Under general supervision from assigned manager, performs analytical and technical support duties in support of financial aid programs and services; administers federal, state, and District financial aid program funds; maintains accountability for financial aid funding expenditures; provides program accountability for financial aid sources, including representing the Financial Aid Department during audits; makes financial aid award decisions and develops financial aid packages to meet student educational needs according to Federal, State and District regulations or policies; serves as a technical expert regarding area of assignment; and guides Department staff and activities related to area of assignment.

 

Examples Of Functions and Tasks

REPRESENTATIVE DUTIES
The following duties are typical for this classification. Incumbents may not perform all of the listed duties and/or may be required to perform additional or different duties from those set forth below to address business needs and changing business practices.
1. Determines, assigns, and adjusts a budget and cost of attendance for each student; calculates financial need figures and sets family contribution amounts; determines and assigns packaging group; determines eligibility for funds, standard and emergency grants, programs, subsidized or unsubsidized loan and plus loans; oversees the preparation of award letters.
2. Oversees the Financial Aid Advisory Committee (FAAC); gathers information from students to justify special petitions; processes files after petition determination; calculates Pace to Grad to ensure student meets regulatory requirements for continued Financial Aid eligibility; determines approval or denial of appeal based on requirements met by student; prepares appeal history for review when excessive appeals are present; reviews comprehensive Student Education Plans (SEP) for students that receive an approved appeal and places students on probation to ensure enrolled courses are reflected on the SEP.
3. Plans, organizes, and directs the District’s Scholarship Program; compiles and publishes electronic applications, including scholarship criteria; advertises and disburses scholarship information; exports data from the Student Information System (SIS) into the scholarship application to ensure students are matched to the scholarship criteria; develops and oversees on-campus scholarship bulletin board postings; oversees evaluation of scholarship applications to determine eligibility, including establishing and providing support for the scholarship committee to read and score applications and for the selection of recipients; notifies scholarship winners and donors; directs the release of scholarship checks; manages scholarship funds, including completing bank deposits from donors; and disbursing funds; reconciles scholarships and returns unawarded funds to the donor; plans and organizes the annual scholarship recognition ceremony.
4. Coordinates programs administered by the California Student Aid Commission, including, but not limited to, Cal Grants, California Chafee Grants for Foster Youth (Chafee Grant), and other special programs and grants; determines and certifies continued eligibility; monitors funds and post payments and reposts results electronically via WebGrants 4 Students (WG4S or WebGrants); processes electronic payments for the Chafee Grant program; reports Cal Grant GPA submissions twice per year via WebGrants; balances funds and year end records for the Business Services Office. 
5. Performs funds eligibility and disbursement duties; analyzes applications and verifies eligibility; verifies that preliminary student file work is correct and meets regulations; generates student financial aid packages; monitors attendance and academic progress of federal and state financial aid students; corrects amounts, pulls back funds that were not disbursed, returns checks, and requests stop payment or reissue of checks to ensure accurate receipt of aid by students; accounts for expenditures of financial aid funds; coordinates with appropriate staff to resolve problems.
6. Arranges and performs funds management and reconciliation duties; ensures that procedures, policies, rules, and regulations are applied to all financial aid programs; analyzes and calculates financial aid funding needed from various federal and state programs; monitors federal and state accounts to ensure financial aid monies are accurately drawn and deposited into correct District accounts; coordinates with auditors to guarantee program fund accountability and integrity; completes federal payment documents; oversees and verifies federal and state grant, federal and state student employment, and loan accounts; monitors federal authorization of funding; monitors status of program fund account ledgers with Business Services staff and the Placer County Treasurer accounting systems; monitors repayments; balances fund accounts; reconciles assigned accounts.
7. Verifies and reviews financial aid materials and applications for completeness and conformance, including Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act (CADAA) student records, files, and reports.
8. Performs customer service and marketing duties; serves as point of contact and provides information to students and District staff regarding financial aid programs and services, including providing assistance with completing financial aid and scholarship applications; represents the District at activities with local high schools, agencies and organizations; interacts with other departments to provide students with comprehensive financial aid packages; conducts financial aid workshops; coordinates award activities.
9. Participates in the development and design of financial aid software reporting tools; establishes and maintains financial aid processing rules within the software; inputs data elements to comply with regulatory changes; coordinates with representatives from federal and state agencies to troubleshoot problems with specialized software and data base integrity; designs reports to provide information to applicable agencies.
10. Performs clerical and administrative duties in support of program operations; researches and resolves problems; troubleshoots computer information processing system problems; assembles files and duplicates materials; composes and prepares office correspondence, materials, reports, forms, brochures, presentations, handbooks, manuals, and consumer information; answers phones, refers callers, and takes messages; maintains and orders supplies; maintains and updates interrelated filing systems that include vital documentation in relation to students’ eligibility inclusive of confidential records and financial data.
11. Performs research and reporting duties; gathers, interprets, and analyzes a variety of data; completes and prepares records and reports; develops and creates reconciled data files for transmission to other agencies; gathers data and information to complete surveys and reports including those for other agencies and institutions; performs manual transfer monitoring; manages cohort default rates; conducts manual National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) overrides.
12. Reviews updated or new technical instructions or references; participates in the development of new or revised procedures to accommodate changes; assists in providing training and direction to others regarding changes and new regulations, including creating and disseminating new instructions.
13. Provides onboarding support, general work training, guidance, supervision assistance, and directs activities of students or temporary employees.
14. Performs related duties that support the overall objective of the position.

Minimum Qualifications

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES
Any combination of education and experience that demonstrates the required above knowledge and abilities is qualifying. Examples of ways to obtain the above knowledge and abilities could include, but are not limited to, the following:

Education/Training
• Equivalent to completion of the twelfth grade or General Educational Development (GED) supplemented by college level course work in business administration, accounting, or a related field.

Experience
• Two years of increasingly responsible technical and program support experience in a financial aid office or a related field.


QUALIFICATIONS
The following generally describes the knowledge and ability required to enter the job and/or be learned within a short period of time in order to successfully perform the assigned duties.

Knowledge of:
• Student financial aid processes and procedures, including standard and emergency grants and funds, programs, and Federal Direct subsidized or unsubsidized loans and plus loans.
• Sierra College and operations of the Financial Aid Department and other student service departments.
• Federal, State, and local sites and applications, including Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), National Student Loans (NSLDS), Common Origination and Disbursements (COD), EdConnect, WebGrants, and Electronic Cohort Default Rate (ECDR).
• Federal and State tax returns, schedules, and attachments.
• Federal, state, and local laws, codes, and regulations regarding financial aid and the support of students, including, but not limited to, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• Needs analysis methodology.
• General accounting and bookkeeping practices and techniques.
• Moderate to complex mathematical concepts.
• English usage, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary, including proofreading, copy writing, editing, and formatting techniques.

Ability to:
• Provide assistance, training, and information to students, District staff, and the public concerning financial aid programs, services, functions, and resources.
• Function as a technical expert in assigned areas of financial aid.
• Access federal, state, and local sites to report information and retrieve data, and compile reports and transactions, including sensitive personal and monetary transactions.
• Execute and review requests for financial aid to include Direct Student Loan applications, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act (CADAA).
• Make presentations to groups.
• Conduct technical research and prepare comprehensive and statistical reports.
• Properly handle difficult, sensitive, and confidential situations and materials.
• Use sound judgment in recognizing scope of authority.
• Adapt to changing technologies and learn functionality of new equipment and systems.
• Plan and organize work to meet changing priorities and deadlines.
• Maintain a high level of attention to detail.
• Maintain current, accurate, and confidential records and files.
• Utilize office procedures, methods, and equipment, including computers, technology, and applicable software applications sufficiently to perform the duties of the classification, including financial aid management and student support systems, the District’s Banner Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and intermediate Microsoft Office skills.
• Maintain confidentiality of information.
• Perform arithmetic calculations of moderate to complex difficulty.
• Follow oral and written directions.
• Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
• Provide onboarding support, general work training, guidance, supervision assistance, and direct activities of students or temporary employees.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.
• Work independently and collaboratively.
• Apply District policies and procedures.


PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT
The conditions herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

Environment: Work is performed primarily in a standard office setting. Position may be required to work evenings, nights, and weekends.

Physical: Primary functions require sufficient physical ability and mobility to work in an office setting; to stand or sit for prolonged periods of time; to occasionally walk, stoop, bend, kneel, crouch, reach, and twist; to lift, carry, push, and/or pull light to moderate amounts of weight; to operate office equipment requiring repetitive hand movement and fine coordination, including use of a computer keyboard; and to verbally communicate to exchange information.

Vision: See in the normal visual range with or without correction; vision sufficient to read computer screens and printed documents; and to operate assigned equipment.

Hearing: Hear in the normal audio range with or without correction.