accepted into the program sign an amendment to their Program Participation Agreement (PPA). We have also supplied a blank copy of the Program Participation Agreement (PPA) for your convenience. 

668.53(a)(1) through (4) - Policies and Procedures for verifying student aid application data.  It is important though that you document your process and verification criteria in your verification policies and procedures.

668.54(a)(1)(2) and (4) - Applicants to be Verified - The exemption is from having to verify records selected by the CPS. Instead, you get to determine what your institutional verification criteria should be by using data from the ISIR Analysis Tool and analyzing your applicants.

668.56 The exemption allows you the flexibility to determine which ISIR elements you want to verify.  Again, the ISIR Analysis Tool reports will help you with this determination.

668.57 The exemption allows you the flexibility to determine what "acceptable documentation" is to verify the ISIR elements you have selected for verification.

668.60(a) The exemption provides you the flexibility to establish your own time frames for students to submit documentation.

Additional details regarding the program can be viewed at:  
http://ifap.ed.gov/qahome/qaprogramtraining.html - Select "Getting Started with the QA Program".

Public Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection is voluntary under Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20210-4537 or email ICDocketMgr@ed.gov and reference the OMB Control Number 1845-0055. Note: Please do not return the completed Quality Assurance application to this address.