Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The Financial Aid Coordinator manages student financial aid programs at Laredo College, including but not limited to financial aid counseling, verification, satisfactory academic progress, awarding, and reporting, as well as having fiscal accountability for federal, state, institutional, and local funds. This position aids in all areas of enrollment services as needed. The Financial Aid Coordinator assists students and staff with processing and disseminating of information and customer service; assistance includes training new staff in the programs for which they are responsible. Work necessitates strict adherence to federal financial aid policies and procedures, as well as applicable state financial aid policies and procedures and institutional policies and procedures. This position establishes the tone for a student-centered, technology-based, high-performance culture that values service, quality, productivity, and efficiency. Responsible for assisting prospective and continuing students by managing financial aid communications effectively and on time, as well as processing and delivering accurate information to members of the financial aid team for file verification, awarding, and eligibility review. In accordance with FERPA and GLBA regulations, maintains accurate student's financial aid records. Counsels and advises students and parents on all aspects of financial aid eligibility, as well as student accounts. Awards and revises financial aid packages, makes independent professional judgments and adjustments to student eligibility based on unique student circumstances, processes documents and other associated duties, including appeals, requests for additional/reduced aid, enrollment revisions, verification revisions, ISIR revisions, satisfactory academic progress appeals and consortium agreements. Assists the Director of Financial Aid with the review and processing of Financial Aid appeals and maintenance of office processes and procedures. The Financial Aid Coordinator directly reports to the Director of Financial Aid.

Characteristic Duties and Responsibilities

1. Responsible for counseling students and parents and assisting them through the financial aid process.
2. Plans, develops, implements, and evaluates financial aid policies and procedures to meet students' needs while supporting the College's enrollment goals. Administers and facilitates the awarding of new and continuing students financial aid packages which may include Federal Pell and SEOG Programs, State Aid and Tuition and Federal Work Study.
3. Maintain direct contact with assigned students via phone, text, e-mail, etc., and respond to student inbound communication within established timeframes.
4. Award applicants with federal, state, and institutional financial aid awards in accordance with student eligibility and institutional policy.
5. Verify financial aid applications using federal tax transcripts, verifications forms, etc.
6. Constant review of student enrollment to determine student aid eligibility.
7. Review and process student aid adjustment requests such as part-time adjustments, housing status changes, etc.
8. Review reports to ensure compliance with federal regulations such as over awards, Pell LEU issues, loan default issues, CFLAGS, etc.
9. Assist with development and maintenance of financial aid policy and procedures manual.
10. Coordinate and partner with other offices on campus to ensure streamlines student-centered processes.
11. Process summer financial aid requests.
12. Resolve student issues, assist with determining the best possible aid package.
13. Package financial aid awards according to federal and state regulations.
14. Maintain an on-going understanding of the computer programs and their application to all areas of processing and awarding financial aid.
15. Maintain current knowledge of federal and state regulations and their application to administration of financial aid programs.
16. Assist administration with ongoing projects.
17. Review and make decisions on satisfactory academic progress appeals.
18. Determines and approves if students qualify for an unusual/mitigating circumstance; exercises professional judgment by making decisions or revisions to costs, contribution, need, or dependency status as exceptions to the prescribed process.
19. Addresses questions and requests from students, parents, or guardians in person or in writing regarding financial aid programs and eligibility.
20. Demonstrates working knowledge of Federal Systems such as COD (Common Origination and Disbursement), CPS (Central Processing System) and NSLDS (National Student Loan Data System).
21. Preforms other duties as assigned.

NOTICE:  Required Documents

To be considered for this position, you are required to upload your unofficial transcript(s).  In addition, if a license or certificate is required for this position, upload proof of your current license/certificate.

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited College or University.
• 3 years of full-time employment experience at a progressively responsible professional level. 
• 3 years of full-time employment experience in program and/or project management. 
• Proficient in MS Word and Google products for preparing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and reports. 
• Driver License.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Public Policy, Computer Information Systems, Social Behavioral Science or related field.
• 3 years of experience in a professional setting, financial institution or closely related field. 
• 3 years of experience working with database systems, maintaining records, or policy interpretation. 
• Experience in financial aid or a closely related field in Higher Education. 
• Experience in interpreting rules/regulations or management of federal or state programs.
• Experience with software such as: Ellucian Banner, COD, FSA, NSLDS, CANVA, CASCADE, etc.  

• Enthusiastic, positive, self-starter, and detail-oriented with strong oral/written communication, interpersonal and marketing skills.
• Strong analytic and decision-making skills; able to respond quickly to unfamiliar situations; above average problem solver and critical thinker.
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills; must be able to effectively organize and maintain large volumes of records. Strong project management skills.
• Ability to initiate professional contact with people to establish rapport.
• Must maintain a strong work ethic with excellent follow-through.
• Self-motivated and able to function independently without extensive direct supervision.
• Detailed-oriented with a focus on achieving optimum results while maintaining high ethical standards and attention to compliance with college policies, mission, and core values.
• Interpret questions, identify problems, read reference manuals, and identify actionable insights from ambiguous and sometimes limited information to propose solutions and process improvements
• Perform data entry and word processing with speed and accuracy without immediate and constant supervision.
• Knowledge and expertise in student technical support skills, i.e., retrieving reports, correspondence operations, and communication products.
• Ability to multi-task, function under pressure, work independently, accept responsibility with limited supervision, manage multiple tasks to completion, and work with frequent interruptions as part of a team environment.
• Willingness to lead through positive influence and take ownership and accountability for actions and decisions.
• Anticipate needs and create a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive environment.
• Highly skilled in the use of Microsoft Office programs. Knowledge of and/or ability to learn Ellucian Banner administrative computing system, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, Centralized Application Service (CAS), and ARGOS reporting system, or other similar systems.
• Knowledge of the enrollment process, ie. admissions applications, admissions criteria, recruitment in a college setting, financial aid, college advising, and registration.
• Ability to analyze and understand complicated federal and state regulations to ensure college compliance with Title IV.
• Ability to calculate financial need based on eligibility and cost of attendance.
• Ability to recognize and prevent overawarding or underawarding of financial aid.
• Must be highly flexible and able to work in a fast-paced, high energy work environment that emphasizes measurable work outcomes.

• Ability to provide excellent customer service in a high traffic area.

Supervision Exercised

Non-exempt staff, Student employees and/or work-studies.

Supervision Received

Director of Financial Aid.

Physical Requirements

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit.  

The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, or crouch.  

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move items weighing up to 50 pounds.   

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

Work Environment

Work is performed in a standard office environment.    

Work-inside a well-lighted and air-conditioned area most of the time.  

The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate.

Safety

Required to work safely and follow safety rules.    

Report unsafe working conditions and behavior.  

Take reasonable and prudent actions to prevent others from engaging in unsafe practices.

Special Conditions

Immediate supervisor may assign other duties.  

May be required to work outside regular working hours, as needed.  

May be required to work at a different college work site or campus as needed.

EEO Statement

In compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Laredo College is open to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, disability, or national origin who are otherwise eligible for admission as students. Furthermore, Laredo College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and no applicant or employee will be discriminated against because of race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, disability or national origin. This institution will not enter knowingly into any contractual agreement for services or supplies with any firm failing to follow fair employment practices. 

Foreign Degrees

Foreign degrees require an evaluation for United States equivalency from an approved stated education agency or having membership with the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES). Transcripts issued outside the United States of America require a course-by-course analysis with an equivalency statement from a certified transcript evaluation service verifying the degree equivalency to that of an accredited institution within the USA. This report must be attached to your online application at the time of applying. For your convenience, we have provided the following links to assist you in complying with this requirement. However, you may use any other certified transcript evaluation service. http://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Educators/Certification/Out-of-state_Certification/Foreign_Credential_Evaluation_Services/ http://www.naces.org/members.htm

Disclaimer

The above description is an overview of the job. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and responsibilities of the job, nor is it intended to be an all-inclusive list of the skills and abilities required to do the job. Duties and responsibilities may change with business needs. LC reserves the right to add, change, amend, or delete portions of this job description at any time, with or without notice. Employees may be required to perform other duties as requested, directed, or assigned. In addition, reasonable accommodations may be made by LC as its discretion to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.