Position Summary
Financial Aid Counselor - Shape Student Futures & Transform Lives at Adams State University!!!
Are you a passionate student advocate ready to make higher education accessible to all people, places, and perspectives? Adams State University is seeking a dedicated Financial Aid Counselor to join our Enrollment Management team in breathtaking Alamosa, Colorado, where Great Stories Begin Here. Reporting to the Assistant Director of Financial Aid, this role drives student success and opportunity across our campus community.
What You Will Do
As an impactful Financial Aid Counselor, you will empower students and families across Colorado's San Luis Valley and beyond:
- Guide Student Success: Serve as a Financial Aid Counselor managing an assigned alpha-based caseload, providing personalized one-on-one advising across the entire financial aid lifecycle—from FAFSA completion through need analysis, packaging, verification, and disbursement.
- Solve Problems with Impact: Function as a proactive Financial Aid Counselor exercising independent professional judgment to evaluate special-circumstance requests, resolve FAFSA verification requirements, and clear C-Flags.
- Lead Community Partnerships: Act as a mission-driven Financial Aid Counselor conducting FAFSA workshops, hosting campus orientations, and delivering tailored support for specialized populations, including first-generation students and our Prison Education Program.
- Optimize Systems: Work as a tech-savvy Financial Aid Counselor maintaining accurate student records in Workday and supporting federal systems reconciliation.
What You Bring
- Education & Experience: Associate's degree or equivalent college credit (Bachelor's degree preferred) with 1–2 years of experience in financial aid, student services, or customer-facing roles.
- Core Competencies: Strong organizational skills, discretion with confidential student information, and proficiency in Microsoft Office and Workday.
- Preferred Assets: Experience with federal databases (NSLDS, COD, CPS). Every successful Financial Aid Counselor at Adams State brings empathy and cultural competence to serving our diverse student body.
Why You’ll Love Working Here
- Campus & Location: Located in Alamosa, CO, Adams State offers an exceptional high-desert mountain lifestyle with 300+ days of sunshine, minutes from Great Sand Dunes National Park, world-class hiking, fly fishing, and Wolf Creek skiing.
- Compensation & Perks: Salary range of $35,568–$42,700 (Full-time, 1.0 FTE exempt). Our robust benefits package includes medical, dental, vision, disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and retirement savings plans. Visit our HR Benefits Page.
Ready to Join Us?
If you are excited to thrive as our next Financial Aid Counselor, we welcome your application! Every Financial Aid Counselor at Adams State plays a direct role in advancing equity and institutional excellence.
Application Priority Date: 11/15/2026
Completed applications include:
- Cover letter
- Resume
Apply today! For questions, please contact Russell Shawcroft [contact details available in the full listing].
Click Here for full Job Description
Adams State University is committed to building and expanding the talent of its professional staff and actively seeks qualified applicants who bring unique perspectives, experiences, skills, and attributes that can augment the perspectives of our current faculty and staff and can contribute to serving and preparing our students to engage and thrive in their learning, leadership, and service.
We strive to create a more representative workforce that mirrors the people who study, work, and lead our institution and welcome applications from candidates from all walks of life, especially members of communities who fall within state and federally protected classes such as: women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, and people with disabilities.
We value qualified candidates, with varied language skills, who have a record of successful experience with varied communities and student populations, and who have a deep understanding of and commitment to the unique geographical and historical characteristics of the place we are situated in and the intersecting perspectives that define our university being a low-income, first-generation, and Hispanic-serving, rural anchor university. Therefore, we seek individuals committed to intentionally supporting students and colleagues who possess these characteristics through their teaching, service, and scholarship.
The successful candidate will join a campus that is dedicated to inclusive excellence and acknowledges Adams State’s purpose to foster the educational goals of its students and the well-being of the surrounding community.
Additional information about the university and the academic mission may be found at www.adams.edu/academics/.
Organization
Adams State University is located in the beautiful San Luis Valley between the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges. The vast San Luis Valley is designated the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area. We are, at 7,500 feet, in the largest alpine valley in the United States. Alamosa is located approximately 3.5 hours from Denver, 1.5 hours from Taos, New Mexico, and 2.5 hours from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Alamosa has a population of 9,500.
Adams State University is a state-supported regional comprehensive university in Alamosa, Colorado, United States. Adams State is Colorado’s premier Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and is also a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) with over 54% of our students representing diverse backgrounds. We have a high percentage of first-generation students with an equally high percentage of students who are Pell eligible. The University offers undergraduate programs in physical and social sciences, kinesiology, fine arts, business and nursing, and specializes in educator curricula in several disciplines. Adams State also offers graduate degrees in history, art, business (MBA), and educator programs, including counselor education; the University also has a doctoral (PhD) program in counselor education. The University has an active athletic program, both in participatory sports and in athletics educator training as well as a thriving theater and musical performance opportunities. Students play a major role in shared governance through AS&F. Click here to learn more about Adams State and our surrounding areas.
