We have an opening for an Assistant Director of Financial Aid at our Chattanooga State Campus!

POSITION SUMMARY

The Assistant Director position oversees customer service, escalations, and compliance while providing vision, leadership, and management for the Financial Aid Office. This includes Return to Title IV for credit students, account balancing with the Bursar’s Office for state and institutional aid, institutional scholarship awarding, and state funded grants: Foster Child Tuition Grant and Helping Hero Grants. The Assistant Director serves as the liaison with state agencies (THEC/TSAC) and utilizes the FAST student information system for downloading eligibility reports, updating eligibility data, certifying award payments, and making payment adjustments. In addition, the role maintains extensive knowledge of state eligibility, and college financial aid requirements, policies, and procedures.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Holistic Student Support

• Daily monitoring of award applications, eligibility changes, registration, engagement, and academic progress with timely responses to and communications with enrolled students and parents (within FERPA guidelines)
• Collaborate with faculty, staff, and student service areas to share information, align support services, and create seamless experiences for students.
• Respond to escalated student, parent, or faculty/staff issues with professionalism, empathy, and timely resolution.
• Initiate communication strategies, workshops, and events to increase student and family understanding of financial aid, financial literacy, and affordability

Fiscal Stewardship

• Ensure accurate administration of federal, state, and institutional financial aid funds in accordance with all applicable regulations.
• Monitor fund expenditures and reconcile accounts regularly to prevent over-awards, aid discrepancies, or compliance risks.
• Adheres to consistent, accurate policies, procedures, and processes for awarding students, making award adjustments, and evaluating eligibility in accordance with federal, state, and institutional guidelines.
• Develops and adheres to consistent, transparent business practices, both within the Financial Aid Office and in collaboration with outside offices, for accurate fund reconciliation, monitoring of award payments/adjustments, and requests or returns of state funds.

Organizational Culture

•  Collaborates with Early College for proactive outreach and engagement of students
• Establishes clear communication channels with students, faculty, staff, and outside agencies
• Oversee other Financial Aid staff to maintain constant coverage of escalations and emails from other offices on campus

• Conduct annual staff performance reviews, support career growth, and foster a collaborative, accountable, and student-focused work environment.
• Contribute to a positive, collaborative, and respectful team culture focused on shared goals, continuous improvement, and high-quality student service.

• Engage in ongoing professional development

Program Innovation

• Oversee administration, reconciliation, and reporting of federal, state, and institutional funds, including Return of Title IV calculations, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Provide input regarding compliance and processing
• Develop innovative approaches to ensure ongoing compliance with state and institutional regulations.
• Evaluate changes in financial aid regulations and adjust internal processes to maintain compliance while optimizing operational efficiency.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND WORK CHARACTERISTICS

• Effective time management and prioritization of job demands
• Attention to detail and understanding of data analysis, mathematical & financial computations, and identifying/resolving data discrepancies
• Ability to work collaboratively and establish positive, productive working relationships
• Excellent communication and customer service skills
• Demonstrates continuous learning and improvement in knowledge of and compliance with state regulations, technical processes, and professional development
• Works independently, with minimal supervision, meets goals and deadlines, is self-directed and seeks innovative ways to perform job responsibilities efficiently and effectively
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Must possess at least an Associate’s Degree in a related field, such as Accounting, Finance, Business, or Education – Bachelor’s Degree preferred
• Must have 3 years of experience working with financial aid; 5+ years of experience preferred
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and other commonly used office applications
• Prefer experience working with a student information system, such as Ellucian Banner, Ellucian Colleague, or PeopleSoft.
• Extensive experience working in a finance, customer service, or educational setting, preferably at a postsecondary institution
• Comfortable working in a stressful, fast-paced environment with a high level of sensitivity towards confidentiality and working with a diverse student population
• Demonstrated skills in basic accounting and clerical functions

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEMANDS

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this class. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Demands

Work is typically performed in an office environment. While performing the duties of this position, employees are regularly required to sit, walk and stand; talk or hear, both in person and by telephone, use hands repetitively to operate standard office equipment; reach with hands and arms; and lift up to 25 pounds.

Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision and the ability to adjust focus.

Mental Demands

While performing the duties of this position, employees are regularly required to use written and oral communication skills; read and interpret data, information and documents; analyze and solve non-routine and complex office administrative problems; observe and interpret situations; learn and apply new information or skills; perform detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks.

Salary Range: $53,429 - $66,786

* Application review will begin at least 7 days after posting *