Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships

Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships

Company: Fairmont State University

Job Location: Fairmont

Category: Financial Aid

Type: Full-Time

Type of Position: Staff - Full Time

Department: Enrollment Services

Appointment Length: July - June (12 mo)

Benefits Eligible?: Yes

Requested Part-Time Staff Hours: N/A

F.T.E.: 1.00

Grant Funded Position?: No

Description of Job Duties and Responsibilities

Fairmont State University is seeking a dynamic, solution-oriented, and innovative leader to take our financial aid operations to the next level as the Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships. This individual should be a mature financial aid professional capable of managing personnel and ensuring compliance with all state and federal regulations while being highly adaptive and supporting an agile and fast-paced enrollment management posture. The Director will collaborate with senior enrollment leaders to develop data-informed strategies that leverage aid packaging and policy to drive enrollment growth while maximizing net tuition revenue. They will also have primary responsibility for communicating the institution's aid strategy and processes to both internal and external stakeholders.

Overview:
Responsible for the planning, organization, and administration of the universities financial aid program. Ensures overall compliance with state and federal regulations, as well as institutional policies and procedures. Manages overall data collection and dissemination for reports, surveys, and audits pertaining to financial aid. Maintains a positive, effective, and responsive customer service orientation for the unit. Exercises authority over financial aid awarding policies, professional judgement issues, operating policies and procedures, expenditure policies, work guidelines and assignments for staff.

Key Responsibilities:

• In collaboration with senior Enrollment Management leadership, develop and implement financial aid strategies that attract, enroll, and retain students while optimizing net tuition revenue.
• Design merit- and need-based packaging models and award policies informed by enrollment analytics and market trends.
• Collaborate with admissions, marketing, institutional research & effectiveness, athletics, academic units, and the Fairmont State Foundation on targeted aid programs and yield initiatives.
• Manage daily operations: FAFSA processing, verification, awarding and disbursement, student counseling and appeals, SAP reviews, and R2T4 compliance
• Ensure federal, state, and institutional regulatory compliance; serve as the primary Title IV compliance officer for the institution; manage audits and required submissions (e.g. FISAP, IPEDS, Common Data Set).
• Coordinate unit level and institutional aid budgeting, forecasting, modeling and reconciliations with Finance Office and Student Accounts.
• Lead, train, evaluate, and set work assignments and guidelines for financial aid staff.
• Use Customer Relations Management (CRM), Student Information System (SIS), and other data tools to monitor aid related portions of the enrollment funnel, measure ROI on aid investments, and recommend adjustments.
• Oversees interfaces with Department of Education systems and other external platforms.
• Supervises the development and delivery of financial aid programming (recruitment events, orientation sessions, and financial literacy workshops).
• Prepare and align financial aid reports and benchmarking data with admissions and institutional research to inform recruitment and retention strategies.
• Maintain professional expertise through conferences, training and membership in relevant organizations (WVASFAA, MASFAA, NASFAA).
• Represent Fairmont State's financial aid programs and processes both internally and externally.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Required Education
Bachelor's Degree Required

Required Licenses and/or Certifications
NONE

Minimum Required Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in financial aid, with at least 2 years in financial aid leadership position such as Assistant Director, Associate Director, or Director.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and multitasking skills
• User of BANNER or similar SIS, FAMS or similar reporting tool, COD, NSLDS and FAACCESS.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree
• 7+ years experience in higher education preferred.
• Proficient user of BANNER or similar SIS, FAMS or similar reporting tool, COD, NSLDS and FAACCESS.

Requisition Number: 2026076SP

Number of Vacancies: 1

Anticipated Hire Date: ASAP

Job Close Date: 05/11/2026

Open Until Filled: No

Quicklink for Posting: https://www.fairmontstatejobs.com/postings/10554

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