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.
What is a Finance Aid Director?
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.
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.
Average Salary for a Finance Aid Director
What Am I Worth?
States With The Most Finance Aid Director Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active finance aid director jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where finance aid directors earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Finance Aid Director Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 4,570 | $73,787 |
| 2 | New York | 2,767 | $66,061 |
| 3 | Texas | 2,531 | $55,866 |
| 4 | Florida | 2,375 | $52,828 |
| 5 | Illinois | 2,284 | $68,966 |
| 6 | New Jersey | 1,598 | $82,816 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 1,549 | $82,479 |
| 8 | Ohio | 1,462 | $63,669 |
| 9 | Georgia | 1,423 | $63,851 |
| 10 | Virginia | 1,421 | $59,534 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 1,408 | $51,665 |
| 12 | Michigan | 1,340 | $77,397 |
| 13 | Washington | 1,259 | $75,071 |
| 14 | Alabama | 1,080 | $57,690 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 1,056 | $61,608 |
| 16 | Pennsylvania | 1,049 | $70,457 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 953 | $54,506 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 908 | $75,114 |
| 19 | Missouri | 891 | $51,133 |
| 20 | Indiana | 887 | $53,225 |
| 21 | Maryland | 850 | $77,049 |
| 22 | Iowa | 843 | $64,536 |
| 23 | Colorado | 757 | $60,769 |
| 24 | Arizona | 757 | $55,395 |
| 25 | Louisiana | 750 | $61,973 |
| 26 | Oregon | 733 | $70,390 |
| 27 | Connecticut | 680 | $78,870 |
| 28 | Arkansas | 581 | $49,516 |
| 29 | South Carolina | 542 | $48,612 |
| 30 | Oklahoma | 518 | $50,461 |
| 31 | Utah | 511 | $59,977 |
| 32 | Mississippi | 475 | $50,575 |
| 33 | Kentucky | 375 | $61,538 |
| 34 | New Mexico | 264 | $53,789 |
| 35 | Idaho | 220 | $69,128 |
| 36 | Nebraska | 218 | $54,288 |
| 37 | Nevada | 215 | $73,018 |
| 38 | Delaware | 187 | $64,572 |
| 39 | New Hampshire | 181 | $70,837 |
| 40 | Maine | 142 | $68,208 |
| 41 | West Virginia | 139 | $67,332 |
| 42 | Rhode Island | 137 | $65,825 |
| 43 | Hawaii | 135 | $59,414 |
| 44 | North Dakota | 128 | $60,405 |
| 45 | Alaska | 107 | $56,860 |
| 46 | Montana | 91 | $71,466 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 87 | $68,406 |
| 48 | Vermont | 85 | $64,508 |
| 49 | Wyoming | 84 | $69,482 |
| 50 | Kansas | 47 | $53,633 |
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
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, 9.0% of finance aid directors listed financial aid programs on their resume, but soft skills such as computer skills and problem-solving skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Finance Aid Director Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Finance Aid Director templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Finance Aid Director resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Finance Aid Director Demographics
Finance Aid Director Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among finance aid directors, 69.1% of them are women, while 30.9% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among finance aid directors is White, which makes up 68.5% of all finance aid directors.
- The most common foreign language among finance aid directors is Spanish at 64.9%.
Work Experience Programs For Finance Aid Directors
Virtual work experience programs replicate work at top companies and help you gain the skills to be successful when applying and working there. In only a few hours, learn the relevant tools necessary to complete a typical work day at that company. Virtual work experience programs are 100% free, open-access, and self-paced. No experience or application is required!
Company: Ashurst UK
Cost: Free
Duration: 4-5 hours
Company: Herbert Smith Freehills
Cost: Free
Duration: 5-6.5 hours
Company: JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Cost: Free
Duration: 4-5 hours
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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 New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Michigan. Finance aid directors make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $82,816. Whereas in Massachusetts and Connecticut, they would average $82,479 and $78,870, respectively. While finance aid directors would only make an average of $77,397 in Michigan, 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. Massachusetts
$82,479
Avg. Salary
2. New Jersey
$82,816
Avg. Salary
3. Michigan
$77,397
Avg. Salary
How Do Finance Aid Director Rate Their Jobs?
Top Finance Aid Director Employers
Most Common Employers For Finance Aid Director
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Career Education | $87,725 | $42.18 | 6 |
| 2 | Kaplan | $85,630 | $41.17 | 5 |
| 3 | Lincoln Tech | $83,289 | $40.04 | 15 |
| 4 | ATI Physical Therapy | $80,487 | $38.70 | 12 |
| 5 | Heald College | $77,886 | $37.45 | 6 |
| 6 | Universal Technical Institute | $77,217 | $37.12 | 5 |
| 7 | Anthem | $74,488 | $35.81 | 5 |
| 8 | Vatterott College | $70,134 | $33.72 | 18 |
| 9 | Boston College | $69,897 | $33.60 | 5 |
| 10 | Education Affiliates | $69,166 | $33.25 | 6 |
Finance Aid Director Videos
