Assistant Director of Financial Aid

Job no: 495646
Work type: Staff Full-Time
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Categories: Academic Affairs, Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Affairs, Administration, Education

Advancing Educational Access, Inspiring Student Success, and Supporting Institutional Excellence.

The Assistant Director of Student Financial Services assists in the leadership, administration, and continuous improvement of Student Financial Services operations. This position serves as the Director's principal operational support and provides day-to-day supervision of financial aid staff while ensuring the accurate, timely, and compliant administration of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid programs.

The Assistant Director is responsible for supervising financial aid operations, supporting regulatory compliance, overseeing quality assurance activities, monitoring financial aid processing and reconciliations, assisting with audit and reporting functions, and coordinating financial aid-related identity verification and fraud prevention initiatives. The position collaborates extensively with Enrollment Management, Admissions, the Registrar, the Business Office, Information Technology, Academic Affairs, and other campus stakeholders to promote student success while safeguarding institutional and federal resources.

Key Responsibilities

• Assists the Director in planning, coordinating, and evaluating the daily operations of Student Financial Services to support the effective, compliant, and student-centered delivery of financial aid services.
• Assists the Director in providing operational oversight for assigned staff and functional areas and helps ensure continuity of services in the Director’s absence.
• Supervises assigned Financial Aid Counselors, support staff, and student employees by assigning work, monitoring productivity, providing coaching and training, supporting performance management, and promoting cross-training and continuous improvement.
• Assists in overseeing counselor caseload management and helps ensure timely processing of financial aid applications, verification, professional judgment requests, satisfactory academic progress reviews, eligibility determinations, and student communications.
• Assists in the development, implementation, and monitoring of departmental policies, procedures, internal controls, workflow standards, and desk guides to promote operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and consistent customer service.
• Assists the Director in ensuring compliance with applicable federal and state regulations, including Title IV programs, institutional policies, audit requirements, and guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education, the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA), and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS).
• Exercises professional judgment and sound independent decision-making in the review of student financial aid cases within the scope of assigned responsibilities while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements and institutional policies.
• Assists in quality assurance and compliance monitoring activities by reviewing files, monitoring processing accuracy, identifying operational or compliance concerns, and recommending corrective actions and process improvements.
• Assists in coordinating the packaging, awarding, adjustment, and disbursement of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid programs in accordance with applicable regulations and institutional awarding practices.
• Assists in overseeing operational processing within Banner and related financial aid systems, including monitoring ISIR processing, exception reports, data loads, system interfaces, and automated workflows to support timely processing and regulatory compliance.
• Assists with reconciliation activities for Pell Grants, Direct Loans, state aid, institutional aid, and other funding sources through Banner, COD, NSLDS, and institutional accounting systems; researches discrepancies and supports their resolution in accordance with established procedures.
• Utilizes Banner, COD, NSLDS, COGNOS, EDConnect, and other reporting tools to analyze processing activity, identify…