Program Communication Specialist

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is the State’s college access and financial aid agency. ISAC seeks an Editorial Writer to support the Program Communication Services team in the Springfield or Deerfield office.

This position plays a key role in ensuring students, families, financial aid administrators, and partner organizations receive clear, accurate and accessible guidance about ISAC’s educational financial aid programs and services. The Editorial Writer develops and maintains public-facing content for ISAC’s website and email communications, translating complex program rules into plain-language information that meets editorial and accessibility standards.

The successful candidate will bring strong writing and editing skills, attention to detail, flexibility, the ability to collaborate with subject-matter experts, and experience producing public-facing content in a regulated or technical environment.

• Write, edit, and maintain clear, concise, and accurate content for ISAC’s website and email communications.
• Prepare, schedule, and publish content in accordance with agency timelines and communication plans.
• Identify when content updates or targeted communications are needed and recommend appropriate delivery methods for students, parents, financial aid administrators, and other partners.

• Proofread and edit content to ensure consistency with ISAC editorial standards, style guidelines, and WCAG 2.1 accessibility requirements.
• Review published content for accuracy, functionality, and accessibility, including testing and maintaining website links.
• Monitor and maintain email subscription lists and distribution groups.
• Compile and analyze email communication metrics for monthly reporting.

• Coordinate with Program Operations, Partner Services, and Program Data and Systems staff to ensure timely and accurate dissemination of program information.
• Serve as an editorial reviewer for content developed by other departments to ensure clarity, accuracy, and compliance with ISAC standards.
• Gather input from subject-matter experts and revise content in response to regulatory changes, policy updates, and stakeholder feedback.
• Participate in cross-functional project teams as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in communications, public relations, journalism, English, or a closely related field.
• Two (2) years (24 months) of experience writing for a newspaper, magazine, trade publication, news organization or writing in a public relations, research, or business communications environment.

• Experience developing and editing public-facing web content using a content management system.
• Experience preparing and publishing email communications using an email distribution or messaging platform.
• Familiarity with WCAG 2.1 accessibility best practices.
• Ability to identify and fix simple HTML issues in content.
• ISAC offers an attractive benefits package including health, vision, and life insurance, State Employees’ Retirement System,educational benefits, and more.
• 25 earned vacation days per year.
• 14 paid holidays.
• Tuition waiver at select public Illinois universities and tuition reimbursements for non-public Illinois universities.

Salary Range: $60,000 - $65,000

Editorial Assistant

Editorial Writer

Hybrid Schedule

This position is open to either of our Deerfield or Springfield offices and requires working 2 days at the location site. The person selected may work from home 3 days per week.

Be part of our great mission helping Illinois students on their path to education after high school! Visit us at https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). .

For consideration, please complete an application at  .

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the US. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas at this time.

The person selected for this position will be required to complete a criminal background check.

ISAC does not discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person's race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.