Employment Opportunities at ACU

ACU is affiliated with the fellowship of the Church of Christ. All applicants must be professing Christians and willing to support the Christian mission and purpose of Abilene Christian University while employed by the university.

This position reports to the Director of Student Financial Services and supports business processes in the Student Financial Services office. This includes developing and maintaining knowledge of financial aid lifecycles and the various processes that support operations including student accounts. The SFS Strategist will be responsible for developing and executing financial aid awarding and billing strategies to support institutional goals. This role requires a deep understanding of financial aid and student billing policies, enrollment management, and data analysis to optimize institutional aid resources while ensuring compliance with federal, state, and institutional regulations.

• Leverage knowledge of financial aid policies and procedures, other student data, and financial data to effectively produce accurate, clear, and well-informed reports of financial aid data to university leadership to develop enrollment, awarding, and student payment/collection strategies.
• Develop and generate complex data extracts from the Student Information System (Ellucian Banner) to address financial aid and institutional reporting/decision support needs and mandated compliance reporting. University administration relies upon this work for decision support and evaluative analytics.
• Conduct data analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of financial aid policies and propose enhancements
• Collaborate with admissions and student success teams to align financial aid and student billing strategies with institutional objectives
• Provide expert recommendations on optimizing institutional aid distribution to maximize student access and affordability
• Utilize predictive modeling and data-driven insights to forecast financial aid needs and budget allocations
• Create and maintain reporting specifications for new reports/dashboards/analytical tools and perform testing/validation; ensure integrity, accessibility, and accuracy of reports/dashboards and data structures.
• Provide recommendations for implementing new or improved processes within the Student Information System (Ellucian Banner) or other financial aid technology platforms.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support the Student Financial Services office.

Skills

• Functional knowledge of the following student systems: Ellucian Banner and TouchNet e-commerce solutions
• Thorough knowledge of general federal, state (Texas), and institutional financial aid policies
• Assist with detecting and identifying problems and deficiencies in the Financial Aid technology systems (Ellucian Banner, Campus Logic, TouchNet) and recommend improvements
• Exhibit adept interpersonal and communication skills. This includes the ability to translate computer related jargon into terms understandable to the end-user.
• Exhibit strong organization skills and listening skills.
• Ability to keep current with information technology and its application to higher education. This includes participating in conferences and training courses on higher education software or computer systems.

Training Modules Required

• Interpersonal and communication classes and workshops
• Operating systems utilities and commands courses or equivalent
• Time and multiple priorities management workshops
• Application software and training, including Ellucian Banner
• Attend occasional out of town conferences and training.

Professional

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, higher education administration, business, or related field

Personal

• Work as a team member
• Good communication skills: oral and written
• Strong people skills: interact with students, staff, faculty, and vendors
• Strong customer service, leadership, organizational, communication, and interface skills.
• Self-motivated to accomplish required tasks

• Must be able to work with a computer for extended periods of time (90% of the time).
• Must be able to work occasional extended hours as needed or required

ACU does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, disability, genetic information, national or ethnic origin in employment opportunities, in keeping with applicable state and federal law.

ACU is committed to maintaining a safe and secure campus environment and protecting the university's financial and physical assets.  Therefore, Abilene Christian University conducts background checks on all candidates for employment in security sensitive positions.