Assistant Director, Student Loans

babson; Wellesley (MA); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Babson College in Wellesley, MA, is seeking a Financial Aid Counselor to guide students and families through borrowing options and aid packaging. You will certify federal, state, and private loans, ensure timely disbursements, and coordinate with Student Accounts and Financial Services to meet college obligations.

The role requires 4–6 years of related experience and a Bachelor's Degree, with a hybrid onsite work arrangement and strong customer-service and communication skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required with 4–6 years of related experience in financial aid or student services.
• Knowledge of federal/state regulations governing financial aid preferred.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly to students and families.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail essential.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary contact for students and families seeking financing options for college expenses.
• Advise on how much to borrow and which loan products to use based on cost of attendance.
• Process and certify federal, state, institutional, and private loans; ensure timely disbursements.
• Ensure compliance with financial aid regulations and train team members on updates.
• Collaborate with Student Accounts and Financial Services to reconcile loans and refunds.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Organizational skills

Attention to detail

Negotiation

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

Plan, publicize, and manage the policies and implementation strategies for all federal, state, institutional and private loans. Serve as point of contact for students and parents to assist in deciding the best loan product, as well as the appropriate amount needed to borrow based on the overall cost of attendance by program.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Primary point of contact for students and parents seeking financing options for all college related expenses; in addition, this role will work with graduate students to ensure merit scholarships awarded by Graduate Admissions and all approved student loans are packaged on a timely basis.
• Assist with specific outreach related to financing options which includes providing borrowers guidance on how much to borrow for loans, private, federal, and parent options; advise if they are requesting too much; and as needed, work with an applicant who may require changes to their cost of attendance (i.e., a graduate student with a family).
• Using knowledge of all loan products, identifies the best financing options based on individual needs.
• Independently manages electronic certification, processing, and return of funds for federal, state, institutional and private student/parent loans daily. Works closely with partner offices including Student Accounts and Financial Services to ensure timely disbursements and refunds (i.e., if a student loan is approved and they are getting a refund, confirms that Student Accounts has the correct tuition charges posted before approving the refund of this loan disbursement to ensure that all college obligations are met first before any refund goes to the student).
• Administers the Federal Direct Loan program, including origination, disbursement, and monthly reconciliation of loans; serves as primary contact for U.S. Department of Education's Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) site.
• Approves and awards private loans using ELM (platform used to process private loans); responsible for cost of attendance change requests and any outreach to borrowers for documentation as needed. Independently certifies/approves loans for students and parents pushed out by lenders to colleges; acts as the point person to reach out to the lender and/or applicant as needed for any questions (private loans to Babson for FY25 total over $8M so this is a sizable amount for the college's receivables).
• Monitors, updates and tracks all internal and external loan change requests.
• Responsible for compliance with federal and state regulations related to students/parent loans; trains SFS team members on all updates; attends training and conferences to maintain knowledge.
• Participates in the oversight of College's Cohort Default Rate (CDR) which includes continuing to support a level of on time repayments that the College typically has met; conducts financial literacy and debt counseling workshops to manage debt levels; and performs loan entrance and exit counseling for Federal Direct and Mass No Interest Loan Programs which includes being available to students for email, phone, and webex conversations about loans, as well as overall counseling and what borrowing entails, educating on the process, and ensuring proper training occurs.
• Serves as liaison to lenders, servicers and guarantors; meets with lender representatives as needed. Responsible for annual Request for Information (RFI) to select private loan options for parents and students.
• Acts as key customer service representative for all SFS functions in student accounts, financial aid and financing options.
• Manages all aspects of the Federal Perkins Loan and Mass No Interest Loan Programs. Responsible for maintenance and origination of loans through UAS for Perkins Loans and Babson Loans. This includes any new and past loan activity and monthly service charges.
• Assumes additional responsibilities as required.

YOUR TEAM WILL INCLUDE

N/A

WHAT EDUCATION AND SKILLS YOU WILL NEED

Bachelor's Degree

At least 4-6 years of related experience including knowledge of financial aid regulations.

Ability to succeed in a customer-oriented, technology-intensive work environment

Must have excellent communication and organizational skills

Strong interpersonal skills including advising and negotiation

Strong attention to detail and compliance requirements

Ability to envision and propose new methods to perform tasks that support ET&A; take thoughtful risks; and accept new and ongoing initiatives, objectives, and solutions to gain sought-after results.

Ability to anticipate and embrace change ; demonstrate willingness to achieve, acquire, and utilize new skills and challenging tasks; and is flexible in changing conditions.

Strong technical and analytical skills, and the ability to support students with personalized financial counseling related to borrowing and financing decisions.

HOW AND WHERE YOU WILL WORK

Requires work onsite a minimum of 3 per week (hybrid schedule available after initial training period); the on-campus requiremen