Director, Processing & Awarding Student Financial Aid & Scholarships

Location : Jerry Sue Thornton Center

Recruitment Type : External / Internal

Requisition ID : req5676

Employment Type : Administration and Professionals

Union Position : Non-Union

Work Schedule : Standard College Hours

Number of Openings : 1

Job Description : SUMMARY

SUMMARY

While professional experience and qualifications are key for this role, make sure to check you have the preferable soft skills before applying if required.

Leads the management and coordination of duties of Student Financial Aid Processing and Awarding related to the administration of federal, state, and local student financial assistance, including scholarships.

Responsible for daily financial aid operations, processing, and disbursement for all prospective students / applicants, as well as oversight of financial aid awards, tracking functionality of systems while ensuring process quality controls, data integrity, and institutional and regulatory compliance.

Serves as a member of the Student Financial Aid & Scholarship Leadership Team.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Manages and oversees all financial aid processing and awarding to ensure effective and efficient administration of all financial aid and institutional aid programs (such as state and federal grants, federal and private loans, scholarships, and work-study).
• Ensures a student-centered focus in all financial aid processing to ensure campus service-level support and adherence to Federal, State regulations and College policies.
• Ensures a self-service management reporting approach for the College’s business intelligence data to provide timely and consistent reporting.
• Analyzes the College’s financial data and recommends maintenance and improvements to institutional processes.
• Identifies and establishes accurate and current documentation of all financial aid policies and procedures and works in tandem with Quality Assurance & Compliance Program Manager to ensure procedures and policies are compliant and efficient to achieve consistency in all financial aid and scholarship processing.
• Oversees the daily operations of the College’s Federal, State, and institutional financial aid programs including regulatory compliance updates for processing, resource management, logistics, and timelines.
• Maintains the integrity of data and ensures all timely reporting and processing for the college as related to federal grants, federal loans, campus-based programs, foundation and institutional scholarships, and state funds using Banner, federal, and state websites.
• Works collaboratively with the Administration and Finance & Enrollment Management departments to ensure all steps in the enrollment process support student success;

works to ensure continuity in all student services that support Student Affairs units.

• Leads, supervises, trains, and evaluates the work of assigned staff in accordance with College policies, collective bargaining contracts, and labor laws.
• Responsible for managing the College’s annual external audits, state audits, and federal program reviews.
• Serve as a back-up for Director, Financial Aid Systems.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE / TRAINING

• Bachelor’s degree (Significant related experience may substitute for education).
• Six (6) years of demonstrated experience leading a comprehensive Student Financial Aid business unit.
• Demonstrated experience providing high-level student financial aid and educational financial planning to assist students / families in meeting college costs.
• Demonstrated experience planning & forecasting comprehensive financial options related to changes in the federal financial aid environment.
• Demonstrated experience supervising, planning, assigning, scheduling, and ensuring the quality of the work of others.
• Demonstrated experience forecasting, planning, maintaining, preparing, and monitoring a business area’s budget.
• Demonstrated experience effectively making decisions that have significant, broad implications on the management and operations of a division.
• Demonstrated effectiveness in a role requiring dynamic and abstract problem solving methods in adaptive situations.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES

• Possess excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work accurately with great attention to detail.
• Possess comprehensive knowledge of State and Federal student financial aid regulatory theories, concepts and practices.
• Demonstrated advanced-level proficiency with an integrated database system, Federal financial aid software, online portal management, and employee data security management.
• Ability to work in cross-functional quality teams.
• Ability to analyze business systems for purposes of process improvement.
• Ability to collaborate with both internal and external regulatory agencies.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills.
• Demonstrates a high level of integrity and confidentiality.
• Ability to independently set goals and determine the best course of action to achieve desired results.
• Intermediate-level proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to collaborate, negotiate and resolve conflicts on major projects.
• Ability to facilitate top-level collaboration while managing sensitive issues.
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with key contacts to enhance workflow and quality.
• Proven leadership skills and ability to foster a team environment and work collaboratively.
• Excellent customer service skills and proven ability to develop and sustain productive customer relationships.
• Possess sensitivity to respond appropriately to the needs of a diverse population.

COMPETENCIES

CRITICAL COMPETENCIES

Service Focus

Collaboration

Quality of Work

VERY IMPORTANT COMPETENCIES

Communication

Adaptability

IMPORTANT COMPETENCIES

Time Utilization

Continuous Improvement

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE / TRAINING

• Financial Literacy / Education Certification.
• Demonstrated experience with Federal quality assurance standards.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS / WORKING CONDITIONS

The demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.)

• The work is performed in a normal, professional office environment.
• The work area is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated.
• Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to perform the duties of the job and will perform repetitive motions with hands / fingers using a computer mouse and keyboard to type.

However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, files, pamphlets, books, etc.

Work may also require walking and standing in conjunction with travel to and attendance at meetings and conferences away from the worksite.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

Cuyahoga Community College is committed to attaining excellence through the recruitment and retention of a qualified and diverse workforce.

Cuyahoga Community College is an equal employment / educational opportunity institution.

Special Note : Target Starting Salary Range : $85,000 to $90,000. The final offer for the successful candidate is targeted to fall within this range but will be based upon an assessment of internal equity, the unit’s available budget, and the candidate’s qualifications in relation to the minimum and / or preferred job requirement(s).

Special Instructions to Applicants : During the application process, you may be required to attach a cover letter and / or resume.

It is recommended that you have these documents ready to be attached electronically to the online application. This system accepts only MS Word or PDF attachments.

Any employment with the College is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background check and drug screen.

Affirmative Action Statement : Cuyahoga Community College is committed to attaining excellence through the recruitment and retention of a qualified and diverse workforce.

Cuyahoga Community College is an equal employment / educational opportunity institution.

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