Student Advocate

Boston Architectural College in; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 50,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

The Boston Architectural College is seeking a Student Advocate to serve as the first point of contact for students, guiding them through registration, financial aid, billing, and student life. This full-time exempt role focuses on student-centric service and proactive triage to determine individual needs.

Responsibilities include communicating with students and offices, documenting interactions, and escalating complex cases as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution preferred.
• 2 years of experience in customer service or hospitality preferred.
• Preferred prior call center experience or experience in college administration areas.

Responsibilities

• Provide proactive, professional, and friendly service in all interactions with students and BAC staff.
• Manage communication between students and administrative functions including emails and phones.
• Assess each student's situation to determine urgency and next steps.
• Resolve problems and assist students with challenging issues, escalating when needed.
• Document all communications and track interactions in the student information system.
• Work as part of a team to guide students through the BAC administrative experience.
• Provide feedback to leadership on trends or escalated concerns.
• Assist with add/drop forms, address changes, payments, financial aid documents.
• Support the Registrar with student file management and archiving.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Problem solving

Confidentiality

Teamwork

Attention to detail

Adaptability

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

MS Office

Job description

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) is committed to providing all our students an integrated and exemplary educational experience while ensuring their individual success and empowering them to fully actualize their potential. We embrace diversity and inclusivity in all its forms, while striving to create an equitable global community.

As a Student Advocate, this role acts as the first point of contact for students, helping to navigate systems such as registration, financial aid, billing, payments, advising and student life. In this key position, the focus of responsibility is on providing proactive and student-centric service to all members of the BAC community. Student Advocates are responsible for student 'triage' working closely with the student to determine individual needs and assisting the student in navigating their BAC college experience successfully. This is a full-time exempt position of 40 hours per week.

PRIMARY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Provide proactive, professional, and friendly service in all interactions but will be responsible for a specific population of students as defined by the supervisor.
• Manage communication between students and administrative functions including emails and phones.
• Accurately assess each student's situation to determine its urgency and proceed appropriately.
• Resolve problems and assist students that have challenging issues which may need to be escalated.
• Escalated or special consult matters must be reviewed for possible follow-up on a daily basis until a resolution is found.
• Responsible for accurately documenting all communication used to resolve a student's request. This includes accurately tracking interactions, documenting pertinent information in phone calls, chats and all e-mails into the student information system.
• Work as part of a team in order to guide students in all aspects of their administrative experience.
• Have working knowledge of administrative processes from a student perspective, i.e. how to apply for financial aid, how to make payment, how to register for classes etc.
• Responsible for providing feedback to leadership, regarding new trends or escalated concerns.
• Receives documents required for financial aid, registration, the student account, housing and verifies the completeness of documents.
• Assist in specific focus areas as assigned. Tasks could include; processing add/drop forms, address changes, processing payments received, processing financial aid documents received.
• Support the Registrar with student file management. Including, Scanning and Archiving of Student Files from Physical to Digital
• Other duties as assigned

STANDARD EXPECTATIONS:

• Team and Interpersonal Skills: Success in this position requires positive relationships with other team members including support staff and senior staff.
• Service Orientation: Success in this position requires a service-oriented perspective in which, to the greatest extent possible, treat students and other employees in such a way that they feel well served by a professional representative of the BAC.
• Confidentiality and Discretion: Success in this position requires the ability not only to maintain the confidentiality of student and employee records, but also the ability to discern when it is appropriate to divulge privileged or confidential information.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

NoneSalary Range: $50,000-$52,000

EDUCATIONAL criteria:

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution preferred.

EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

• 2 years of experience in customer service or hospitality preferred.
• Preferred prior experience in a call center; and/or prior experience working in one (1) or more of the following areas in a college or university setting: information technology, on-line learning, financial aid, student registration office, student complaints, student accounts, and admissions.

FUNCTIONAL/TECHNICAL SKILLS:

• Must be detail oriented.
• Computer literate, including effective use of Microsoft Office suite.
• Excellent communication and consultative skills, both verbal and written.
• Excellent problem solving and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability and willingness to support collaborative efforts.
• Be committed to the mission of the BAC and carry out the highest quality of service to BAC constituencies.

Work Schedule requirements:

• Provide in-person coverage up to 3 days a week
• Must be able to work flexible hours in accordance with the academic season.