Director of Financial Aid

American College of Healthcare Sciences•Portland, OR

10h•Remote

About The Position

The Director of Financial Aid is an experienced, student-focused leader responsible for guiding the Financial Aid department, which includes four team members and is supported by outside services. This role ensures the accurate and compliant administration of student funding. As the senior financial aid subject-matter expert, the Director plays a crucial role in expanding access, supporting informed borrowing, and protecting institutional eligibility. The position requires current, practical knowledge of Title IV administration and financial aid systems. The successful candidate will be adept at mentoring and coaching staff, validating complex calculations, troubleshooting operational issues, and translating regulatory requirements into sound day-to-day practices.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree; finance, accounting, business administration, or a related field preferred.
Seven years of progressive financial aid experience, including three years in management or senior operations.
Recent hands-on Anthology Student expertise across Title IV configuration, awarding, disbursement, reconciliation, and reporting.
Ability to independently calculate and explain complex federal aid determinations, including Pell, Direct Loans, overawards, enrollment changes, and R2T4.
Advanced knowledge of financial aid regulations, audits, program reviews, COD, NSLDS, and federal cash management.
Experience supervising staff and managing standard-term financial aid operations.
Working knowledge of military, veterans’, vocational rehabilitation, and sponsored funding.
Strong analytical, communication, organizational, and decision-making skills, with a commitment to accuracy, ethics, confidentiality, and student service.

Responsibilities

Lead the Financial Aid department by setting goals, service standards, performance expectations, and accountability aligned with institutional priorities.
Build departmental capacity through effective staffing, supervision, professional development, cross-training, and succession planning.
Direct the institution’s student funding strategy across Title IV aid, veterans’ benefits, military tuition assistance, private loans, scholarships, employer funding, agency funding, and alternative payment options.
Oversee service performance and high-risk student cases requiring senior intervention; provide reports to institutional leadership.
Lead financial literacy initiatives addressing educational costs, funding options, responsible borrowing, and repayment obligations to maintain low default rates; oversee partnership with Inceptia for default management.
Partner with Admissions, Student Services, the Registrar, Business Office, IT, and institutional leadership to improve access, student communication, financial literacy, and the overall funding experience.
Serve as the institution’s senior subject-matter expert for financial aid and student funding compliance.
Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, VA, Department of Defense, accreditor, agency, and institutional requirements.
Maintain institutional eligibility, approvals, and participation agreements for all funding programs.
Translate regulatory developments into updated policies, systems, training, communications, and operating practices.
Maintain effective controls for SAP, verification, R2T4, enrollment reporting, 90/10, 85/15, and funding coordination.
Lead responses to audits, program reviews, compliance surveys, findings, and corrective actions, if applicable.
Oversee the complete funding lifecycle from eligibility review through awarding, certification, disbursement, reconciliation, and record retention.
Serve as senior functional owner for financial aid configuration and processing in Anthology Student.
Direct system testing and quality assurance following regulatory, program, calendar, integration, or configuration changes.
Maintain dashboards tracking operational performance, compliance, service levels, reconciliation, and student funding outcomes.
Ensure staff proficiency with COD, NSLDS, StudentAid.gov, federal cash-management systems, EdConnect, and other required platforms.
Ensure timely and accurate reporting, reconciliation, certification, billing, and institutional filings.
Coordinate with the Business Office on cash management, drawdowns, receivables, refunds, payment posting, and student-account reconciliation.
Use operational, financial, and student-outcome data to identify risk and recommend improvements to institutional leadership.
Direct staff through complex student scenarios.
Review and approve material calculations and processing decisions.
Diagnose system, configuration, integration, workflow, and data-quality issues.
Directly perform critical functions when needed for continuity, escalation, training, or quality assurance.
Demonstrate and substantiate the institution’s methodology, system configuration, controls, and student-level determinations during audits, program reviews, or regulatory inquiries, if applicable.