Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The Assistant Director of Financial Aid, Client Services assists the Executive Director, Financial Aid in the operation of the Financial Aid Department. This position may serve as Acting Director of Financial Aid when the Executive Director is absent. Primary duties include chairing and providing strategic and ongoing leadership for the Financial Aid Counseling Team; supervising one Office Support Supervisor 2 and five Financial Aid Counselors; providing administrative oversight for the Financial Aid Services Center; updating publications, forms and the departmental website; auditing Counselor file review and awarding; serving as a member of the administrative team; completing a portion of student file load; and other duties as assigned.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

25% - Provides strategic leadership for the Financial Aid Counseling Team

• Chairing weekly Counseling Team meetings among approximately 12 Counseling Team members to address regulatory guidance and interpretations, monitoring individual and team productivity on a weekly basis, strategizing better ways to communicate with, award and advise students, recommending file load changes through preparation of written rationale to the Executive Director, serving as a resource to handle unusual student cases, leading Counselors in the timely resolution of specific recurring tasks, including but not limited to addressing lagging workflows, tuition over-award and quarterly meal card shut-off reports. 
• Responsible for file review procedure desk reference maintenance, policy guidance via One-Note maintenance, ensuring timely and consistent review of verification (student/parent FAFSA and WASFA audit) and other requirements of aid applications and attending materials.
• Addresses student and family issues that require higher-level responses, often in collaboration with the Executive Director.

25% - Supervisory

• Supervises the following five positions: one Office Support Supervisor 2 and five Financial Aid Counselors.
• Sets goals for performance and deadlines in accordance with departmental plans and vision.
• Organizes workflow and ensures that employees understand their duties and delegated tasks.
• Monitors employee productivity; providing constructive feedback, coaching and performance evaluations.
• Responsible for developing and administrating training and onboarding program for new Counselors. 

15% - Oversees Financial Aid Services Center (primary Financial Aid Lobby)

• Collaborates with direct reports and others to operationalize and adjust strategies as needed to successfully serve students, family members, University departments and others through the FASC (Financial Aid Services Center).  Entails planning, organizing, staffing, leading, controlling and assessing all activities within the Center, including oversight of the following:  staffing, appointments, drop-in advising, e-mail responses, phone calls, creation of phone hotlines when existing resources prove insufficient during especially busy times, use of Twitter and all aspects of customer service.
• The FASC serves approximately 10,650 enrolled students per year.  To provide a sense of scope, between the approximate 5 week period from Aug.  to Sept. of last year, FASC handled 7,696 contacts:  responded to 4,303 e-mails, advised 1,159 students and family members, answered 1,974 phone calls, set up 127 appointments between students and aid counselors, assisted 119 families during move-in weekend and processed 14 emergency loans. 
• Collaborates with direct reports and others within the department to create and operationalize strategies to successfully serve students, family members and others; assesses the effectiveness of strategies, effects change as warranted.

10% - Responsible for creating and maintaining departmental publications, forms, the departmental website; oversees use of social media by the department.

• Writes and collaborates with others as appropriate to update publications, forms, the departmental website and manages use of social media by the department.

5% - Audits Counselor File Review and Awarding

• Collaborating with Counseling Team members and others to audit file review and awarding performed by Counseling Team members to assess accuracy and consistency, identify errors or other problems and implement corrective action.

5% - May serve as Acting Executive Director, Financial Aid for purposes of administering student financial aid when the Executive Director is absent; represents Financial Aid as liaison to other departments on campus, including but not limited to the Student Business Office, Woodring College of Education, Disability Access Center, International Programs and Exchanges, the Graduate School and Veterans Services Office

• Operations of the Financial Aid Department in the Executive Director's absence, include but are not limited to such tasks as ultimately serving as supervisor of the Financial Aid Department, awarding financial aid, interpreting regulations, communicating interpretations to appropriate staff members, making funding decisions between and among financial aid programs, engaging in meetings the Executive Director would ordinarily attend, ensuring that fiscal reports are filed in an accurate and timely manner, writing reports, responding to reporters, and handling escalated grievances in a timely, sensitive and accurate manner.
• Maintains contact with the Student Business Office, Woodring College of Education, Disability Access Center, International Programs and Exchanges, the Graduate School and Veterans Services Office to address ongoing, aid-related issues.

5% - Serves on Executive Director's Administrative Team

• Strategic planning, departmental teambuilding, identifying and recommending higher-level issues that have department-wide implications for the administrative team to address, working with other team members to successfully resolve issues in a manner that fosters mutual cooperation and respect. 

5% - Responsible for a portion of student financial aid file load. 

5% - Other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree
• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible financial aid work experience at a college or university administering federal, state and institutional aid
• Demonstrated ability to accurately interpret and comply with student aid regulations
• Excellent communication skills
• Minimum of 2 years of supervisory experience
• Demonstrated experience providing training and writing training materials
• Demonstrated commitment to promoting accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion within higher education

• Master's degree
• Experience with Washington State financial aid programs
• Experience using Banner Financial Aid software
• Experience using imaging software

Benefits Overview for Administrative Professional Position.

A cover letter and resume are required and should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications. Please include the names and contact information of three professional references. References will only be contacted if necessary, with notice provided beforehand.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained faculty and staff. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. In compliance with applicable laws and in furtherance of its commitment to fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces diversity, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or genetic information in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU’s Policy on Ensuring Equal Opportunity and Prohibiting Discrimination and Retaliation. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); crtc@wwu.edu

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services, 360.650.3751 or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services at vpsa.office@wwu.edu. The report can be found at: Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires which includes a sexual misconduct background check.