The Placement Exchange Job Board

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The School of Medicine has an outstanding opportunity for a Financial Aid Counselor to join their team.

The School of Medicine Financial Aid Counselor (payroll title: Counselor, Senior) is responsible for assisting medical students, applicants, alumni, and other parties with a variety of financial aid services related to financial aid eligibility, applications, awarding, aid disbursement, loan repayment, degree audits and reporting, and ensuring institutional compliance with financial aid-related university, state and federal standards and regulations. The School of Medicine financial aid counselor meets frequently with medical students from across the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) region and advises them with their financial aid inquiries.

The financial aid counselor has frequent contact with the School’s administrative leadership, advancement, School of Medicine registrar, Student Fiscal Services, the University Office of Student Financial Aid, the University Registrar’s office, and medical students. This position requires a thorough understanding of the federal, state, and institutional rules governing the various forms of financial aid. The financial aid counselor requires a high degree of independent decision-making, problem-solving, and the ability to prioritize multiple and competing tasks while meeting frequent deadlines. The position must be able to independently understand and interpret complex policies and exercise significant professional judgment and discretion in awarding financial aid to medical students. The SOM financial aid counselor must successfully keep technical applications of regulatory and institutional changes and utilize competent and increasingly complex computer system skills at the main Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) and at the School of Medicine to meet their job requirements.  Specific assigned programs may be exceptionally complex and require specialized training or skills acquired by a SOM financial aid counselor. The financial aid counselor must be service-oriented and customer-focused, have excellent communication skills, and able to address questions, problems, and concerns from faculty, staff, and medical students in a prompt, professional, and confidential manner.

The School of Medicine financial aid counselor directly impacts the administration of tuition and financial provided to over 1,100 enrolled medical students. The School of Medicine Financial Aid Office processes over $61 million in federal, state, institutional and departmental financial aid annually. This represents financial support to the students as well as revenue to the institution.  The financial aid counselor works under continuous pressure to meet federal, state, university, and school-imposed deadlines while maintaining extreme attention to detail and accuracy. Failure to administer the aid programs properly would result in financial liability to the university and possible loss of funding.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Financial Aid Operations:
•Maintain a comprehensive knowledge of all new and current federal, state, and institutional regulations and policies regarding financial aid. Advise students, faculty, and staff on policies, standards, and procedures for financial aid. Ensure compliance with all financial aid policies, procedures and regulations when reviewing financial aid applications; exercise judgment when interpreting federal and state regulations for specific student situations.
•Award and revise financial aid in accordance with federal, state, institutional and departmental regulations, and guidelines.
•Monitor student enrollment status on a quarterly basis. Review various reports, student lists, and student aid awards for accuracy. Notify students of changes in eligibility and award statuses. Adjust student budgets and aid packages as appropriate. Process requests for financial aid adjustments in a timely fashion.
•Review financial aid application materials, including the FAFSA, institutional aid applications, parent information, tax documentation, and any other required application information. Reconcile conflicting information. Conduct verification reviews for selected students in accordance with university, state, and federal regulations.
•Review appeals and special requests. Utilize professional judgment to make appropriate revisions to student eligibility, cost of attendance, or financial aid to accommodate the circumstances that are within the law, institutional policy, and funding guidelines. Document decisions and actions to withstand review by audit.
•Conduct routine audits of student data, awards, and other financial records in school and university systems. Develop and implement processes for verifying data with increased accuracy and efficiency.
•Assist the director of financial aid with data requests, reviews, reports, appeals, and special projects. Assist team members when necessary to enable the success of the department.
•Collaborate with IT and other stakeholder departments to develop data reports and tools for administrative use. Audit new systems to ensure data accuracy needs are met prior to implementation.

Student Facing Operations:
•Serve as a primary point of contact for current and prospective medical students. Respond to large volumes of calls, emails, virtual and face-to-face inquiries in a prompt, friendly, and professional manner. Monitor a shared departmental inbox and schedule student appointments as needed.
•Counsel and advise medical students about financial aid eligibility, application procedures, aid programs, costs, and debt management. Individualize information to the particular needs and circumstances of the individual student.
•Conduct small and large group presentations and information sessions for students, applicants, staff, and deans. Provide individual counseling appointments, entrance interviews, and exit interviews for medical students across the 5-state WWAMI region.
•Create and review written student communication, such as emails and web content. Collaborate with affiliated university, school, and WWAMI offices to develop information and resources for medical students.

Administrative Operations:
•Collaborate in the creation and maintenance of financial aid unit policy and procedure manuals.
•Represent the financial aid unit on School of Medicine committees, working groups, special projects, and/or initiatives as needed.
•Participate in trainings and relevant professional development activities to support professional and/or departmental growth. Operationalize and/or integrate learning from these trainings into the work unit and work processes.
•Analyze and resolve recurring process and customer service issues, and work with the School of Medicine Financial Aid unit on continuous improvement to streamline and revise processes to enhance customer service and programmatic sustainability.
•Other duties as assigned.


MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
•Bachelor’s degree in financial aid, student fiscal services, advising or counseling students, or educational program management.
•Basic Knowledge and at least 3 years’ experience in the financial aid administration of federal, state, and institutional aid programs to include, at a minimum, experience with the federal delivery system, verification and awarding aid.

Additional Requirements:
•Proven administrative, financial, and problem-solving skills.
•Ability to handle confidential information responsibly.
•Ability to handle large volumes of calls, emails, and face-to-face inquiries in a friendly and professional manner. Demonstrated experience in managing challenging customer service environments and resolving difficult situations and complaints.
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience in customer relations and demonstrated ability to work well with people from diverse backgrounds.
•Strong analytical and computer proficiency skills. Experienced in data entry and in managing and manipulating spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel.
•Exceptional organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to update information in a timely manner.
•Skilled in multi-tasking, organizing resources, establishing priorities, and meeting frequent and competing deadlines.
•Ability to work with a high level of accuracy in a fast-paced environment with many interruptions.
•Ability to exercise judgement, initiative, and work independently with a high degree of reliability, accuracy, and productivity.
•Ability to anticipate, recognize and resolve issues. Commitment to continuous quality improvement.
•Exhibits a professional work ethic and maintains a positive, optimistic, and success-oriented attitude.
•Ability to interpret and communicate to others complex policies and procedures.

Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum requirements.

DESIRED REQUIREMENTS
•A master’s degree in student personnel services or related field.
•Additional years of financial aid experience counseling/administration that may include different school settings.
•Familiarity with the UW Student Database and proficiency in the use of financial aid modules.
•Specialized training in the use of the National Student Loan Database and/or Campus Partners Database.
•Background in financial aid related fields, operations, loan processing, etc.

WORK ENVIRONMENT
•The work environment is typical of a normal office environment. Most of the job is performed while sitting, although the work will require occasional lifting and carrying of boxes up to 25 lbs. Keyboarding is required on a daily basis, which may be extensive at times.
•Full-time schedules are assumed to be 40 hours per week; however, employees are expected to work to complete job responsibilities. This position may require the employee to work beyond a normal work week and intermittently requires evening and weekend time to meet project deadlines and attend meetings and events, particularly in late spring through early autumn due to the volume and need to have aid ready for summer and autumn quarters. Travel to regional WWAMI sites may be required.
•This position is based in the School of Medicine Seattle office. A hybrid telework arrangement may be available for 1-2 days per week on an occasional basis, as long as unit business needs are met.

Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.