Staff Accountant

POSITION: Senior Director of Scholarship Administration

DEPARTMENT: Scholarship

REPORTS TO: Chief Executive Officer

FLSA Status: Exempt

Reviewed/Revised Date: October 2023

The Senior Director of Scholarship Administration is responsible for Say Yes Buffalo’s robust scholarship program and the team of professionals working within to remove financial barriers to a postsecondary degree. This position also manages the Say Yes Higher Education Compact on behalf of allformer Say Yes chapters (e.g., Say Yes Syracuse, Say Yes Cleveland, Say Yes Hartford, etc.).

• Develop and maintain the department’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and ensure team members understand and adhere to the direction put forth
• Manage a team responsible for:
  • Engaging high school students and their parents, so that all eligible students complete the Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship application, FAFSA and TAP applications. This includes hiring and directing a team of college student interns who provide 1:1 support to students and families in each BPS and charter high school.
  • Packaging and paying out postsecondary scholarships, providing financial aid counseling and high level customer service to scholars and their parents and to institutions of higher education around the eligibility requirements for the Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship.
  • Manage the department’s Salesforce System including training staff and partners, facilitating improvements and ensuring the fidelity of all data uploaded and stored
  • Maintain the official SYB Scholarship Guidelines document and facilitate addition and revision to them through engaging staff, board members and the agency’s legal advisors
  • Oversee the appeals process where students can appeal their eligibility for a scholarship
  • Provide oversight and approval for all scholarship disbursements and manage the relationship with the agency’s “bank,” the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
  • Track and report data related to Say Yes Buffalo scholars including through annual requests for National Student Clearinghouse scholar data from the Buffalo Public School District and individual charter schools
  • Project and track scholarship disbursements in partnership with the CEO, CIO and Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
  • Provide oversight for department programs and events including the annual College Kickoff and Dorm-Room-Drive
  • Facilitate and manage the Buffalo College Success Network to convene K-12 and higher education institutions along with Say Yes and external agency program staff to strengthen the web of post secondary access and completion supports available to Buffalo public and charter school students
  • Administer the Say Yes to Education Higher Education Compact by strengthening and mananging relationships between approximately 100 private partner colleges and universities and the several Say Yes chapters whose students they support
  • As a member of the Senior Staff, attend and participate in all Operating Committee meetings
  • Believe and practice Say Yes Buffalo’s Racial Equity Statement,“Equity will be achieved when we can all just wake up and live freely; be valued and respected; live free from structural impediments based off of perceived racial characteristics; and, have fair representation and opportunity”
  • Perform other duties as assigned