Finanical Aid Specialist

Job Purpose

Entry level professional, and/or paraprofessional duties related to assisting and advising students, parents, faculty and staff within all areas of financial aid processes, at our Bluffton Campus location. Scope of work requires application of policies, procedures and federal standards pertaining to financial aid.

Job Duties

• Provides exceptional service and financial aid advising through accurate and clear delivery of information related to Federal Title IV student financial aid, state aid, and other forms of private student financial aid. Assists with completion of the FAFSA; gathers, interprets, reviews and analyzes documentation for eligibility and requests additional documentation for incomplete or inconsistent applications to perform accurate needs analysis and verification of files. Performs packaging and awarding functions. Ensures compliance with all federal and state regulations applicable to the delivery of financial aid.
• Responsible for handling the primary means of communication between students and the TCL Financial Aid Office by answering email communication through the Financial Aid mailbox in a timely manner. Serves as the initial point of contact by answering the phone and seeing in-person appointments and walk-ins. Reply to voicemail and email messages in a timely manner. Process routine outgoing communications including but not limited to award notices, loan notifications and exit counseling. Oversees all communication campaigns regarding financial aid events, important financial aid updates, and other pertinent financial aid information to be communicated to various stakeholders en masse.
• Assists with various aspects of reconciliation of the Federal Pell Grant and Federal Loan programs. Assist with monitoring Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used (LEU) and Federal Aggregate Limits (SULA). Assist with review and resolution of Transfer Monitoring Reporting. Serves as the backup for import and export of financial aid data processes. Shares responsibility for processing R2T4 in compliance with Federal regulations.
• Responsible for production activities that support logging, imaging and filing paper and electronic documents. Ensure documents needing review are available for processing by appropriate staff members in a timely manner. Stay abreast of document imaging policies and procedures.
• Assists, as backup, with the processing of federal and private loan applications. Delivers effective and efficient communication via one-on-one and group financial aid counseling, including educational financing, debt management, and default management. Helps ensureall Federal Student Loan Requests have a complete and valid MPN and entrance counseling. Guides parents in navigating the Federal PLUS Loan program ensuring timely responses to parents and students. Oversees exit counseling processes and communication.
• Assists with monitoring and evaluation of student financial aid satisfactory academic progress (SAP). Assist with adjudication of student appeals relating to academic progress including but not limited to tracking student appeals, tracking of documents and updates to SAP eligibility and communication. Processes end of term functions, checking academic plan completion and cancellation of aid as needed.
• Reviews requests from students/parents who have unusual circumstances that are not reflected in their initial application for aid. Ensures appropriate documentation is obtained and cases are presented to the Financial Aid Director, for review as needed.
• Ensures all student/parent information is safe-guarded according to general FERPA regulations, institutional policies, and with extended restrictions of Financial Aid and Veterans Affairs Policies and Procedures. Ensures scanning is completed in a timely manner and meets the state and federal electronic records storage requirements.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.