Improve Student Services with a Financial Insecurity Supports Audit

Use this tool to identify departments and staff members to include in an audit, develop a comprehensive list of existing services, and determine next steps to improve programs. The timeline to conduct an audit will vary at each institution, but with a dedicated group of staff, institutions report completing a comprehensive audit in as few as 90 days.

Complete your audit in four steps:

Step 1: Determine departments and campus groups to include in your audit

• Use this section to review departments and campus groups that commonly house resources for students in need. Available services will vary at each institution, but this list can serve as a reference when determining your initial set of departments for outreach.

Step 2: Identify audit partners within each department

• This section will help you identify and outreach to potential audit partners within each department and campus group you choose to include in your audit. Review key questions to consider when choosing audit partners and use EAB’s email template below to recruit partners for the audit. 

Step 3: Create a comprehensive list of resources

• Use our template to compile your list of campus services with audit partners. House the template in a centrally accessible location like a shared file space or cloud-based editor (e.g., Box). Edit the template to include any institution-specific criteria for the audit.  

Step 4: Determine next steps

• Our guide will connect you with additional EAB resources to determine and execute next steps following an audit.

Identify the on-campus departments most likely to house supports

As a first step in your audit, review the following list of departments and campus groups that commonly house resources for students in need. Determine which departments are most applicable to your campus before brainstorming the appropriate partners to recruit for your audit in the next step.

Common departments to consider:

After reviewing the departments and organizations above, you’re ready to start brainstorming the appropriate partners to include in your audit through EAB’s Department Reference Sheet.

Note that this list is not comprehensive. If there are other departments that you know or suspect offer resources, include them in your audit. Some sections may also require multiple contacts for different religious groups or student organizations. Identify lesser-known supports by adding to your list of partners over time and asking partners to solicit input during cross-department meetings.

Recruit the appropriate point person within each department

Once you identify the most appropriate partners, you can send your first recruitment email using EAB’s email template, provided below.

After determining what departments and campus groups are most appropriate to include in your audit, you’ll need department-specific expertise to uncover the relevant resources. However, identifying and recruiting the right staff members to assist with an audit can be challenging.

Brainstorm a potential audit partner from each department you identified in step one using the Department Partners Reference Sheet.

While choosing your representatives, consider the following questions to determine whether the staff member is the appropriate point person to identify their department’s resources for financially insecure students.

Key questions to consider for audit partners:

Has this staff member worked within the department for longer than 9 months?

Is this staff member included in most department meetings and decisions?

Does this staff member have the necessary connections and relationships within the department to fill any potential gaps in knowledge?

Does this staff member have a student-facing role or are they the person students go to for help when experiencing financial insecurity?

Does this staff member have the time/ bandwidth to participate in audit?

If you answered “yes” to most of the questions, then that staff member will likely be an effective partner for the audit.

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Financial insecurity supports audit template

Use this template to create a comprehensive list of existing resources for financially insecure students. Save the template in a shared drive or Google folder to allow staff members to fill out their department resources independently.  Update the comprehensive list over time as your team develops or identifies more resources.

Once you complete your audit, share the completed list with staff outside of audit partners so they can direct students to resources and reach out to main points of contact for more information on specific services.

Steps to complete your audit:

1. House the template on a shared drive.
2. Share a link to the shared drive in original outreach to partners.
3. Gather input from all department partners before established deadline.
4. Review the group’s findings with select staff from student affairs.
5. Share completed list with staff across campus.
6. Schedule follow-up meetings to review progress.

Make a plan for future improvements

Use these questions to find the right EAB resources to aid your next steps post-audit completion.