Document Templates for IV-E Stipend Programs

Overview

The Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, has developed a set of document templates that can be used by new Title IV-E Programs. Examples specific to Wisconsin and UW-Madison are included, but in most cases efforts have been made to generalize language and create fill-in-the-blank style opportunities for other institutions to make these documents their own with little effort. In addition to the templates, we provide some use context.

What is a IV-E Stipend Program?

Context

These documents were all created by or for the State of Wisconsin and/or the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wisconsin has a county-based child welfare system, where most public child welfare is not run directly by the state. While the UW has a unified System, public child welfare stipend programs are not centrally administered, and each program (Madison, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Milwaukee) has its own contract with DCF. Our program uses a Curriculum Statistic model for budgeting, where the full breadth of our MSW and BSW curriculum is assessed for eligibility and reimbursement is prorated based on the percentage of eligibility. If you are using these documents, please be aware of this context and be thoughtful of the changes you may need to make for your own state/institutional context.

Document Templates

The templates are organized into four administrative areas: Contracts, Reports, Follow Up, and Financial

Contracts

BSW Student Contract (Word)
MSW Student Contract (Full Time) (Word)
MSW Student Contract (Part Time) (Word)
Scope of Services (Word)

When talking about "contracts" in a IV-E stipend program context, there are two key, and very different, components:

1. The higher ed institution's contract with the state
2. The institution's contract with the trainee

State Contracts

In the above templates, we don't include a sample of a full contract between an institution and state because each state will have highly individualized needs they'll want to incorporate. Instead, we include a sample of the Scope of Services an institution might want to include in their contract with the state, outlining the institution’s deliverables, timelines, and expectations, as well as the program goals.

Trainee Contracts

In the above templates, there are three samples of trainee contracts. 

The IV-E Contract is the binding agreement students sign. It outlines the agreement between the University and the Trainee, including:

1. financial support the student receives, including conditional support relating to out-of-county placements or place of employment placements
2. academic requirements the student must meet (events, probationary status, etc.)
3. consequences of non-performance
4. grace periods/time periods required before students enter into non-performance and must pay back financially distributed money

It's important to remember to explicitly include starting points for any time periods noted in the contract language (i.e. must pay back within 90 days ... 90 days of when?). Working with your institution's legal services to hone your language is critical.

At UW-Madison, we have the program coordinator sign the contract on behalf of the program, but since they don’t have legal authority to sign anything on behalf of the University, we also have a legal representative of the UW (like our Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, or the research contracts manager) sign on behalf of the University to make it legally binding.

Reports

Biennial Evaluation Report (PDF)
Annual Data Collection Tool (Excel)

Biennial Report

UW-Madison’s 2016-2018 biennial report, to serve as a template for how a program can report on its activities and progress to the state.

Annual Data Collection

Template designed by WI DCF for annual collection of data important to the state for evaluating the stipend program, such as # of students in program, # of graduates, students in work payback, students in financial payback, etc.

Follow Up

Employer Survey Email (Word)
Employer Survey (Word)
Employment Verification Form (PDF)
Work Payback Completion Letter (Word)

IV-E stipends require trainees to engage in "work payback" for a specified term after graduation. At UW-Madison, for example, students are required to work in a county child welfare agency for 1 calendar year for each academic year (full-time) of funding received. In Wisconsin, the institution is responsible for guaranteeing compliance.

Compliance

We provide two templates above, one a form for Employment Verification and one a letter officially releasing the trainee from their obligation after completing the term of their work payback. For employment verification, it is recommended to check in with trainees every 6 months (at least). Using digital tools for data collection and storing the information in a spreadsheet or database is also strongly recommended over paper-handling.

Data Collection

Also included in the templates above are a recommended data collection tool, surveying supervisors of recent program graduates. Typically done 3 months post-graduation with a trainee’s first employer, the goal is to have the employer report on key metrics regarding their employee as a means to inform performance of the program as a whole. This data is reviewed and reported biannually as part of the biannual reporting process.

Financial

Budget (Excel)
Quarterly Cost Report (Excel)

This annual budget template breaks down expenses into categories which exist to logically follow IV-E eligibility regulations, and the divide between administrative costs (reimbursable at 50%) and instructional costs (eligible for enhanced training reimbursement at 75%):

• Administrative staff
• Instructional staff
• Administrative operating costs
• Instructional operating costs
• Student support costs

This budget uses a “curriculum statistic” model, where the social work program’s relevant coursework is reviewed for the proportion of time in each class relevant to IV-E eligibility topics per 45 CFR 1356.60(b-c) and section 474(3)(a) of the Social Security Act. The modifier generated by this review, the curriculum statistic, is then applied to all instructional expenses (salaries, fringe, operating costs, student support, and indirects) as an indicator of what proportion of the education being offered is eligible for enhanced reimbursement.

This budget model also relies on unrecovered indirect cost share. In certain circumstances, federal reimbursement programs passing through a state agency will allow higher education institutions to claim as cost share the difference between the federally negotiated indirect rate and the state’s indirect rate (2 CFR 200.306(c)). In the case of UW-Madison (circa 2023), the federally negotiated indirect rate for training was 53% of modified total direct costs (it exempted student support costs). The state negotiated indirect rate was 15% of total direct costs. The difference is included as cost sharing to draw down additional funding. The state would need to request and receive permission from DHHS to allow unrecovered indirect costs.

Also included is a quarterly cost report which the program can use to report expenses back to the state 4 times/year for federal reimbursement and program invoicing.

Both templates are in Excel and use embedded comments and in-line notes to guide the user through the budget and cost reporting processes.