Financial Aid Specialist

University of Hawaii system; Honolulu (HI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Hawai'i is seeking a Financial Aid Specialist to join the centralized processing, systems, and data team across the UH Community Colleges. The role covers packaging, awarding, SAP, and data reporting using Banner and related tools, ensuring compliant, timely operations for all seven campuses.

The position emphasizes developing configurations, standardizing practices, and coordinating with campus offices and ITS to support decision-making and institutional reporting.

Qualifications

• Possession of a baccalaureate degree in Business Administration, Education, Information Technology, Liberal Arts, Management, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Statistics, or related field.
• 3 years of progressively responsible professional experience with responsibilities for financial aid administration in a post-secondary education setting.
• Strong knowledge of federal and state financial aid requirements.
• Ability to interpret and present information clearly in writing and verbally.
• Ability to work with Banner Financial Aid configurations and SQL queries.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a team member of the UH Community Colleges centralized financial aid unit.
• Process using Banner and related systems including packaging, awarding, SAP, year-end rollover.
• Develop and maintain Banner configurations, rules, and processing parameters.
• Establish standardized financial aid practices across seven campuses.
• Develop SQL queries and operational reports using Banner, ReportServer, and related tools.
• Analyze financial aid data for reporting, compliance, and decision-making.
• Provide operational guidance to campus financial aid personnel.
• Coordinate with ITS and Banner representatives for system changes.
• Monitor processing results and resolve exceptions with campuses.
• Prepare operating procedures and calendars for centralized operations.

Job description

Financial Aid Specialist (Centralized Processing, Systems, and Data, 0080578) | University of Hawai'i page has loaded.

Full-Time Permanent

Job Number

2026-02353

Office of the Vice President for Community Colleges

Division

Academic Affairs

11/06/2026

Closing Date

11/23/2026 11:59 PM Hawaii

Position Number:

0080578

Description

Title: Financial Aid Specialist (Centralized Processing, Systems, and Data)

Position Number: 0080578

Hiring Unit: Office of the VP for Community Colleges, Academic Affairs

Location: Kalihi/Palama or any neighbor island Community College campus (Hawaii, Kauai, Maui)

Other Conditions: Pending position clearance and availability of funds.

Duties and Responsibilities

(**Denotes Essential Functions)

• **Serve as a team member of the UH Community Colleges centralized financial aid unit responsible for administering designated financial aid functions and processes on behalf of all seven community college campuses. Apply comprehensive knowledge of federal, state, institutional, and University financial aid requirements to ensure centralized processes are accurate, timely, consistent, and compliant.
• **Perform and coordinate designated centralized financial aid processes using Banner and related systems, including packaging, awarding, Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), annual setup, year-end rollover, population selection, batch processing, reconciliation, and other assigned financial aid functions. Monitor processing results, identify exceptions, and resolve or coordinate resolution of issues with campus financial aid offices and appropriate University staff.
• **Develop, configure, test, validate, document, and maintain authorized Banner Financial Aid configurations, rules, population selections, and processing parameters used by the centralized financial aid unit. Ensure configurations accurately implement approved financial aid policies, procedures, and processing requirements across the UH Community Colleges.
• **Establish and maintain standardized financial aid processing practices across the seven community college campuses for functions assigned to the centralized financial aid unit. Evaluate variations in campus practices and configurations, identify opportunities for standardization and automation, and document approved campus-specific exceptions.
• **Develop, document, and maintain SQL queries, Banner population selections, operational reports, exception reports, and ad hoc queries using Banner, ReportServer, and other relevant databases and tools. Extract, validate, summarize, transform, and format data necessary to administer centralized financial aid functions and support operational decision-making.
• **Prepare, validate, reconcile, and analyze financial aid data used for awarding, fund management, regulatory compliance, operational planning, and federal, state, institutional, and University reporting. Coordinate with designated financial aid leadership to ensure required data and reports are accurate, complete, and timely.
• **Analyze financial aid processing, awarding, utilization, student eligibility, and related outcomes to identify trends, anomalies, processing issues, and opportunities for improvement. Develop reports, dashboards, and other analytical products to inform financial aid operations, awarding strategies, packaging rules, workload management, and resource allocation.
• **Provide technical analysis to inform awarding strategies, packaging rules, and resource allocation. Collaborate with financial aid leadership and campus staff to recommend improvements and implement approved changes based on assessment findings.
• **Participate in the implementation and operational use of third-party applications integrated with Banner Financial Aid. Define financial aid business requirements, perform functional testing and validation, document operating procedures, and coordinate technical requirements or system-level changes with UH Information Technology Services (ITS) and UH System Banner-designated representatives.
• **Provide operational guidance to campus financial aid personnel regarding centralized processes, Banner Financial Aid functionality, processing schedules, exception handling, and related procedures. Communicate changes in centralized processes, configurations, and operating requirements and coordinate with campuses.
• **Identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness, accuracy, consistency, and efficiency of UHCC financial aid operations through process redesign, standardization, automation, improved controls, and effective use of Banner and related technologies. Develop recommendations and implement approved operational improvements.
• **Maintain current knowledge of federal and state financial aid requirements, University policies, Banner Financial Aid functionality, financial aid processing practices, reporting and data tools, and emerging technologies relevant to centralized financial aid operations.
• **Translate federal and state regulatory requirements, University policies, and approved UHCC financial aid business practices into operational procedures, Banner Financial Aid configurations, rules, population selections, processing parameters, and automated processes. Analyze regulatory and policy changes in consultation with financial aid leadership and implement approved operational changes.
• **Monitor centralized financial aid processing activities and associated controls. Review processing results, exception reports, reconciliation results, and data quality indicators; investigate discrepancies; implement corrective actions within assigned authority; and coordinate with campuses, UH Information Technology Services (ITS), or UH System Banner-designated representatives when additional action is required.
• **Coordinate and perform functional testing of Banner upgrades, regulatory releases, patches, bug fixes, new functionality, and configuration changes affecting financial aid operations. Develop test scenarios based on financial aid requirements and UHCC business processes, validate results, document findings, and coordinate correction of identified issues before implementation.
• **Investigate complex financial aid processing, configuration, and data issues affecting centralized or campus financial aid operations. Determine root causes, assess operational and student impacts, implement appropriate corrective actions or workarounds within assigned authority, and coordinate system-level issues with UH Information Technology Services (ITS), and UH System Banner-designated representatives.
• **Develop and maintain centralized financial aid operating procedures, processing calendars, configuration documentation, business rules, control procedures, data definitions, reporting documentation, and other materials necessary to ensure consistent and sustainable operations across the UH Community Colleges.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Possession of a baccalaureate degree in Business Administration, Education, Information Technology, Liberal Arts, Management, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Statistics, or related field and 3 years of progressively responsible professional experience with responsibilities for financial aid administration in a post-secondary educations setting; or any equivalent combination of education and/or professional work experience which provides the required education, knowledge, skills and abilities as indicated.
• Considerable working knowledge of principles, practices and techniques in the area of financial aid administration in a post-secondary education setting as demonstrated by the broad knowledge of the full range of pertinent standard and evolving concepts, principles and methodologies.
• Considerable working knowledge and understanding of applicable federal and state laws, rules, regulations and theories and systems associated with financial aid administration in a post-secondary education setting.
• Demonstrated ability to resolve wide ranging complex problems through the use of creative reasoning and logic to accurately determine the cause of the problems and the resolution of the problems in an effective, innovative and timely manner.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret and present information and ideas clearly and accurately in writing, verbally and by preparation of reports and other materials.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external organizations, groups, team leaders and members, and individuals.
• Demonstrated ability to operate a personal computer, apply word processing software, and spreadsheet software.
• If applicable, for supervisory work, demonstrated ability to lead subordinates, manage work priorities and projects, and manage employee relations.
• Functional knowledge of Database Management Systems (DBMS) such as Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server or PostgreSQ.
• Functional knowledge of and demonstrated ability in coding SQL and/or PL/SQL, PL/pgSQL.
• Demonstrated ability to develop clean, structured programs and conduct thorough testing; define efficient retrieval programs for customized reports and ad hoc queries; and recognize problems, identify possible causes, and resolve routine problems.
• Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively with supervisor, project staff, and other stakeholders in a team environment to accomplish tasks and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new technologies and new programming languages independently and in a timely manner using books, manuals, and other resources.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and apply information assurances to protect the University's data.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and work within federal, state, and university policies and practices such as FERPA.
• Ability to work outside of normal work hours which may include evenings, weekends and holidays.

Desirable Qualifications

• Knowledge or experience working with University of Hawaii students, course and/or financial aid data.
• Knowledge or experience with Ellucian Banner Student Information System.
• Experience in R, SAS, SPSS or other tools for statistical data analysis.
• Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau.
• Ability to aggregate and disaggregate data using pivot table functions and use statistical software to create cross-tabulations for statistical analyses.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to see and interpret trends or patterns in large and complex data sets.
• Ability to communicate complex data analysis in a simple, actionable and appropriate manner for the target audience.

The University of Hawai'i is an Equal Opportunity Institution and is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination in employment, including on the basis of veteran and disability status. For more information, visit: https://www.hawaii.edu/offices/eeo/policies/

Employment is contingent on satisfying employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; reference checks of previous employers; and for certain positions, criminal history record checks.

In accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, annual campus crime statistics for the University of Hawai'i may be viewed at: https://www.hawaii.edu/titleix/help/campus-security/ , or a paper copy may be obtained upon request from the respective UH Campus Security or Administrative Services Office.

In accordance with Article 10 of the unit 08 collective bargaining agreement, bargaining unit members receive priority consideration for APT job vacancies. As a result, external or non BU 08 applicants may not be considered for some APT vacancies. BU 08 members with re-employment rights or priority status are responsible for informing the hiring unit of their status.

Accommodation Request: The University of Hawai'i complies with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the EEO coordinator directly. Determination on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. For further information, please refer to the following link: https://www.hawaii.edu/offices/eeo/accommodation-request/

Employer University of Hawaii

Department Office of the Vice President for Community Colleges Address 2327 Dole Street

Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822