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Director, Financial Aid

Coast Community College District, Huntington Beach, CA, United States

Definition

(ON-CAMPUS - in-person position)

About Golden West College

Located in the coastal community of Huntington Beach, Golden West College is regarded as one of the most beautiful campuses in Southern California. The college is highly regarded for academic quality and innovation. In its earliest years, the college was recognized for its pioneering leadership in designing learning-centered programs and services for its student body and continues that tradition to this day.


Golden West College (GWC) has an unwavering commitment to quality education; equitable outcomes; inclusive practices; and racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. Ideal candidates for all positions at our college share our devotion to educating and improving the lives of our representative students, employees, and community populations. Currently, our college enrolls approximately 11,000 students per term; 34.2% are Latinx, 31.8% are Asian, 22.4% are White, 1.8% are African American, 0.5% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 4.8% are multiracial. GWC is an officially designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). GWC engages in regular professional development opportunities and partnerships so that we can best serve disproportionately impacted groups. Activities and connections include GWC's partnership with student and employee involvement in organizations like Puente, Student Veterans, and Gay Lesbian Alternative Straight Alliance (GLASA); a robust District Ally training program, including UndocuAlly (undocumented students), SafeZone (LGBTQ), Vet Net (veterans), and Ability Ally; and other equity minded programs; and a full calendar of culturally responsive events.


D.E.I.A - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

At Golden West College we are committed to providing high quality education and equitable outcomes through inclusive practices that support and celebrate everyone. We welcome candidates that share our devotion to educating and improving the lives of our representative students, employees, and community populations. Please visit the links below to learn more information about GWC:


Summary
Plans, directs, organizes, manages, and provides leadership, strategic direction, and performs administrative responsibilities in all aspects of the Student Financial Aid Office and programs. Organizes and prioritizes information flow and workload. Analyzes, researches, and resolves problems connected with financial aid operation. Conducts needs analyses based on emerging trends in student demographics and sets up internal processes for monitoring policies and procedures and ensuring efficient, compliant and streamlined processes of all financial aid disbursements and programs.

Distinguishing Career Features
The Director of Financial Aid is a managerial position engaged in administering local, state, and federal student financial aid and grants, financial aid transaction processing and mandated reporting. The Director of Financial Aid demonstrates specialized professional knowledge of financial aid programs to develop student-centered and fiscally accountable service delivery. The
Director assumes full responsibility for all of the financial aid programs of the College, including the development and implementation of its financial aid policies and procedures, processes for demonstrating compliance with all federal, state, and institutional regulations applicable to financial aid, and will demonstrate advanced knowledge of the operating characteristics and features of federal, state, and internal computer software used for financial aid and student information.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Specific duties may vary among departments, divisions, and jobs. Incumbents typically perform a substantial portion or all of the following types of duties, as assigned:
  1. Develops, implements, and revises administrative and applicant tracking systems, workflow, policies, and best practices that enhance office productivity, access to information, customer service, and problem resolutions.
  2. Organizes, prioritizes, and assigns work and projects to team members within Financial Aid Services. Provides quality and audit reviews of work performed in the department; ensures training is provided to all staff as needed.
  3. Establishes performance and quality standards by organizing and prioritizing workload and setting up checks and balances to assure accuracy and quality of information along with the fiscal responsibility to comply with financial aid budgets and funding limits.
  4. Works closely with District and Campus Fiscal Offices to ensure Federal and State accounts in accordance with regulations to ensure financial aid funds are accurately drawn and deposited into accounts and to prevent penalties for excess cash on hand.
  5. Ensures fiscal accountability and reconciliation of federal, state, institutional and private financial aid funds including but not limited to Pell, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Cal Grants, Federal Work-Study, College Promise Grant, Direct Student Loans, and other grants.
  6. Performs periodic internal audits of the review and evaluation of financial aid applications to determine accuracy, completeness. Conduct and/or provide training for staff in accordance with Federal and State regulatory requirements.
  7. Supervises and implement the packaging rules for State and Federal awards. Audits and adjusts need levels, confirms resources, and awards funds within pre-existing regulatory guidelines.
  8. The liaison with federal, state, county, and other agencies to answer questions, resolve problems, provide data, and interpret data.
  9. Oversees, responses and works with external and internal auditors as it pertains to financial aid.
  10. Resolves and/or assist in the resolution of problems and/or complaints and initiates corrective action as appropriate.
  11. Renews and maintains program participation agreements with State and Federal Agency.
  12. Oversees and provides direction for outreach/in-reach and communications to schools and community for the purpose of describing financial aid programs and eligibility. Assists with workshops for financial aid information.
  13. Supervises, extracts and imports information from financial aid databases to support reporting and auditing.
  14. Develops, recommends, and administers approved operational budgets for Financial Aid which are reflective of the customer service goals and volume of financial aid transactions.
  15. Submits all required reports timely to satisfy state and federal mandates.
  16. Collaborates with various offices at the College and throughout the district to ensure accuracy and streamlined disbursements and compliance.
  17. Evaluates staff under supervision and works collaboratively with campus/district personnel to problem solve financial aid relates issues.
  18. Leads program review and assessments for the office and recommends program improvement as results of such assessments.
  19. Continuously monitors categorical funds and expenditures to comply with guidelines and manages the department's budget.
  20. Performs other related duties as assigned that support the objective of the position.
  21. Required to abide by all District policies and procedures including Board Policy 3050 - Code of Professional Ethics.
Qualifications and Physical Demands

Knowledge and Skills

  • The position requires specialized professional knowledge of the regulations, rules, and institutional systems, policies, and processes relating to financial aid and the connections to admissions, registration, and accounting.
  • Requires in-depth knowledge of federal and institutional satisfactory academic progress policies.
  • Requires in-depth knowledge of Federal and State regulations, policies and procedures relating to awarding and administering financial aid.
  • Requires in-depth knowledge of the institutional and board policies relevant to admissions, registration, and student accounts receivable.
  • Requires well-developed knowledge of and skills with office systems, routines, procedures, and equipment, including the use of personal computers to access student information databases, word processing, and spreadsheet applications.
  • Requires a working knowledge of transcripts and satisfactory academic progress.
  • Requires advanced skill at working with specialized databases used in financial aid.
  • Requires professional-level language skills to prepare written correspondence and reports used in external communications.
  • Requires well-developed math skills to compute principal, interest, sums, percentages, and ratios.
  • Requires well-developed human relation skills to convey technical concepts to customers in individual and workshop settings, and exercise patience collaboratively work with other colleagues and external organizations.

Abilities
  • Requires the ability to perform the essential responsibilities and functions of the position.
  • Requires the ability to develop, organize, manage, and coordinate the daily activities of a financial aid department.
  • Requires the ability setup best work practices enabling access and ability to enter, import, retrieve, and export data to and from computer-aided student financial aid applications.
  • Requires the ability to apply and train others in financial needs analysis methodologies.
  • Requires the ability to analyze technical and complex demographic and financial information and documents and make assessments according to complex policies, procedures, and mandated regulations.
  • Requires the ability to coordinate operations with other college units such as Admissions & Records, Student Services, Business Services, Instruction, etc.
  • Requires the ability to impart technical and detailed information through one-on-one or group presentations.
  • Requires the ability to supervise and perform data and database management.
  • Requires the ability to communicate both formally and informally with a wide range of contacts both inside and outside the College setting
Physical Abilities
  • The general physical demands, working conditions, and essential job functions associated with this classification will be kept on file with the Office of Human Resources.
  • Essential functions will vary by position.
  • As defined by Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA"), the District shall engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with employees or employment applicants who are requesting or are in need of reasonable accommodations and, provide reasonable accommodations for employees or employment applicants who, because of their disability, are limited in or unable to perform one or more of the essential functions of their job in accordance with applicable state and federal law.
Minimum Qualifications: Education, Experience, D.E.I.A
The position requires a Bachelor's degree in education, business public administration, or equivalent discipline. Six years of progressively responsible student financial aid experience including three years of team leadership. Or, any combination of education and experience which would provide the required equivalent qualifications for the position

AND

Demonstrated evidence of responsiveness to and understanding of the racial, ethnic, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic, academic, and cultural diversity within the community college student population, including students with different ability statuses (e.g., physical and/or learning) as these factors relate to the need for equity-minded practice within the classroom.

Licenses and Certificates
  • Requires a valid driver's license.
Working Conditions
  • Work is performed indoors where minimal safety considerations exist
This job specification describes the general nature of the work performed, representative duties as well as the typical qualifications needed for acceptable performance. It is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, work steps, and skills required of the job. Conditions of Employment

This is a full-time, 12 month per year classified management position. The normal hours of work are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Hours will vary and may include nights and/or weekends in order to meet the needs of the department. The effective date of employment will be arranged with the supervisor.


ATTENTION: Before applying, please be sure to review the Coast Colleges District Board Policy regarding Nepotism (BP 7310)(Download PDF reader)

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    Preferred

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