Director, Financial Aid & Scholarships (Administrator II), Department of Financial Aid & Scholarships

CSUSB•San Bernardino, CA

8h•Onsite

About The Position

Reporting to the Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management & Marketing, the Director, Financial Aid and Scholarships provides strategic, operational, and regulatory leadership for the University's financial aid and scholarship programs. The director ensures accurate, equitable, efficient, and timely administration of federal, state, institutional, private, and donor-funded aid in support of student access, affordability, enrollment, persistence, and completion. The role formulates and administers financial aid policies and fund-utilization strategies; leads a large, complex student-service team; safeguards institutional resources and student information; and promotes compliance, accountability, service, collaboration, and continuous improvement. A central responsibility is translating complex financial aid policies and processes into clear, accessible, timely, student-centered communications across multiple channels. This is a full-time, exempt, at-will management position. The academic-year schedule is Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the summer schedule is Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Some evenings and weekends are required. Employees must reside in California. The position requires occasional in-state and out-of-state travel, a valid driver's license, background-check clearance, and compliance with applicable conflict-of-interest, mandated-reporter, and employment-verification requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university in public administration, business administration, education, student affairs, behavioral or social science, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
5–8 years of professional and supervisory experience.
Expert knowledge of federal and state financial aid laws, regulations, policies, reporting requirements, and industry practices, including needs analysis, packaging, disbursement, reconciliation, satisfactory academic progress, return of funds, and scholarship administration.
Ability to interpret complex requirements, assess institutional and student impact, develop compliant policies and procedures, and communicate changes clearly to varied audiences.
Exceptional written, oral, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to translate technical policy and procedural information into plain, student-friendly, accessible content across web, email, portal, text, print, video, workshops, and individual interactions.
Demonstrated ability to design proactive, personalized, multichannel communication strategies, paired with streamlined processes and self-service tools, to anticipate student and family questions and reduce peak-period inquiry volume.
Strong commitment to student access, affordability, equity, inclusion, and service; ability to work effectively with a culturally and economically diverse community.
Advanced leadership, organizational development, change management, coaching, conflict resolution, and employee performance-management skills.
Advanced analytical, critical-thinking, problem-solving, risk-management, and decision-making abilities, including demonstrated use of data and assessment to improve compliance, operations, and student outcomes.
Experience managing complex projects, competing priorities, peak-cycle workloads, and cross-functional initiatives with high accuracy and firm deadlines.
Knowledge of enterprise student-information systems and document-imaging, reporting, workflow, communication, and customer-service technologies; ability to guide system implementation, testing, controls, and continuous improvement.
Strong budget, resource-management, audit, internal-control, and stewardship skills.
Ability to handle sensitive and confidential student and personnel information with sound judgment and in accordance with applicable privacy requirements.
Ability to work evenings and weekends for scheduled campus events or critical operational needs and travel occasionally in-state and out of state.
Possession of a valid driver's license.
Satisfactory completion of a background check, including a criminal records check.
Must reside in California and be lawfully authorized to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in higher education, public administration, business administration, student affairs, counseling, or a related field.
Senior-level financial aid leadership experience at a four-year public university or within a complex multi-campus higher education system.
Experience with PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, OnBase, or comparable enterprise financial aid and document-management systems.
Experience leading communications, outreach, or financial literacy initiatives that measurably improved student understanding, completion of required actions, or service outcomes.
Experience with enrollment strategy, aid leveraging, predictive modeling, scholarship optimization, or student-success initiatives.
Experience preparing for or responding to federal, state, CSU/system, or independent audits and program reviews.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement strategic and operational plans, annual priorities, service standards, and measurable goals for Financial Aid and Scholarships.
Lead accurate, equitable, accessible, and student-centered services for students and their families.
Oversee awarding, disbursement, reconciliation, reporting, and administration of federal, state, institutional, scholarship, private, and donor-funded aid.
Interpret and implement federal, state, CSU, University, NCAA, CCAA, agency, and donor requirements.
Maintain current policies, procedures, internal controls, and audit readiness; ensure accurate reporting, data security, records management, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance.
Develop fund-utilization and aid-leveraging strategies that support student access, affordability, retention, and responsible stewardship of resources.
Lead proactive, coordinated, accessible financial aid communications through websites, portals, email, text messaging, advising, workshops, webinars, social media, and other platforms.
Use student feedback, service data, inquiry trends, and communication analytics to improve processes, reduce preventable inquiries, and strengthen student outcomes.
Direct financial aid outreach and education for students, families, campus partners, and community stakeholders, particularly underserved populations.
Supervise staff responsible for compliance, processing, advising, scholarships, customer service, systems, and data; recruit, develop, evaluate, and retain staff while ensuring appropriate staffing, cross-training, succession planning, and peak-period coverage.
Oversee financial aid systems, including PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, OnBase, communication platforms, and related technologies.
Establish performance measures, dashboards, service-level expectations, and reporting practices to monitor compliance, timeliness, workload, service quality, and outcomes.
Develop and manage the departmental budget, monitor expenditures, and advocate for resources aligned with strategic priorities.
Manage personnel actions and submit required documentation directly to Human Resources, including evaluations, recruitment, appointments, compensation requests, grievances, and corrective actions.
Represent the University at meetings, conferences, committees, and community events; complete special assignments and other duties as assigned.
Work evenings and weekends for scheduled campus events or critical operational needs and travel occasionally in-state and out of state.