Office & Administration Specialist Sr - Financial Aid Assistant

BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY (BSU) invites qualified applicants to join our team as a Financial Aid Assistant. This position coordinates the awarding and revising financial aid packages for institutional and non- institutional scholarships and grants and reconciles these accounts monthly. The Financial Aid Assistant is also responsible for providing technical information regarding financial aid inquiries from students and families, reviewing financial aid offers for budget and accuracy, distributing the work utilization report 2-3 times per semester, and pulling in files from the federal databases. This position assists with the processing of Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) programs as needed. This position also is responsible for receptionist duties when the position is vacant.

Responsibilities of the Financial Aid Assistant include:

Processing and incorporating private scholarship and grant checks into student aid packages and depositing funds or preparing the check for disbursement as outlined in the “Procedures for Processing Outside Scholarships” document. (Percent of Time: 30%)

• Receiving and entering scholarship and grant checks from non-institutional funding sources in ISRS.
• Receiving and processing tribal scholarships. Completing budget for tribal scholarship applications and working with tribal education offices on resolving issues. Completing month end reconciliation of tribal account.
• Depositing checks on a daily basis and determining the distribution of outside scholarship and grant checks according to donor’s wishes and financial aid regulations.
• Revising student awards to prevent over-awarding of State/Federal funds. This will require an understanding of various need-based vs non-need-based aid programs.
• Updating the document screen and comment screen if necessary.
• Analyzing if adjustments are needed by researching budget and need. Determining what aid programs require adjustment. Communicating changes/adjustments to financial aid funding for students as a result of receiving private scholarships/grants.
• Verifying student enrollment status to funding agencies.
• Initiating and returning balance of funds to outside funding agencies for students not attending or withdrawing from school.
• Reconciling on a monthly basis deposits and disbursements with the monthly accounting report.

Processing and incorporating institutional and BSU Foundation scholarships, Faculty/Staff tuition waivers, and room and board scholarships into student aid packages. (Percent of Time: 30%?)

• Once scholarship notification has been received in the Financial Aid Office, the award will be entered on the campus shared spreadsheet the same day or within 5 days during peak scholarship awarding.
• Running reports and making updates to student aid packages as needed (ex FA0280CB).
• Updating the award maintenance screen with appropriate award number, term, sequence number, amount, credits and indicating award is accepted.
• Revising student awards to prevent over-awarding of State/Federal funds if necessary. This will require an understanding of various need-based vs non-need-based aid programs.
• Communicating changes in aid packages to students because of scholarships/waivers. Communicating with the BSU Foundation Office cancelled scholarship awards.
• Updating the document screen and comment screen if necessary.

Loading files daily for BSU & NTC, clearing discrepancies on CM1150, reviewing ISIR loads, researching and solving load errors, processing waivers and third-party authorizations, and assisting with processing of MN State programs. (Percent of Time: 20%)

• Pulling in files from TG mailboxes for BSU & NTC. Reviewing, processing and disbursing files as needed.
• Reviewing daily ISIR load and recalculating files. Reviewing NSLDS for changes, working to clear data discrepancies.
• Reviewing CM1150UG and completing duplicate resolution.
• Completing third-party authorizations and processing waivers.
• Assisting with reviewing, organizing, and processing of OHE financial aid programs following regulations and policy. Coordinating gathering and organizing materials needed for audit review.
• Utilizing the MN Aid software system for reports and researching information.

Coordinating financial aid offer procedure for both BSU and NTC. Also coordinating work study awarding. Communicating and coding consortium/remote applicability. (Percent of Time: 10%)

• Reviewing BSU and NTC financial aid offers for revisions/corrections and forwarding if revisions are needed.
• Directing student employee in the mailing of the preliminary financial aid offer.
• Entering student earnings figures (provided by Payroll Office) into spreadsheet.
• Entering work study authorizations in Teams, completing work study authorization by departments if needed, and entering actual earnings of work study in ISRS.
• Researching applicability and working closely with the Records Office to verify if required for declared program(s).

Coordinating the completion of receptionist duties and performing other miscellaneous tasks for BSU and NTC. Reviewing and clearing tracking edits. Printing tracking letters weekly and moving review edits to queues. Ordering office supplies, providing training, and preparing purchase orders. Completing the preparation of Summer Application forms. (Percentage of time: 10%)

• Coordinating with student workers answering phone calls and returning voicemails, responding to emails, scanning and linking in Image Now, entering documents submitted, and other front-end customer service needs.
• Training co-workers and student workers on difficult problems with student situations, customer service, and Image Now scanning of documents.
• Advising students and parents on completing the application process.
• Assisting in identifying problems, resolving conflicts, and correcting the situation to the satisfaction of the student/parent.
• Mailing appropriate status letters and verification documents to resolve edits.
• Preparing Summer Application forms for processing timely.

Minimum qualifications for this position include:

• Ability to use customer service skills on the phone, in person and online sufficient to provide general and specialized office support (this requires common courtesy, tact, interest in positive problem solving, empathy, and the ability to organize ideas logically).
• Knowledge of standard computer software programs for word processing, spreadsheets, and databases sufficient to input data quickly and accurately and create, modify, manage, and protect them.
• Ability to problem solve situations with a positive attitude utilizing critical thinking skills.
• Math sufficient to maintain complete and accurate financial records, balance and resolve discrepancies, and determine eligibility and level of benefits.
• Explaining laws, rules, regulations, standards, policies and procedures to customers.
• Receiving and reviewing source documents, compare documents to database information, and edit, code, and correct documents.
• Maintaining accurate budget records and reports.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Experience with student information system, preferably the Integrated Student Records System (ISRS).
• Experience with document imaging system, preferably Perceptive Content.
• Two (2) years in a Financial Aid Office or a related field.
• A demonstrated commitment to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism.

External Applicants: Apply for Vacancy Posting JR0000003998, on our career site:  https://minnstate.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Minnesota_State_Careers or at https://minnstate.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/Minnesota_State_Careers/job/Bemidji/Office---Admin-Spec-Sr---Financial-Aid-Assistant_JR0000003998.
 
Internal Applicants: All current employees will need to log in to the career site in Workday to apply for the position. Employees will search for “Browse Jobs – Employees” in Workday via the search bar at the top to view open positions.

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Miller at mary.miller@bemidjistate.edu