Assistant Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships

Auburn University•Auburn, AL

About The Position

The Office of the Vice President of Enrollment Management is hiring an Assistant Director of Financial Aid & Scholarships. This position supervises staff and provides operational leadership for assigned financial aid and scholarship processes, including scholarship administration, aid adjustments, federal aid functions, and student service workflows. This position interprets and applies federal, state, institutional, and donor-related requirements to resolve complex student, operational, and compliance matters involving aid eligibility, cost of attendance, overawards, withdrawals, and required aid adjustments. The Assistant Director serves as a functional expert and supports staff development, process documentation, audit readiness, and consistent service delivery across the integrated Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree-no specific discipline.
6 years of experience in financial aid and/or scholarship administration, student financial services.

Nice To Haves

A degree in Business Management, Finance, or Accounting is desired.
2 years of experience directly supervising full-time employees preferred.

Responsibilities

Supervises assigned staff responsible for financial aid and scholarship operations, including assigning and reviewing work, providing day-to-day functional guidance and coaching, monitoring performance, supporting accountability, and ensuring consistent service delivery.
Provides operational leadership for assigned financial aid and scholarship functions within the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships including scholarship administration, aid adjustments, federal aid processes, and student service workflows, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant administration of student aid.
Oversees or supports assigned federal aid and compliance processes, which may include federal and private loan processing, return to Title IV calculations, FAFSA verification, Federal Work-Study, withdrawal reviews, professional judgment referrals, appeal options, and required aid adjustments.
Interprets and applies federal, state, institutional, and donor-related requirements to resolve complex student, operational, and compliance-related matters involving aid eligibility, cost of attendance, overawards, conflicting resources, withdrawal impacts, or required aid adjustments.
Serves as a functional expert and primary resource for staff, students, academic units, and campus partners regarding financial aid and scholarship processes, systems, timelines, policies, regulatory requirements, donor guidelines, and annual awarding expectations.
Oversees assigned student appeals processes, where applicable, including Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) appeals, scholarship appeals, professional judgments, dependency appeals, special circumstances, and cost of attendance adjustments, ensuring consistent review, documentation, communication, and compliance with applicable requirements.
Evaluates scholarships, outside resources, fellowship payments, tuition benefits, departmental awards, and other forms of assistance to determine impact on cost of attendance, financial need, aid eligibility, overawards, excess resources, and Title IV compliance.
Provides functional coaching, cross-process guidance, and subject matter expertise to assigned staff to strengthen operational knowledge, compliance awareness, continuity of operations, accountability, and consistent application of integrated financial aid and scholarship processes.
Collaborates with systems and data staff to test, verify, troubleshoot, and document awarding, renewal, cancellation, reconciliation, reporting, and aid adjustment processes to support accuracy, audit readiness, and consistent application of procedures.
Identifies and implements process improvements, procedural updates, annual awarding instructions, and communication strategies that support operational consistency, compliance, service delivery, and the continued integration of Financial Aid & Scholarships; provides subject matter input to training and reference materials developed for staff and campus partners.