Onboarding Support Specialist

Mount Hood Community College; Gresham (OR); On-site; USD 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Mount Hood Community College seeks an on-site Student Services Coordinator to support new student onboarding and advise current and returning students across admissions, registration, financial aid, and course placement.

You will monitor outcomes, provide early intervention to improve retention, mentor student staff, and collaborate with marketing, Business Office, and other departments to guide students through their educational goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in education, social work, psychology or related field.
• Two (2) years of experience in student services, student affairs, adult education, or similar environment providing direct services to marginalized or underserved populations.
• Experience working with diverse populations; commitment to promoting access and diversity.
• Intermediate-level skills in word processing, database, presentation and email applications; beginner-level spreadsheet knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Supports students with initial stages of major and program exploration and provides first-term course advising with current catalog year requirements.
• Provides holistic guidance on navigating processes, systems, and resources for prospective and returning students.
• Evaluates placement test results, explains scores, and guides retests and test preparation.
• Identifies academic progression challenges and collaborates with departments to provide referrals and support.
• Assists in creating analytics and onboarding strategies to increase student retention and tracks progress.
• Mentors student employees in the Student Services Hub and guides task assignments.
• Collaborates with marketing and recruitment to create media materials to support onboarding.
• Handles payments, refunds, and tuition discrepancies, coordinating with the Business Office.
• Delivers financial aid information and assists with documentation and processes; liaises between financial aid advisors and students.
• Supports admissions and registration tasks including transcripts processing and holds management.

Skills

Oral and written communication

Diversity awareness

Customer service

Multitasking

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in education, social work, psychology or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Summary

Works in the Student Services Hub to support the new student onboarding experience, and acts as a key resource for information and guidance to current and returning students. Provides a wide variety of direct student support, including online admissions, registration, cashiering, student records, advising, financial aid, and course placement processes. Monitors student outcomes and provides proactive early intervention strategies for student retention and helps students make decisions that positively impact their educational goals.

Essential Duties

1. Supports students with initial stages of major and program exploration that aligns with their career and life goals and provides first-term course advising; ensures that plans are accurate with current catalog year’s curriculum, prerequisites, and program requirements.
2. Provides holistic guidance around navigating processes, systems, and resources appropriate to prospective and returning students.
3. Performs evaluation of placement test results, explains college placement test scores, describes prerequisites, and recommends retests as needed. Includes guidance around how to prepare for a retest and test-taking strategies.
4. Works with students to identify and address academic progression challenges and barriers. Applies knowledge of College and community support services and programs, providing referrals when appropriate; collaborates closely with other employees and departments to assist students in navigating difficult or unusual situations and concerns.
5. Assists in creating analytics developing onboarding strategies to increase student retention. Evaluates data, tracks student progress, and identifies and recommends populations to target with additional support systems.
6. Provides mentorship and coaching to student employees working in the Student Services Hub, providing task recommendations when appropriate.
7. Works with marketing and recruitment teams to create media materials such as infographics and informational videos to support onboarding.
8. Processes payments, issues change or refunds, researches and resolves tuition and fee related discrepancies, and reconciles cash drawers daily. Refers to and collaborates with the Business Office as needed.
9. Provides comprehensive federal and MHCC-specific financial aid processes and regulations to students and parents; answers questions relating to financial assistance, maximum timeframe appeals, student academic process appeals, and assists with all required financial aid document collection.
10. Serves as a liaison between financial aid advisors and students to support the resolution of financial aid processes and questions.
11. Assist with admissions and registration processes including printing and sending of official transcripts, updates to student records, removal of holds, and assisting students through the Refund Petition process when appropriate.

Additional Duties

1. Acts as a college representative when visiting high schools, post-secondary institutions, agencies, business and industry, and professional organizations for recruitment, registration and financial aid events.
2. Performs all other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in education, social work, psychology or related field
• Two (2) years of experience in student services, student affairs, adult education, or similar environment which provide direct services to marginalized or underserved populations
• Experience working with people with diverse backgrounds like those in the college’s community and of its students and employees; demonstrated commitment to promoting access and diversity.
• Intermediate-level skills in word processing, database, presentation and email applications, and beginning-level knowledge of spreadsheet applications, preferably within the Microsoft Office Suite.

At the College's discretion experience may be substituted, year for year, for education.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working as an advisor or similar role supporting ‘First Year Experience’/ ‘Onboarding’ programs in a college setting.
• Bilingual skills with fluency in English and other language that meets community needs.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including active listening skills.
• Ability to work respectfully and successfully with diverse and underrepresented populations.
• Knowledge of best practices for advising, retention, and student development.
• Knowledge of and ability to apply the College's implementation of the Family Education and Privacy Rights Act (FERPA).
• Ability to provide excellent customer service.
• General knowledge of federal and Oregon financial aid awards and regulations.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment.
• Ability to effectively handle multiple tasks, priorities, and changing deadlines; move quickly among various functions and responsibilities.

Working Conditions

This is an on-site position. Any remote work requires prior approval and must comply with MHCC Remote Work policies and administrative regulations. Remote work must be within the states of Oregon or Washington. Work is performed primarily in an office setting and the position interacts with a variety of individuals. Environment is often noisy and crowded with students and staff, and students may be emotional and exhibit stressful behavior at times. Heavy computer use and repetitive hand/wrist motion for keyboarding functions are typical. Position provides student support in-person, over the phone, through chat and virtual formats such as Zoom.

Salary Placement

Initial salary placement will be based on years of relevant full-time equivalent experience at the sole discretion of the College, per the guidelines in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws. Please include all relevant full and part-time experience (including unpaid and volunteer experience) in your application that you want the College to review towards potential placement. Hired employees will not have an opportunity to update past experience or appeal initial placement after the time of hire.