Business Analyst of Financial Aid

Business Analyst of Financial Aid
Position Summary

Join a vibrant campus community whose excellence is reflected in its diversity and student success.  West Chester University of Pennsylvania’s Financial Aid team invites applicants for the position of Business Analyst of Financial Aid.

West Chester University, a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, is a public, comprehensive institution committed to offering high-quality undergraduate education, selected post-baccalaureate and graduate programs, and a variety of educational and cultural resources for its students, alumni, and citizens of southeastern Pennsylvania.  We are a community of educators dedicated to developing graduates who succeed personally and professionally and contribute to the common good.

WCU proudly offers a positive and purposeful work environment; comprehensive employee benefits including health, vision, and dental insurance along with generous retirement plans; many wellness programs; a commitment to work-life balance including generous paid vacation, paid sick time, military leave and paid time off for most major holidays; and a University mission to support employee personal and professional growth including a tuition waiver for self and family members, training and development, and advancement opportunities.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Financial Aid, the Business Analyst provides complex business and systems support for the Financial Aid Office including strategic business analysis;  review of business processes to identify operational, financial, and student satisfaction efficiencies and optimizations; and collaborating in the design, documentation, testing, and maintenance of business processes, reports, queries, and dashboards to support the recruitment, admissions, financial aid packaging, and onboarding for all student populations.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate knowledge of financial aid systems and federal regulations; higher education experience; strong leadership, project planning and management skills; the ability to meet deadlines to manage multiple assignments; experience using enterprise resource planning (ERPs) and/or student information systems (SIS), Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs), Document Management Systems (DMS), and related third party ancillary systems and applications that are critical to the customer service and regulatory compliance functions of the financial aid office.

Responsibilities include:
·       Examine current systems to ensure they are servicing all constituents while meeting the needs of a complex regulatory and student- focused environment
·       Ensure that the systems and third-party ancillary data systems meet the needs of federal, state, and institutional regulatory requirements in support of financial  aid application processing, awarding, disbursement, audit controls, research, and reporting
·       Gather requirements and produce specifications for a new system and/or modifications to current systems, databases, and third-party integrations
·       Deploy timely and actionable business intelligence
·        Assist in the operational maintenance and data integrity of the systems and databases
·       Develop standardized practices for importing cleaning, transforming and validating data including managing the data exchanges with vendors; use data and system analysis to identify opportunities in existing business practices to improve business process
·       Collaborate with Academic Enterprise Systems (AES) and Institutional Research (IR) to resolve system and/or data issues
·       Work with University partners (Admissions, Registrar, Bursar, etc.) to ensure that the University’s system of record is properly configured to capture and report financial aid data
·       Ensure that systems are optimized to support efficient and robust operations
·       Ensure that the multitude of external and auxiliary systems used by financial aid in the administration of aid are set-up and used effectively in daily operations (COD, CPS, SAIG, EdConnect, NSLDS, as well as ELM online services)
·       Work with University partners (IR/AES) to ensure that the University’s reporting platforms are properly configured to report financial aid data
·       Set-up and support the routine import of data into the technology platforms
·       Ensure that information flows between systems in a logical, efficient, and accurate way; leverage the expertise of IS&T partners to optimize the integration of all technology/data platforms
·       Conduct audits of data and systems to ensure the integrity of information
·       Ensure the timely and accurate packaging and disbursement of student aid; the effective flow of information and documentation throughout the process; the full implementation of all institutional, state and federal aid programs
·       Serve as the central contact in trouble-shooting technology & operational issues that hinder the flow of applicants through the financial aid process
·       Ensure that all processes are optimized and documented
·       Collaborate with WCU colleagues as well as external vendors, service providers, and government agencies on the effective administration of aid
·       Contribute to efforts related to planning, policy & procedure development, quality assurance & effectiveness, and team management