Assistant Director of Financial Aid

Manhattan School of Music seeks an empathetic, data-driven, and compliance-minded financial aid professional to join our team.

The Assistant Director of Financial Aid guides prospective and current Manhattan School of Music college-level students through the financial aid process. This position serves as a first contact point regarding institutional aid and Title IV funding for prospective and current students and their parents. In addition, The Assistant Director works closely with the Director to allocate, authorize disbursements, and reconcile federal financial aid and institutional financial aid. The Assistant Director works closely with other campus offices, especially the Office of Admission and the Office of Student Accounts, to create an efficient, accurate, and kind support system for students and to maintain federal financial aid compliance. This position manages a team of student workers. 

• Serve as a friendly first point of contact for students, both enrolled and prospective, and their parents.
• Counsel students and parents on financial aid options.
• Manage the financial aid database PowerFaids, including maintaining student records, uploading data from the Office of the Registrar, and working with the IT department to coordinate maintenance.
• Facilitate communication regarding student accounts between the Financial Aid Office and the Student Accounts Office. 
• Assist the Director of Financial Aid with packaging all new and continuing students, including federal, state, and institutional funds.
• Organize student scholarship appeals for new and continuing students. 
• Compile data for both internal and external constituents (e.g., surveys, internal reports, etc.).
• Download files from the Department of Education and the College Board (CSS Profile).
• Responsible for compiling data for, and responding to, the annual audit of the Financial Aid Office.
• Ensure timely submissions of all Direct Loan reporting.
• Ensure Student Academic Progress standards are met for issuance of federal financial aid.
• Maintain policy and procedure manuals.
• Participate in forming and executing recruiting strategies in coordination with the Office of Admission.
• Keep apprised of financial aid issues and policy changes to ensure compliance and to inform students/parents of the ramifications of policy changes. 
• Represent the Office of Financial Aid and Manhattan School of Music at various school and financial aid events.
• Supervise the Federal Work-Study Budget and student participation in the America Reads Program.
• Serve on Committees as assigned.
• Perform additional duties as required. 

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required.
• Experience administering Title IV funding, familiarity with need analysis, and interpretation of regulations.
• Excellent leadership and organizational skills.
• Successful track record of providing exceptional customer service and working as a team member.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience with PowerFaids software preferred.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel and Access as reporting tools.
• Experience with mail merges and flat file uploads.
• Proven experience using quantitative and analytical skills to enhance office processing.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to multitask.
• Professional and ethical work behavior with ability to maintain the highest level of confidentiality. 

This position will start as 5 days a week in-office during the onboarding period. After the onboarding period, the successful candidate will be permitted to work remotely one day a week. 

Send letter of application and résumé including three references to: [email protected]

No phone calls please.

https://www.msmnyc.edu/about/employment-at-msm/assistant-director-of-financial-aid/

Equal employment and equal educational opportunity have been and will continue to be fundamental principles at Manhattan School of Music, where employment and enrollment are based upon personal capabilities and qualifications without discrimination or harassment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, the status of being transgender, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship or veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. Manhattan School of Music does not permit retaliation against individuals who oppose a discriminatory practice or participate in an investigation.