Navigating the financial aid process can be a complex and confusing process for many students. You can help students get through this process by becoming a finance or financial aid director. A financial aid director can work for any organization that offers financial aid programs. As part of their job, they oversee various financial operations and programs, including offering grants, managing loans, providing payment plans, and determining eligibility for aid.
They are also responsible for managing the staff working in the financial aid department. One of their most important duties is ensuring that the financial aid staff is applying protocol correctly when running operations. Some other tasks they perform include hiring and training staff, ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations, providing information to students on aid programs, and ensuring aid is correctly disbursed.
To become a financial aid director, you'll typically need a Bachelor's degree. However, some employers may require a Master's degree in accounting, business, student affairs or public administration.
Finance Aid Director Overview
Finance Aid Director Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a finance aid director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.67 an hour? That's $65,871 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 13,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Finance Aid Director Do
There are certain skills that many finance aid directors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed computer skills, problem-solving skills and organizational skills.
How To Become a Finance Aid Director
If you're interested in becoming a finance aid director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 62.6% of finance aid directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 15.8% of finance aid directors have master's degrees. Even though most finance aid directors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a finance aid director. When we researched the most common majors for a finance aid director, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on finance aid director resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a finance aid director. In fact, many finance aid director jobs require experience in a role such as finance aid officer. Meanwhile, many finance aid directors also have previous career experience in roles such as finance aid advisor or finance aid counselor.
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Finance Aid Director Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a finance aid director can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as finance director, progress to a title such as chief finance officer and then eventually end up with the title chief finance officer.
Finance Aid Director Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Finance Aid Director
Best Paying Cities For Finance Aid Directors
Recently Added Salaries
Company  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute Director, Financial Aid | Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute | 08/31/2021 | $45,22008/31/2021 |
Jamestown Community College Director of Financial Aid | Jamestown Community College | 08/06/2021 | $56,46908/06/2021 |
Blinn College Financial Aid Assistant Director-Veteran Services and Financial Aid Compliance | Blinn College | 07/29/2021 | $45,80407/29/2021 |
Central Michigan University Director/Scholarships & Financial Aid | Central Michigan University | 07/26/2021 | $90,00007/26/2021 |
Triton College Director of Financial Aid | Triton College | 07/22/2021 | $90,90007/22/2021 |
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Top Colleges for Finance Aid Directors
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
5. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
6. New York University
New York, NY • Private
7. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
8. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
9. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
10. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
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Top Skills For a Finance Aid Director
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 35.0% of finance aid directors listed financial aid on their resume, but soft skills such as computer skills and problem-solving skills are important as well.
- Financial Aid, 35.0%
- Title IV, 5.3%
- Procedures, 5.3%
- Ensure Compliance, 4.0%
- State Regulations, 3.3%
- Other Skills, 47.1% See All Finance Aid Director Skills
Best States For a Finance Aid Director
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a finance aid director. The best states for people in this position are California, New Jersey, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Finance aid directors make the most in California with an average salary of $89,938. Whereas in New Jersey and Michigan, they would average $83,208 and $78,846, respectively. While finance aid directors would only make an average of $77,165 in Wisconsin, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New Jersey
$83,208
Avg. Salary
2. Michigan
$78,846
Avg. Salary
3. Wisconsin
$77,165
Avg. Salary
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