The impact of institutional efforts to validate Basic Educational Opportunity Grant applications was assessed during 1978-1979. Attention was directed to: detecting possible underpayment and overpayment to Basic Grant applicants due to inaccurate reporting; assessing the adequacy of the pre-established criteria for detecting possible misreporting; evaluating the efficiency of the validation process; assessing student and institutional characteristics associated with the validation effort; and providing information for management decisions regarding the validation process. To provide assessment of the extent to which validation brought about correct payment of Basic Grants, data were collected on the numbers of applicants who were not paid, and the numbers whose award amount was reduced or increased as a result of validation. Indirect impacts of the validation effort included: the number of nonvalidation applicants whose status changed from eligible to ineligible after corrections; and the number of supplemental applications filed by validation and nonvalidation applicants. The cost of administering the validation effort and an estimate of the net fiscal impact of the effort were also determined. (SW)