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Financial Aid Officer 3 (4527U), FASO Financial Aid Operations - 50159 About Berkeley

At the University of California, Berkeley, we are committed to creating a community that fosters equity of experience and opportunity, and ensures that students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds feel safe, welcome and included. Our culture of openness, freedom and belonging make it a special place for students, faculty and staff.

The University of California, Berkeley, is one of the world's leading institutions of higher education, distinguished by its combination of internationally recognized academic and research excellence; the transformative opportunity it provides to a large and diverse student body; its public mission and commitment to equity and social justice; and its roots in the California experience, animated by such values as innovation, questioning the status quo, and respect for the environment and nature. Since its founding in 1868, Berkeley has fueled a perpetual renaissance, generating unparalleled intellectual, economic and social value in California, the United States and the world.

We are looking for equity-minded applicants who represent the full diversity of California and who demonstrate a sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. When you join the team at Berkeley, you can expect to be part of an inclusive, innovative and equity-focused community that approaches higher education as a matter of social justice that requires broad collaboration among faculty, staff, students and community partners. In deciding whether to apply for a position at Berkeley, you are strongly encouraged to consider whether your values align with our Guiding Values and Principles, our Principles of Community, and our Strategic Plan.

At UC Berkeley, we believe that learning is a fundamental part of working, and our goal is for everyone on the Berkeley campus to feel supported and equipped to realize their full potential. We actively support this by providing all of our staff employees with at least 80 hours (10 days) of paid time per year to engage in professional development activities. To find out more about how you can grow your career at UC Berkeley, visit grow.berkeley.edu.

Departmental Overview

The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office (FASO) directly awards or coordinates the awarding of over $850 million from over 700 funding sources to over 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The mission of the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office is to provide students access to an excellent education. Through strategic partnerships and rigorous planning, FASO offers innovative aid programs to make higher education affordable, helps students and parents navigate financial aid processes, counsels students so they understand their options and feel empowered to make the best choices to manage their financial lives,advocates on behalf of students, teaches students about financial literacy, collaborates to help build upon a comprehensive, holistic culture of care that transforms the student experience and helps us recruit, retain, and graduate students and prepare them for success in life, and fosters a sense of community by encouraging alumni and donors to connect with the university and give the gift of access to the next generation of students.

Application Review Date

The First Review Date for this job is: March 20, 2023. This job will remain open until filled.

Responsibilities

• Programmatic responsibility for one or a combination of federal, state, and/or institutional aid programs and any associated responsibilities. Regularly resolves individual, complex financial aid situations. Work with a high degree of autonomy, managing the Federal and State financial aid import and export program processes as it relates to Private Loan and may provide secondary backup support to the other Federal, Institutional, and State Programs. In specific, for Private loan(s):
  • Certify private loans for Undergraduate and Graduate Division.
  • Originate loans for all Undergraduate and Graduate Programs.
  • Process and troubleshoot EFT files from lenders for all undergraduate and graduate programs.
  • Work with Campus Partners, BusOps, and ELM for the return of private loan funds to lenders.
  • Record ELM funds wire transfers in the Campus Deposit System.
  • Respond to student inquiries via Salesforce and email, and staff inquiries by email.
  • Run program edit queries weekly and resolve over-awards.
  • Conduct regression testing for the private loan program as requested.
  • Work with Fiscal Management and Compliance for reconciliation and resolving unapplied funds.
  • Maintain communications with various lenders via email and Zoom.
  • Work closely with Berkeley-Haas and Berkeley-Law.
• Participate in annual testing of new aid year loading and exporting processes. Analyzes exception reports of students whose aid packages could not be handled by automated programming and determines action needed to resolve issues and complete students' aid awarding. Through analysis and interpretation, make recommendations for best practices and use of systems for specialized programs or to resolve issues when more efficient. Identify issues, articulate FASO tickets and work with Business Analysts and IT staff to resolve and test fixes. Respond in a timely manner to inquiries related to Federal and State Programs such as Private Loans and working on Federal State Institutional edit reports to true-up packaging for aid recipients. Remain current with regulatory changes and packaging policy. Verify that awarded aid is processed according to respective federal, state, and institutional eligibility requirements and FASO packaging policy. Apply broad job knowledge to recommend, plan and coordinate policy and procedure changes. Write and maintain office procedures and processing schedules for aid programs of responsibility.
• Provides backup support and coverage as needed for other Federal and State Programs Unit staff members.
• Analyzes a variety of factors (financial data, family circumstances, social background, academic status, educational goals) and applies knowledge of federal, state, University, and outside agency laws, regulations, and policies to determine students' eligibility for various types of financial aid. Identifies available resources and unmet needs to determine appropriate allocation of aid awards for individual students. Exercises professional judgment to recommend changes in financial aid award. Keep FASO management and staff informed by periodically providing updates via email or other common communication venues (such as staff website and bulletins) about upcoming deadlines, procedural changes, or periodic changes or issues.
• Coordinates, implements, and evaluates and reports on special programs and projects as assigned, such as state and federal grant census proration and one-term graduating senior packaging. Consults with program offices and other UC departments on procedural issues or individual student's eligibility, and provides clarification on financial aid policies to these departments. Interprets regulations and develops or recommends procedures to ensure compliance and accurate aid delivery. Identify and test annual programming changes needed to implement new aid year changes related to programming for financial aid programs. Analyzes reports to resolve eligibility problems.
• Design and conduct group training/updates as needed for Private Loan program processing details.
• Coordinates and creates content for outreach services to prospective students, parents, and the general public. Communicate effectively and collegially with other individual contributors in FASO, such as counselors managing special programs, Fiscal Management staff, Senior staff, as well as systems staff and other campus partners (BPS, BFS, Office of the Registrar, internal and external campus partners, etc).
• Effective communication skills are critical to assure that the Federal, State, Institutional and Private Loan programs are administered efficiently and seamlessly in all cases. Keep both FASO's public and staff websites current and accurate regarding the Private Loan program. Assess the need for and compose courteous and informative communications about the Private Loan process to sub populations of students and families.
• Participates on standing department committees to provide advice on procedural issues, particularly as they relate to Private Loan-Campus Solutions, and CampusLogic. Coordinates and creates content and strategy for leveraging new technologies for outreach services to students and parents.
• Reconciles large volumes of student data from multiple sources. Identifies and resolves mismatches and errors.
• Identifies the need for database elements, queries, and reports needed to monitor aid programs and communicates requests to business systems analysts. Analyzes reports to resolve aid allocation problems.
• Provides individual counseling on non-routine, sensitive aid issues. Coordinates and creates content for outreach services to prospective students, parents, and the general public.
• Professional development: develop a professional development plan and participate in development activities such as attending classes, joining organizations, working on special projects, and serving on departmental or campus-wide committees, in order to enhance expertise in job areas.

Required Qualifications

• Working knowledge of policies, regulations, and practices for awarding financial aid within a higher education setting.
• Either 3+ years of experience working with federal Title IV and state student aid programs including specialized knowledge of the ELM Private Loan Program and Central Processing System (CPS).
• Working knowledge of or ability to learn to use quickly, information management systems related to registration, financial aid, and student accounts.
• Working knowledge of packaging policies and practices.
• Working knowledge of, and successful experience with, financial aid advising and counseling techniques.
• Ability to interpret complex policies and develop procedures to ensure compliance with regulations.
• Proficient problem identification, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, judgment and decision-making ability.
• Proficiency manipulating and analyzing large volumes of data. Ability to calculate and reconcile financial aid with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Organizational skills and ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines. Demonstrated ability to manage a heavy workload, which may at times require additional work hours or very selective work prioritization.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Demonstrated by effective, concise, courteous, accurate, grammatically correct, professional, diplomatic, and complete verbal and written interactions.
• Ability to assess and refine current processes and implement improvements.
• Interpersonal skills. Includes customer service orientation, active listening, diplomacy, social perceptiveness and the ability to recognize and diffuse charged interactions with customers and colleagues, and to develop effective working relationships with all colleagues. Ability to relate to diverse student and parent populations.
• Proficiency with applications in common office suites, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access as well as internet and email applications.
• Ability to define specifications for database programming.

Education/Training:

• Bachelor's degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of federal and state database applications, including Common Origination and Disbursement (COD), National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), Edconnect and GDSM (Grand Delivery System Management for State Grant and Scholarship programs).
• Specialized knowledge of and/or ability to learn the UCB special programs for students in specific demographic groups, including but not limited to: Summer Sessions, Student Abroad, Return of Title IV, Athletics.
• Working knowledge of and/or ability to learn University policies, processes, and procedures related to student registration, aid awards and payments.
• Working knowledge of and/or ability to learn common University-specific computer application programs. Experience using PeopleSoft for registration, financial aid, student financials, human resources. Experience using complex databases including testing software for the same; ability to review systems issues and write clear communications for systems staff; ability to define specifications for database programming. Proficiency in manipulating and analyzing large volumes of data. Advanced knowledge of common University-specific computer application programs.

Salary & Benefits

For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University, please visit the University of California's https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html&source=gmail&ust=1674324686328000&usg=AOvVaw2GpIWYW1GodaOMhx7gsK4r' href='https://apptrkr.com/get_redirect.php?id=3975923&targetURL=http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html' style='font-variant-ligatures:normal; text-align:start; white-space:pre-wrap; color:blue; text-decoration:underline' target='_blank'>Compensation & Benefits website.

Under California law, the University of California, Berkeley is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role and should not offer a salary outside of the range posted in this job announcement. This range takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, analysis of internal equity, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be offered a salary at or near the top of the range for a position. Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience.

The budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $75,000.00 - $84,600.00.

• This is a 100% full-time (40 hours per week), career position that is eligible for full UC benefits.
• This position is exempt and paid monthly.
• This is a remote-friendly position, eligible for 50-100% remote capability.

How to Apply

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter.

Conviction History Background

This is a designated position requiring fingerprinting and a background check due to the nature of the job responsibilities. Berkeley does hire people with conviction histories and reviews information received in the context of the job responsibilities. The University reserves the right to make employment contingent upon successful completion of the background check.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. For more information about your rights as an applicant, please see the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission poster.



For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, please see the University of California Discrimination, Harassment, and Affirmative Action in the Workplace policy.



To apply, visit https://careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucb/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_APP_SCHJOB.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_JBPST&Action=U&FOCUS=Applicant&SiteId=21&JobOpeningId=50159&PostingSeq=1









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