Financial Aid Specialist

Interpret Federal, Pennsylvania, and university law, regulation, and policy; apply policies and procedures ensuring compliance within said law and regulation.
Provide input to the Manager of Financial Aid regarding changes to compliance on verification from the daily NASFAA Updates, Dear Colleague Letters, Federal Student Aid website and the Federal Student Aid Handbook.
Counsel parents (families) and students in understanding and resolving financial aid eligibility and enrollment issues. Exercise empathy and resourcefulness in daily e-mail responses and phone conversations both internally and externally.
Assist the third-party verification servicer in the coordination of verification program processing, which includes: Review and complete appropriate filtering through the third-party vendor website to assist students with questions and uploads.
Correspond with the School Servicing Center on monthly updates and reports to determine progress of verification students. Serve as the ESU contact point for the School Servicing Center. Update FAFSA transactions once verification has been completed.
Discuss FAFSA data, necessary paperwork, and potential changes with students selected for verification.
Administer the Federal Verification Requirement in cooperation with a third-party verification provider and process V4 and V5 verification students.
Develop, document, and implement a systematic method to increase the overall percentage of students selected for verification who complete the verification process.
Educate and inform financial aid staff, students, parents, and other ESU staff about regulations affecting verification.
Update V4 and V5 Forms annually, or as needed, based on changes to selected verification items as determined by the US Department of Education, student and stakeholder feedback.
Report results of V4 and V5 verification to the COD website.
Administer monthly reconciliation of the Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loan programs including comparisons of COD reports with G5 Drawdowns and Banner awards. Resolve data rejects from the Department of Education and package students. This includes comparing data, reporting, resolving any flags, providing updates, and communicating any other needs in this area.
Administration of federal academic progress for the university, federal aid awarding, conducting training/workshops on financial aid related functions, and troubleshooting issues.  Provide support as needed for PA State Grant (PASG) and Institutional Aid questions and processing. Provide support to the Director of Financial Aid and bring forward necessary updates due to regulations and needs of students, faculty, parents, and staff.
Provide excellent customer service through the use of the queuing system and correspondence through e-mail, phone calls, and face-to-face interactions with students, parents, faculty, staff, and other university stakeholders.
Represent the University at orientation, open house programs, recruitment events, enrollment workshops, etc.
Perform other duties as assigned.