Student Accounts Specialist

Ethical Culture Fieldston School•New York, NY

3d•$80,000 - $95,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Student Accounts Specialist will support student billing, payments, and account inquiries. Key duties include processing payments and refunds, reconciling accounts, assisting with payment plans, and providing excellent customer service to ECFS families regarding sensitive billing matters. This role will also provide ongoing support in other areas of the Finance Office and report directly to the Assistant Director of Student Accounts. This role will dedicate approximately 75% of the time to student accounts and 25% to finance support. The hiring range for this role is $80,000-$95,000. When determining the salary for a position, ECFS considers factors including, but not limited to: the scope and responsibilities of the position, internal peer equity, key skills required for the role, the candidate’s work experience, education and training, as well as market and organizational considerations. Please note that this is an onsite role and not performed remotely. Ethical Culture Fieldston School retains its right to modify job duties in accordance with changing operational needs.

Requirements

A Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related area;
Strong understanding of accounting principles, financial reporting, and accounts receivable management;
Excellent verbal, written, and oral communication skills to effectively communicate initiatives, facilitate discussions, and present to various levels of stakeholders;
Experience using Blackbaud Billing Management and/or Blackbaud Financial Edge Next strongly preferred;
Intermediate Excel skills (e.g. Pivot tables, VLOOKUP/IF function formulas) required;
A high degree of organization, resourcefulness, and attention to detail;
The ability to collaborate and build strong relationships with faculty, administrators, and the overall community;
A strong ability to multitask and shift priorities without compromising on the quality of work;
The ability to identify issues quickly and problem solve accordingly, and to remain calm in stressful situations that may arise;
The ability to handle confidential materials with discretion while maintaining a high level of integrity;
A willingness to learn and embrace new ideas and procedures and a consistent initiative to help streamline processes and improve efficiencies;
A positive attitude and the ability to listen effectively and be receptive to feedback;
The ability to work collaboratively in group settings, as well as independently, to meet project goals and team needs;
Proficiency in utilizing and learning new technologies ( i.e. , Google Workspace tools);
Reliability, punctuality, and consistent attendance;
The ability to cultivate a welcoming culture in which all members of our community feel valued and appreciated.

Nice To Haves

Advanced skills (e.g. Macros, advanced lookup formulas) preferred;

Responsibilities

Supporting the enrollment process by assisting with maintaining detailed schedules of pending families, following up as needed and ; ensuring deposit payments are coded to the correctly;
Assisting with generating student billing in Blackbaud Billing Management, including setting up payment plans on student accounts as needed;
Monitoring past due accounts and preparing outreach including maintaining detailed schedules of past due accounts, reviewing schedules and performing outreach with Assistant Director for at risk accounts;
Entering payments from various sources: Lockbox, In house payments, Electronic payments and Employee Payroll Deductions;
Assisting with posting all ancillary billing and related Financial Aid, as late fees, tuition adjustments for semester away program, tutor billing, transportation, supplies, laptop, and textbooks;
Managing billing for after-school programs, summer camps, and other programs; applying discounts based on student financial aid awards, as needed; coordinating with Auxiliary Programs and other related departments to ensure billing policies are being followed and processing journal entries in G/L to accurately record financial activity in accordance with monthly closing schedule;
Assisting with the preparation of tuition insurance claims;
Assisting with preparation of annual audit schedules, including: Outstanding AR Tuition Billing Financial Aid Billing Subsequent Cash Collections
Assisting with regular reconciliations of student account data across related ECFS financial systems, including Blackbaud Billing Management (student accounts), Blackbaud Financial Edge Next (G/L), bank accounts, and other third-party systems used to manage auxiliary programs;
Liaising with the Admissions department and other school divisions as needed;
Assisting with accounts payable, accounting tasks, and general finance functions as needed;
Demonstrating thorough knowledge of the School's financial policies and procedures and provides excellent customer service while engaging and serving the ECFS community;
Providing administrative support to the Finance department with a variety of tasks and projects including but not limited to organizing and maintaining the department’s Google Drive, mail delivery, scanning paperwork, etc.;
Supporting communication within the community;
Fostering positive relationships with team members and various stakeholders;
Motivating and inspiring the team and coworkers to achieve goals; and
Performing other related projects and duties as needed and assigned.