Student Support Specialist

Position Title:

Compensation:

Department:

Start Date:

About this opportunity:

Candidates for searches must have current authorization to be employed in the United States without employer sponsorship.

What you'll do and what you'll bring:

Position Function: The Student Support Specialist is part of the centralized team within Cardinal Central that provides a student-focused approach to quality service to provide an exceptional, seamless service experience that supports student success and institutional goals of recruitment, retention, and graduation. This position is crossed-trained to provide front-line support to students (prospective, current, former, alumni), parents/families, and other campus community members in the areas of University Registrar, Financial Aid and Scholarships, and the Student Financial Services (Bursar). This position answers questions for a significant breadth and depth related to the offices and facilitate transactions. The Specialist is the first level of student contact where personal interaction and problem solution begins, providing specialized information and responding to inquiries, acting as a triage for complex enrollment issues, solving end to end issues, and elevation complex issues to the appropriate Specialists and/or Advisors in the office that support the Center.

Duties & Responsibilities:

1. Counsel and advise students and parents regarding in-depth financial aid questions concerningFAFSAcompletion, financial aid eligibility, cost of attendance, expected family contribution, types of aid and disbursement processing. Proactively reach out to students before next term's registration to initiate contact and respond to any questions. Use Salesforce communication tool to accurately reflect interactions with students for record-keeping purposes. Types of interactions include but are not limited to emails, calls, walk-ins, virtual appointments, chat rooms, and service tickets.

2. Investigate eligibility and disbursement issues related to federal, state, institutional and private sources of assistance including, but not limited to loans, grants, scholarships, and federal work-study.

3. Counsel students requesting to withdraw from or not to return to the University. Investigate reasons why students are requesting to leave and identify solutions and campus resources that may assist in their persistence.

4. Advise and problem solve with students on a variety of registration, enrollment, and records issues. Includes but is not limited to Withdrawals, navigatingSSB, grade appeals (as they apply to holds/probations/grant and loan consequences), and reaffirmations.

5. Use proactive approach with outreach and engagement efforts as necessary for prospective students, current students, and parents as appropriate.

6. Review and process requests for academic information including transcripts, certification of enrollment, letters of academic standing, and insurance third-party enrollment verifications.

7. Collect financial aid appeals, verification, and other requested documentation, ensuring all documents required are sufficient and complete.

8. Review, analyze, and interpret student account activity (Ebills), credits, debits, adjustments, and statements in order to be able to respond to student inquiries.

9. Respond to inquiries in person, by phone, and email timely and with accuracy using excellent customer service skills. Enforce Proxy rules in order to stay in compliance withFERPA.

10. Provide exceptional customer service; determine student's needs in a professional, courteous manner, and resolve issues proactively; provide accurate information after careful analysis of the appropriate CASHNet/Banner screens; establish mutually acceptable payment arrangements; calculate deferment options; process all payments on day received with accuracy.

11. Determine when an exception is warranted or a late or deferment fee should be waived or the issue should be escalated to the Appeals Committee.

12. Advise students and parents regarding charges, financial refunds, set up of direct deposit accounts, and timing of refunds.

13. Perform other cashiering transactions; count safe and drawers; operate safe and alarm.

14. Perform other related duties as assigned.

15. Maintain regular and predictable attendance.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution or equivalent in business related area.
• Over one through three years of experience in student support, or over five years of customer service experience.
• Exceptional customer service skills and knowledge of basic service etiquette.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to write clearly, concisely, and correctly.
• An appreciation and sensitivity to diverse cultures and lifestyles; engaging and interacting with people of diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to work as a team member.
• Ability to analyze and interpret data and make independent decisions.
• Ability to work within systems and platforms.
• Ability and willingness to learn innovative programs, applications, systems, tools, platforms, etc.
• Ability to attend meetings, events, functions on and off-campus, and work weekends and evenings as required.
• Ability to meet expectations in a fast-paced, dynamic, customer-oriented environment.
• Highly motivated, focused and results oriented.
• Ability to maintain the confidentiality of records and information.
• Ability to read, understand and explain to others a vast array of policies and procedures.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Extensive customer service experience; additional years of related experience.
• Experience in one of the areas that we serve (Student Financial Services (Bursar), Registrar, Financial Aid & Scholarships)
• Spanish speaking; presentation skills; one or more years of experience in a high-volume customer support center.

How to apply:

To be considered for this position, you must complete the application and submit the following along with the application:

• Cover Letter
• Resume

If you have further questions about how to apply, contact Sarah Stahl at 765-285-6160 or by email at sarah.stahl@bsu.edu.

What we offer:

At Ball State University, we understand the importance of balancing professional responsibilities with personal well-being. That's why we offer paid 10 to 24 vacation days, 12 sick days, and 10 holidays a year. Plus, our paid parental leave (6 weeks) is there for life's most significant moments. We offer affordable health and dental insurance, robust long-term disability and life insurance plans, as well a range of retirement benefits to provide financial security to you and your family. These benefits ensure that you can focus on your work and personal growth without worrying about the unexpected.

When you work for us, you are family. And to show our support of your family, we will cover 90 percent of your child's (or children's) undergraduate college tuition at Ball State. We do the same for you. In fact, we'll cover 100 percent of the tuition costs for you to earn your undergraduate degree and 80 percent of your graduate tuition. This offer is good from the very first day you start. It's just one way we do our part to uplift you.

Let's fly together toward a secure and prosperous tomorrow.

Curious about our excellent benefits package?

We have developed a calculator that show you the value of our core benefits. Select the Total Compensation Calculator - Staff (Exempt) and download our calculator spreadsheet.