***Open until filled***

Position Subject to Availability of Budgeted Funds

FLSA: Technical/Paraprofessional, non-exempt
Salary commensurate with degree and experience

The role of the Financial Aid Advisor will be part of a team tasked with administering the college's need-based and merit based student aid programs:  performing  a variety of technical and clerical tasks in the maintenance and documentation of financial aid information; assisting in the planning, developing, implementing and administering all financial aid funds(including federal/state/institutional grants and institutional/private scholarships); disseminating financial aid information to students; and assisting students, staff and the general public in the interpretation of financial aid program policies and procedures.

The Financial Aid Advisor receives supervision from the Director of Financial Aid and technical/functional supervision from the Financial Aid Verification Coordinator. This person may exercise technical and functional supervision over student work-study staff.

 Examples of Duties:General:

• Provide information to students regarding admissions/financial aid programs, eligibility requirements and application processes; interpret and explain the College's financial aid policies and procedures to students.
• Provide initial contact and conduct workshops/seminars for financial aid information; respond to inquiries from students, faculty, staff and administration; screen and interview applicants for proper reference to financial aid programs. 
• Review documents as they arrive in the office; log documents and add to student files using the College's document imagining software.
• Send letters to students notifying them of incomplete or missing information in their files.
• Maintain student records in the Datatel/Colleague System.
• Update and develop the Financial Aid Policy and Procedure Manual.
• Update sections of the Financial Aid web site.
• Perform a wide variety of clerical work; maintain accurate and detailed records; prepare and analyze reports; verify accuracy of calculations; research discrepancies and record information.
• Attend appropriate meetings and serve on committees, as requested.
• Provide excellent customer service to callers in the queue.
• Assist with creating and updating financial aid forms on an annual basis.

Unique responsibilities:

• Ensure institutional compliance with all federal and state requirements and advise senior staff of actions necessary to ensure institutional compliance. Ensure compliance with federal regulatory requirements in monitoring electronic access to the National Student Loan Database System that contains financial aid history information on recipients of student assistance authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. 
• Ensure proper protection of any printed or computer generated National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) information as required by the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.
• Process non-institutional scholarships including accepting the funds, submitting them to the Business Office, awarding the student, monitoring the scholarship to ensure that the student is meeting the requests of the donor and reconciling monthly with the Business Office.
• Administer the Golden Leaf Scholarship Program every semester, which includes posting and accepting the applications, reviewing applications and scoring them based on the provided matrix, selecting students who best qualify, presenting to the scholarship committee, awarding students, completing the System Office spreadsheet and reconciling with the Business Office for both the curriculum and continuing education scholarships.
• Promote the COA Foundation application through emails, postcards, website updates and Financial Aid Awareness week. Award scholarship recipients and continually evaluate the individual scholarships to re-award as necessary based on the specific requirements for each one.
• Compile all Federal Work/Study information, reports and forms; and work with various departments in placing students in positions. Review and complete all Federal Work/Study payroll information monthly for the Business Office, monitoring student hours completed. Close the process at the end of the year updating all authorizations, information in Colleague and submitting termination paperwork to the Business Office.
• Monitor student enrollment for student aid programs and gather documentation as necessary for return of Title IV calculations including printing screenshots, resolving conflicts of information with Registrar.
• Completing Return of Title IV calculations including: setting up new school calendar profile in COD as needed, completing calculation in COD Access, printing job request/letter to student, adjusting aid, running FATR, working closely with the business office to ensure timely returns, sending CODE adjustments, completing return calculation on state grant portal for any students receiving NCCCG and NCELS that have withdrawn.
• Assist with monthly reconciliation of Federal Pell Grant, FSEOG, and Federal Work Study with Business Office.
• Monitor enrollment status of consortium agreement students.
• Monitor incomplete grades for changes.
• Assist students to make late charges at the Bookstore.
• Update earliest disbursement dates for NCCCG and NCELS on the State Grant Portal.
• Assist with the review of tuition refunds, as needed by the Business Office.
• Assist with Financial Aid Disbursement responsibilities.
• Importing process including: Importing ISIR's and sending new list of unlinked ISIR's to staff, determining which ISIR's are not active and researching to see if they should be active and updating if needed, printing ISIR's into Etrieve, checking for DRN's and recording in Datatel and Etrieve, assigning budgets, assigning SAP statuses, running and reviewing X9FC2 report and updating CRI, printingemailing information requests, requesting and importing State Grant file from CFNC.
• Complete subsequent ISIR review and mail appropriate letter or complete FA file.
• Completing and submitting Peterson's Annual Survey of Undergraduate Institutions report.
• Completing and submitting Peterson's Annual Survey of Undergraduate Financial Aid report.
• Review non-pay report during drop periods.
• Assist with the Financial Aid payment process including evaluating pending awards, verification of receipt of high school transcripts, adjusting aid for classes not required, Federal Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used, and a review of Satisfactory Academic Progress review of curriculum and developmental time limit, and other eligibility criteria.
• Assist as needed with the Colleague Set-up for each new academic year.
• Assist with the Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation at each checkpoint.
• Responsible for determining eligibility award recipients for the Foundation's Gift Aid Program scholarship.
• Import and review weekly Pell Lifetime Eligibility Used report, update names/percentages on LEU Master List.
• Send current file of approved students to Transfer Monitoring.
• Review/resolve Residency discrepancies identified on CFNC Portal.
• Verify data and assess tax information for students selected for verification by the US Department of Education and transmit corrections via Colleague or Financial Aid Administrator (FAA) Access.
• Submit information electronically to the US Department of Education for processing.
• Review applications for completeness; determine eligibility for federal, state or private funds and calculate awards; prepare student files; enter data into the computer.
• Communicate satisfactory academic progress with students; help them to understand their options and what effects withdrawing or failing will have on their eligibility.
• Test data prior to the start of each new academic year, review early batches of new Institutional Student Information Reports (ISIRs) – test comments / information letters requests
• Process scholarship applications and notify recipients.
• Monitor student enrollment for student aid programs and gather documentation, as necessary, for return of Title IV calculations.
• Process third-party payment authorizations.
• Process non-institutional scholarships, meeting the donor's intentions of the scholarship requirements.
• Perform other duties in absence of other staff member and as assigned.