Graduate Student Financial Coordinator

University of Chicago • Chicago, IL

62d

About The Position

The Social Sciences Dean of Students office provides administrative support to Divisional MA and PhD students, faculty, and departmental staff. The office maintains student records, disburses MA and PhD funding, creates and implements Divisional policies related to student enrollment and progress, works with faculty to administer graduate education in Social Sciences, and is the Division's student-centered representation throughout the University and beyond. The Graduate Student Financial Coordinator monitors and revises graduate student funding for the Division of the Social Sciences. The Coordinator is responsible for entering awards into the central university system, communicating changes in funding with students, and managing the flow of funding information between the division and departments and central offices. Working with the Dean of Students, the Coordinator implements procedures and policies that ensure the accurate, timely disbursement of funding for graduate students in Social Sciences, deploys endowment payouts, and manages account ledgers. The Graduate Student Financial Coordinator also manages the Division's grant competitions, advises and manages the budget for the Division's student activities committee, supports the Dean of Students office's student disability accommodation efforts, and helps respond to general inquiries to the Dean of Students office. This role coordinates projects in monitoring the operating and capital budgets for divisions and/or University-wide administrative units. At the instruction of others, performs work that contributes to development of long and short term financial goals, business strategies/plans, and financial forecasts/models for major service programs and initiatives. Utilizes moderate knowledge of finance to help coordinate quarterly and year-end reporting for the operating budget. The ideal candidate will have experience managing financial accounts, experience working with student funding, excellent written communication skills, high attention to detail, great follow-up skills, and ability to problem solve and work independently, often while facing strict deadlines.

Requirements

• Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
• Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's degree accounting, business, or other related field.
• Background with student financial systems.
• Managing scholarship and fellowship funds.
• Proficient and functional knowledge of MS Office.
• Proficient with student financial systems.
• Proficient in academic information systems.
• Strong financial and mathematical skills.
• Demonstrated ability for detail-oriented work.
• Identify priorities and organize complicated duties.
• Work effectively as part of a team and independently.
• Manage interpersonal relationships with faculty, staff, students and prospective students under stressful circumstances and under tight deadlines.
• Strong presentation skills and comfort delivering presentations to large and diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Generates all financial aid payments and manages all student aid records.
• Manages the flow of financial aid information among divisional, departmental and central systems.
• Manages the transfer of data to/from the office's systems with the central student, financial accounting, and financial aid information systems.
• Oversees accounts and ledgers and interacts with comptroller, Local Business Center and fund managers to deploy funding properly.
• Interacts with officers of external sources of financial aid to individual students.
• Adjusts individual student funding based on external awards, and communicates adjustments to student.
• Deploys annual endowment payouts in relief of unrestricted aid provided to students matching any restrictions on the endowed funds. Advises in the deployment or withholding of available balances to meet budgetary targets.
• Assists with evaluation, implementation, and management of the financial aid budgets.
• Pursues ongoing understanding of financial aid regulations to ensure student financial aid services are compliant.
• Tracks the teaching assignments of students with a fellowship teaching component, reconciles teaching assignments as recorded in the central teaching tracking system, and transfers teaching component funds to other units on a quarterly basis.
• Issues teaching assignment letters for the Division.
• Manages Division's grant competitions, including calls for applications, coordinating selection process, collecting documentation, and entering funds to be disbursed.
• Advises and provides budget oversight for the Social Sciences Graduate Student Activities Committee, and manages event proposals and reimbursements.
• Annually audits degree program handbooks to ensure that policies are in line with University and Divisional expectations, information is clearly presented, and policies are followed.
• Manages Division's exam proctoring.
• Provides professional support as a primary account administrator for account owners in an intensive customer service environment.
• Analyzes and prepares budgets, creates accounts, and works with the financial accounting system to allocate, authorize, monitor, and control expenses.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Benefits

• The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Industry: Educational Services
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees