FINANCIAL AID COUNSELOR/DEFAULT PREVENTION CO

JOB SUMMARY

This position, under general supervision of the Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships will oversee default prevention and debt management efforts by tracking withdrawals, graduation dates, verifying enrollment status, and assisting with the coordination of student loan programs, which will include but not limited to conducting entrance and exit counseling sessions, increasing financial literacy awareness, increasing the cohort default rate awareness campus-wide, and monitoring the partnership with ECMC.  This position (Default Prevention Coordinator) will also oversee and monitor compliance with the plan to assure lowest possible default rates.  This class works within a general outline of work to be performed and develops work methods and sequences under general supervision and reports to the Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Oversees entrance and exit counseling sessions.
• Handles delinquent and default reports thru Loan Tracker.  
• Assists students, lenders, guarantors, staff, and faculty with questions regarding student loans. 
• Resolves student loan questions. 
• Handles incoming and outgoing student loan checks. 
• Promotes and implements financial literacy seminars. 
• Monitors partnership with ECMC. 
• Collaborates with campus offices including Student Success Center, Career Pathways, and Student Accounts.   
• Provides advising throughout the financial aid process to prospective, new and current students, their families and graduates; must have a thorough knowledge of available types of financial aid, scholarships and general student eligibility criteria. 
• Assists with the completion of annual reports and surveys when necessary. 
• Ensures security, confidentiality, and safety of financial aid records, promissory notes, etc. 
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO PERFORM WORK:  

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting or closely related field.
• Minimum two (2) years of professional experience in business, accounting, or related experience. 
• Must have experience with and a thorough knowledge and expert user of automated student information systems, such as Poise, Jenzabar (Financial Aid module), and PowerFaids, including user interface, data models, workflows, and configurations.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, utilizing Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Understanding of federal, state, institutional and private sources of financial aid. 
• Knowledge of federal regulations and Title IV programs. 
• Ability to communicate effectively with students, prospective students, faculty, staff, and local community members. 
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and organizational skills.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment; comfortable applying judgment.
• Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work.
• Can effectively supervise small teams; people management skills are a plus. 
• Writes quickly and clearly in language understood by students and parents. 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Requires sedentary work that involves walking, standing, lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling some of the time.  Requires the ability to lift up to 50 pounds and the ability to exert up to 10 pounds of force on a recurring basis or routine keyboard operations.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Work environment risks exposure to no known environmental hazards.

APPLICATION PROCESS: 

• Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.   
• Interested candidates should complete an online application using this link: https://www.benedict.edu/careers and upload a cover letter, resume, and names and email addresses of three references.  If you have additional questions regarding the position, send an email to: human.resources@benedict.edu.

EOE M/F/D/V