Financial Aid Success Coach

Financial Aid Success Coach

Position Description

Position Overview

The Financial Aid Success Coach guides an assigned caseload of Wiley students and their families from the FAFSA to a funded, cleared, and sustainable path to graduation. The Coach owns each student's financial aid file from application through disbursement and stays with that student every year until they finish.

This is a coaching role built on a compliance foundation. The Coach determines eligibility, packages aid, and completes verification with accuracy. The Coach also reaches out before deadlines pass, explains options in plain language, and helps students and families make a plan they can afford.

The successful candidate is detail driven, warm, persistent, and comfortable with numbers, regulations, and honest conversations about money.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Caseload Coaching and Family Guidance

• Manages an assigned caseload of new and continuing students from aid application through graduation.
• Meets with students and families in person, by phone, by text, and by video to explain aid offers, costs, balances, and options.
• Builds an individual financial plan with each student that covers grants, scholarships, work, loans, and payment arrangements.
• Reaches out before deadlines to students with missing documents, incomplete files, unaccepted awards, or unpaid balances.
• Responds to student and family inquiries within one business day.
• Explains borrowing, repayment, and loan limits so students and parents can make informed decisions.
• Explains how aid, charges, payments, and refunds interact on the student account, and works with Student Billing to research and resolve complex account concerns.
• Identifies cases that need additional review, professional judgment, or specialized support and routes them promptly.

Aid Processing and Compliance

• Reviews FAFSA records, resolves conflicting information, and completes verification for the assigned caseload.
• Determines eligibility and packages federal, state, institutional, and private aid according to regulation and University policy.
• Processes award revisions, loan originations, and adjustments for enrollment changes.
• Reviews Satisfactory Academic Progress and assists students with appeals and academic plans.
• Prepares professional judgment and dependency override cases for review by the Executive Director.
• Supports Return of Title IV Funds calculations and withdrawal counseling as assigned.
• Maintains accurate, complete, and confidential student files in PowerFAIDS, Jenzabar, and AdmissionPros.

Program Administration and Special Populations

• Administers assigned aid programs from awarding through disbursement, reconciliation, and ongoing program management.
• Assignments may include federal grants and loans, Federal Work Study, Texas state aid, institutional grants, and endowed and donor funded scholarships.
• Serves as the designated financial aid resource for assigned student populations, which may include student athletes, first generation students, students with high financial need, transfer students, veterans, and international students.
• Builds working relationships with the campus offices that serve those populations and provides individualized support.

Enrollment and Retention Partnership

• Partners with Admissions and Recruitment to move admitted students from aid offer to financial clearance.
• Partners with Student Success Coaches to resolve financial barriers for students who are at risk of not returning.
• Coordinates with Student Billing and the Registrar on holds, balances, and registration.
• Tracks the caseload each week and reports who is packaged, who is cleared, and who needs intervention.
• Flags students with unmet need early and connects them to scholarships, work opportunities, and emergency resources.

Outreach and Financial Education

• Leads FAFSA completion sessions and financial aid workshops on campus, in high schools, and in the community.
• Presents at orientation, registration, recruitment, and family events.
• Delivers financial literacy, entrance counseling, and exit counseling.
• Helps keep forms, web content, and communications accurate and easy to understand.

Office Operations

• Serves at the front counter and on the phones on a rotating basis.
• Cross trains on other program areas to provide coverage during peak periods and absences.
• Assists with reconciliation, reports, and audit preparation as assigned.
• Completes required training, stays current on federal and state regulations and industry practice, and takes part in state, regional, and national professional activities as appropriate.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution.
• One year of experience in financial aid, admissions, student accounts, advising, banking, or a related student service or financial counseling role.
• Strong skills with numbers, data entry, and Microsoft Office.
• Relevant work experience may substitute for the degree on a year for year basis.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two or more years of experience in a college or university financial aid office.
• Working knowledge of federal Title IV programs, verification, and packaging.
• Experience with PowerFAIDS, Jenzabar, or a similar system.
• Experience at an HBCU or with first generation and Pell eligible students.
• Experience managing a caseload or meeting outreach and completion goals.
• NASFAA credentials or training.
• Fluency in Spanish.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of, or ability to quickly learn, federal, state, and institutional aid programs and regulations.
• Ability to interpret detailed rules and apply them accurately and fairly to individual student situations.
• Skill in explaining complex financial information clearly and with empathy.
• Skill in coaching students and families toward informed decisions without judgment.
• Ability to manage a caseload, track many open files, and meet deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy with numbers.
• Ability to learn software systems quickly and use data to prioritize outreach.
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion, in line with FERPA.
• Ability to work well in a team and across offices.
• Commitment to student centered service and to the mission of an HBCU.