A Pre-Award Validation Analysis was conducted in 1978-1979 to provide the federal government information about the accuracy of data provided by applicants for Basic Educational Opportunity Grants. New procedures involved: validation of selected applications by college financial aid officers using documentation such as Federal Income Tax forms; tightening application edits; and establishing a multiple data entry procedure (i.e., applicants use three other application forms). The validation analysis focused on: characteristics of applicants selected and not selected for validation; characteristics of colleges selected by applicants; effectiveness of the validation selection criteria in terms of corrections submitted and impact on eligibility index; and impact of the new and tightened edits introduced in 1978-1979. A total of 96,585 validation applicants and 1,571,261 nonvalidation applicants were evaluated. Most of the analysis focused on characteristics of currently or previously eligible, regular applicants (i.e., those not applying for special consideration of changes in income). About 3 percent of all applicants and 6 percent of the regular eligibles were selected for validation. Appendices provide statistical findings and information on computing the eligibility index when the applicant is rejected. (SW)