What does a finance aid officer do?
A finance aid officer helps students get financial aid. They procure scholarships and loan applications and help students to fill them out. They may also help students find employment on- or off-campus, assist students in finding grants for educational funding, or provide money-management advice. Some finance aid officers help medical personnel get insurance information.
Finance aid officer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real finance aid officer resumes:
- Manage project for the development and implementation of a university-wide scholarship database, STAARS.
- Update CampusVue portal with detail notes concerning briefings, issue students thumb drive and review financial aid documentation in detail.
- Assist students and parents in the financial aid application procedure, process and prepare all student-funding requests using CampusVue software.
- Review and evaluate ISIR information to ensure accurate financial aid processing.
- Coordinate with the appropriate campus personnel to ensure accurate and timely disbursement of scholarship and federal work-study disbursements.
- Verify loan periods, order quarterly loans and check NSLDS on eligibility for students.
- Determine budgets and awards for all students receiving PELL grants and all campus-base aid.
- Assist students and/or parents in preparing the FAFSA form as well as how to apply for scholarships, grants and loans.
- Access, audit, and edit NSLDS and other sensitive federally regulate government and lender databases with federal security clearance access.
- Process Pell payment data electronically.
- Request information and documentation relevant for verification of ISIR's.
- Verify information report on the FAFSA application to determine award eligibility.
- Partner with community service organizations to facilitate work-study students the opportunities of working for their non-profit organization.
- Maintain positive relations with vendors and hospital employees, keeping especially payroll information as well as vendor information confidential.
- Prepare student files for verification through PeopleSoft and /or spreadsheets to ensure that all require documents are include in the files.
Finance aid officer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Finance Aid Officers are proficient in Financial Aid, Customer Service, and FAFSA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Computer skills, Problem-solving skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Finance Aid Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Financial Aid, 19%
Work closely with the Financial Aid Director in the development and implementation of policies and procedures and informational publications.
- Customer Service, 14%
Handled, processed and completed customer service requests from students, other education institutions and outside regulatory organizations.
- FAFSA, 8%
Verified information reported on the FAFSA application to determine award eligibility.
- Title IV, 6%
Processed and certified federal financial aid funding *Reconciled audited and denied financial aid applications *Processed Title IV refunds and post-withdrawal disbursements
- Student Loans, 5%
Provided staff, students, and parents with information regarding the availability of federal student loans/alternative loans and the eligibility requirements.
- Financial Aid Packages, 4%
Determined student eligibility and prepared financial aid packages in accordance with federal, state and institutional requirements.
"financial aid," "customer service," and "fafsa" are among the most common skills that finance aid officers use at work. You can find even more finance aid officer responsibilities below, including:
Computer skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a finance aid officer to have is computer skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "postsecondary education administrators need to be comfortable working with computers so they can use software to manage student and school records." Finance aid officers often use computer skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "entered data into computer to create award letters to students and parents. "
Problem-solving skills. Many finance aid officer duties rely on problem-solving skills. "administrators need to react calmly when a difficult situation arises and develop creative solutions.," so a finance aid officer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways finance aid officer responsibilities rely on problem-solving skills: "resolved verification and c-code resolutions, collect student payments. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of finance aid officers is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday finance aid officer duties, as "postsecondary education administrators need to build good relationships with colleagues, students, and parents." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "practice strong customer service, interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills. "
Organizational skills. For certain finance aid officer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of a finance aid officer rely on this skill, as "administrators need to be organized so they can manage records, prioritize tasks, and coordinate activities with their staff." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what finance aid officers do: "revamped financial aid processing to align system with organizational goals. "
The three companies that hire the most finance aid officers are:
- Arizona College6 finance aid officers jobs
- Education Affiliates5 finance aid officers jobs
- The Art Institute Of Houston
4 finance aid officers jobs
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Compare different finance aid officers
Finance aid officer vs. Mortgage loan counselor
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, finance aid officer responsibilities require skills like "financial aid," "fafsa," "title iv," and "student loans." Meanwhile a typical mortgage loan counselor has skills in areas such as "fha," "loan process," "outbound calls," and "payment arrangements." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, mortgage loan counselors reach lower levels of education than finance aid officers. Mortgage loan counselors are 9.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Finance aid officer vs. Loan counselor
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that finance aid officer responsibilities requires skills like "financial aid," "customer service," "fafsa," and "title iv." But a loan counselor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "phone calls," "payment arrangements," "outbound collection calls," and "inbound calls."
On average, loan counselors earn a higher salary than finance aid officers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, loan counselors earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $49,414. Whereas finance aid officers have higher pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $41,611.loan counselors earn lower levels of education than finance aid officers in general. They're 7.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Finance aid officer vs. Mortgage counselor
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, finance aid officers are more likely to have skills like "financial aid," "fafsa," "title iv," and "student loans." But a mortgage counselor is more likely to have skills like "mortgage loans," "foreclosure," "outbound calls," and "fha."
When it comes to education, mortgage counselors tend to earn lower degree levels compared to finance aid officers. In fact, they're 5.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Finance aid officer vs. Savings counselor
Types of finance aid officer
Updated January 8, 2025
