1. Customer Service

• Represent the Financial Aid Office with professionalism and provide superior service to prospective students, current students, and their families on all aspects of the financial aid process.
• Act as the primary liaison to students and parents by responding to inquiries that come into the Financial Aid Office, often requiring knowledge of the University as a whole, in a timely manner.
• Responds to email, telephone, live chat, and in-person inquiries, requiring a thorough understanding of institutional and federal financial aid policies, in a timely manner and knows when to escalate inquiries to the appropriate staff.
• Possess a thorough understanding of the admissions and billing/Bursar’s Office processes
• Works regularly and professionally with external and internal partners; treats all with goal of maintaining an equitable and inclusive environment

2. General Department Administration

• Maintain the Financial Aid office space and workflow to ensure equity and efficiency;
• Maintains Financial Aid Coordinator manual;
• Order and maintain office supplies for financial aid staff
• Provide suggestions to improving office communications and workflow processes

3. Management and Support

• Provide administrative support to the Assistant Vice Provost of Financial Services and Director of Financial Aid by providing calendar management and meeting coordination
• Assist AVP with evaluating and reconciling the office budget, ensuring that expenses stay within office budget and follow budget guidelines; alerts the Assistant Vice Provost of Financial Services and Director of Financial Aid, to any anomalies, in regards to office management.
• Tracks and reconciles all transactions for the Financial Aid Office OneCard system.
• Manage billing, invoicing, vendor payments, budget reallocations, and other financial transactions for various FA operations
• Assists with Senior Associate Director with aspects related to open positions such as processing new hire documents and submitting necessary forms to Payroll
• Assists with preparation of documents to provide to auditors
• Provides administrative support to Financial Aid counselors by managing calendars and assisting with student and parent appointments.
• Arranges all elements for the Office of Financial Aid events; including parking permits, reserving room locations, ordering food and ordering all materials for the event.

4. Federal Work Study

• Manages all aspects of the student workers in the Financial Aid Office, including writing job descriptions, posting positions to HandShake, and maintaining and developing a training manual to use for Financial Aid Office work study staff.
• Evaluates potential candidates for the work study positions available in the Office of Financial Aid and makes final hiring decisions
• Prepares and submits Financial Aid office work study students’ payroll and maintains confidentiality regarding student payroll and records
• Oversees daily functions of the Office of Financial Aid work-study staff, specifically in maintaining their schedules and noticing employment patterns; often creates work schedule for and assigning tasks to student staff members, based upon input from Senior Associate Director
• Analyzes ways to make daily processes student staff more effective and efficient

Special Considerations

Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing an accommodation for any part of the interview or hiring process may contact Lehigh's Accommodations Specialist at [email protected]

The duties of the position do not allow for a remote work option; the employee in this position will be required to work on campus where they can be fully accessible to the Lehigh community

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED is required

• Customer service experience required

• Financial Aid experience highly preferred

• One to three years related work experience

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Excellent decision-making skills

Successful completion of standard background checks including but not limited to: social security verification, education verification, national criminal background checks, motor vehicle checks, PATCH, FBI fingerprinting, Child Abuse Clearance and credit history based upon the requirements of the position