"Financial Aid Specialist"

Job Description

The Financial Aid Specialist provides high-quality, professional customer service to internal and external customers. This position exists to serve as a key service point for internal and external customers as general reception for the college as well as to provide necessary financial aid information. This position will have specific responsibility for scholarships, document processing, scanning, office support, and correspondence through various channels of communication. This position will have a set work schedule and serve as administrative support to the Financial Aid department.

Responsibilities

1. Provides customer service regarding inquiries.
   • Provides excellent customer service at the Welcome Center front desk.
   • Answers calls promptly and provide accurate information to callers or route calls appropriately.
   • Determines needs and refers students to appropriate staff members.
   • Assists students in navigating web sites for admission application and enrollment steps, course registration, entrance and exit loan counseling, loan applications, FAFSA completion, and completing other necessary processes on the web.
   • Provides technical assistance to prospective, applicant and current students.
   • Assist students with general information and issues regarding financial aid, admissions, policies and procedures to promote the understanding of college policy and procedures.
   • Advise, investigate, problem solve and resolve questions and issues from prospective, current and previous students, parents, faculty, staff, other third parties and the public.
   • Reviews students' records electronically using ISRS or other relevant software applications.
2. This position will have specific responsibilities for the financial aid aspects of the customer service center team, including but not limited to:
   • Scholarships
     • Promote and record all outside scholarships, establishing a data base.
     • Promote and record all application for South Central Foundation Scholarships.
     • Verify eligibility prior to payment, credits and GPA, and other eligibility requirements.
     • Assist in the selection process for the Foundation Scholarships.
   • Verification of Enrollment
     • Maintain contact with servicers to inform them of address changes and last dates of attendance.
     • Complete county and housing requests for financial aid and enrollment information forms.
   • Document Intake Tracking
     • Review required forms to complete the financial aid verification/application process.
     • Assists students with completing forms, reviews forms for accuracy and completeness, and forwards forms to the appropriate area for additional processing.
     • Initiate tracking letter correspondence to request additional information from the student.
     • Code receipt of financial aid documents being submitted for processing into the MnSCU ISRS system and scan documents into the Image Now electronic document storage system to assure compliance with the federal, state and local regulations concerning confidentiality and document storage. Assist in maintenance and updating of lmageNow system file folders and creation of work flows for document processing.
3. Perform other duties as assigned to ensure the smooth functioning of the department, Student Affairs and the South Central College.
   • Provides support to both campuses when needed.
   • Perform administrative support to the Director and department to ensure the smooth functioning of the department.
   • Provide general office management and supervision of work study students.
   • Coordinate information dissemination in the Welcome Center.
   • Perform other duties as assigned to support the department, Student Affairs and the College.

Minimum Qualifications

• Two years of customer service experience.
• Customer service skills sufficient to identify needs quickly and provide prompt, courteous, accurate and easy to understand information to customers in person, on the phone, through email and other written correspondence.
• Organizational and prioritization skills to effectively prioritize work and manage several work projects at one time.
• Strong attention to detail in completing data entry tasks.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office 365 including Word, Excel, etc.

Preferred Qualification

• Associate Degree from an accredited college or university.
• Two years of front facing customer service experience.
• Knowledge of student services processes, such as admissions, enrollment, financial aid, and campus resources typically accessed at a front desk.
• Knowledge of financial aid office operations.
• Knowledge of current student information system (such as, Integrated Student Record System) and ImageNow for archiving.

Other Requirements

South Central College is unable to sponsor applicants for work visas. All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. Please attach a resume with your application, as this is a requirement to be considered. In accordance with the Minnesota State Colleges Universities (Minnesota State) Vehicle Fleet Safety Program, employees driving on college/university business who use a rental or state vehicle shall be required to conform to Minnesota State’s Vehicle use criteria and consent to Motor Vehicle Records check.

Work Shift (Hours / Days of work)

8:00am - 4:30pm / Monday - Friday

Telework (Yes/No)

No