Associate Director of Financial Aid Systems & Analytics

Associate Director of Financial Aid Systems & Analytics

Provides leadership for financial aid systems, data integrity, reporting, and analytics to support compliant operations, informed decision-making, enrollment, and student success.

Financial Aid Systems and Operations

• Leads the functional administration, testing, maintenance, and optimization of Banner Financial Aid and related federal, state, and institutional systems.
• Coordinates annual setup, upgrades, integrations, interfaces, and production processes with Information Technology and external agencies.
• Monitors system jobs, controls, workflows, and data exchanges to support accuracy, compliance, continuity, and timely service.
• Manages interfaces and access for federal and state systems, including COD, SAIG, EdConnect, and other required platforms.
• Develops and maintains documentation, procedures, testing plans, cross-training materials, and business continuity processes.

Financial Aid Analytics and Reporting

• Develops dashboards, recurring reports, and analyses that help Financial Aid and Enrollment Management leaders understand operational performance and student outcomes.
• Analyzes FAFSA completion, verification, packaging, awarding, disbursement, unmet need, SAP, loan activity, scholarship utilization, and other key indicators.
• Interprets trends, identifies risks and opportunities, prepares projections, and presents findings to support leadership decisions; final operational and policy decisions remain with the appropriate functional leaders.
• Supports analysis of financial aid impact on enrollment, yield, melt, persistence, retention, and completion in collaboration with Enrollment Management and institutional partners.
• Responds to internal and external data requests and supports required federal, state, institutional, audit, and accreditation reporting.

Compliance, Reconciliation, and Data Integrity

• Supports the accurate awarding, disbursement, reconciliation, and auditing of federal, state, institutional, loan, and student employment funds.
• Reviews regulatory updates and evaluates their impact on financial aid systems, policies, procedures, and reporting.
• Monitors data quality, validates records across systems, supports reconciliations, and audits, and helps ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and institutional standards.
• Monitors financial aid budgets and program expenditures and provides analysis to support responsible use of funds.

Leadership, Training, and Continuous Improvement

• Partners with Financial Aid leadership, Enrollment Management, Institutional Effectiveness and Research, Information Technology, the Registrar, Student Accounts, and other campus offices.
• Leads training and professional development related to systems, data, reporting, and process consistency.
• Identifies process improvements, automation opportunities, and technology solutions that strengthen compliance, efficiency, customer service, and the student experience.
• Serves as a financial aid systems and analytics resource for university offices and external agencies.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, communications, humanities, social sciences, or a closely related field to the position.
• One (1) year (12 months) of professional experience working in student services, financial aid/loans or a closely related field within higher education or a related agency.
• Based on position requirements, additional education, training, and/or work experience in the area of specialization inherent to the position, may be required.
• NOTE:
  
  Master's Degree in an area consistent with the duties of the position may be substituted for one (1) year (12 months) of work experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree; supervisory or project leadership experience; experience with Banner Financial Aid, federal and state financial aid systems, SQL, Argos, Power BI, Tableau, or comparable reporting tools.

Knowledge,

Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge of federal and state financial aid regulations, financial aid operations, and applicable compliance requirements.
• Knowledge of Banner Financial Aid and external systems such as COD, SAIG, and EdConnect.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data and communicate findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Understanding of data governance, data definitions, data security, and responsible use of sensitive student information.
• Experience developing reports, dashboards, projections, and performance analyses.
• Demonstrated project management skills, including support for system implementations, conversions, upgrades, testing, and process improvement.
• Strong attention to data integrity, reconciliation, validation, documentation, and audit readiness.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, collaboration, training, and customer-service skills.
• Ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders and support data-informed decision-making without assuming operational authority for…