Assistant Director of Financial Aid

PRINCIPALACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Analyze FAFSA (federal) data for graduate students to determine federal aid eligibility under federal methodology, by assisting the Associate Director of Graduate and Professional Programs in implementing and interpreting federal regulations and academic programs' terms of enrollment. Exercise discretion in determining when it may be appropriate to invoke authority to use professional, independent judgment to deviate from federal methodology, on a case-by-case basis, and when needed, to advise academic programs if institutional funding, in conjunction with federal aid, results is an over-award, or if the institutional funding type is inappropriate for the enrollment status. Use judgment when to implement and release federal funding holds. Monitor enrollment during drop/add; adjust aid budgets and financial aid, accordingly, to avoid over-awards. Failure to award federal funds correctly could lead to the loss of institutional participation in the Federal Financial Aid Programs or fines from the U.S. Department of Education.

• Manage the financial aid process for online programs; keep pace with program growth and student progression between the full-time and part-time status; provide critical information about student issues and systems/IT problems with the Financial Aid Management team and senior leadership.

• Develop/enhance annual/quarterly federal Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) reports for federally mandated SAP reviews, working with the University Office of the Registrar, the Online program Directors/Chairs/Deans or Associate Deans, as needed. Advise students and academic programs of federal SAP standards and provide non-federal funding options to students if standards are not met. Work with academic programs to ensure students receive appropriate documented SAP-related academic counseling for future reinstatement of federal aid. Incorrect SAP reports and failure to provide thorough explanations to affected students and academic programs could impact the financial health of the University, resulting in audit or federal program review findings and/or fines from the Department of Education. Assist students in meeting their financial responsibilities to Howard University, thereby supporting the enrollment and retention goals of the University. In the course of counseling students, assess individual financial situations to determine whether there exists sufficient change or an extenuating circumstance to justify a review and potential modification to initial eligibility determination.

• Assist the Director in analyzing a great deal of data and multiple reports so that accurate information is captured when awarding/processing financial aid. Monitor federal financial aid regulations and assist the Director in developing updates for students and staff to ensure University operations are in compliance with federal regulations. Work closely with the Systems Team to design, test and troubleshoot system procedures. Monitor system functions so that federal deadlines are met. Work with third-party, federal and University data systems (COD, FAA Access, NSLDS) to troubleshoot, analyze federal loan portfolios, complete federal refund/repayment documentation, analyze transaction reports and provide advice about University billing/payment problems to students and staff. Oversee NSLDS transfer monitoring so mid-year transfer students do not receive duplicate awards. Failure to effectively implement programs properly, process federal funds, monitor federal loan portfolios, complete federal refunds correctly, could result in audit or federal program review findings and/or fines from the U.S. Department of Education.

• Conduct webinars, group financial aid orientations, group debt management sessions (for high-debt graduate programs) and individual exit sessions for all graduating graduate/professional students on both campuses. Clear and understandable information about very complex loan repayment plans must be provided. Failure to provide such information to exiting students could result in student defaults that must be reported to the U.S. Department of Education. Additionally, failure to conduct exits within the federal timeframe, could impact the financial health of the University, resulting in audit or federal program review findings and/or fines from the Department of Education.

• Works collaboratively with the offices of Financial Aid, Bursar, Registrar, Admissions andDevelopment, the academic colleges and schools, and the Scholarship Committee to select anddistributescholarships and other financial aid.

• Accurately and skillfully utilizes Workday, SharePoint, U.S. Department of Education systems and databases/tools to monitor, process and adjust financial aid awards asrequired.