Director of Student Finance

Lead Student Finance. Strengthen Compliance. Elevate the Student Experience.

We’re Sonoran Desert Institute and we are seeking an experienced Director of Student Finance to join our amazing team.

OUR STORY

Sonoran Desert Institute (SDI) has been changing lives since 2000. As a DEAC accredited school, our mission is to provide students with current, industry-driven, quality education, delivered through online distance education and practical applications. SDI is an employee-owned company creating a culture with an ownership mentality at the foundation. We believe in rewarding our employees through the success of the institution. We’re proud to be recognized by the Great Place to Work Institute as a Great Place to Work for four consecutive years 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Come be a part of our dynamic organization where you will have the ability to impact the lives of others as they pursue their educational journey with us.

What you will be doing:

The Director of Student Finance oversees the entire student funding lifecycle, from initial funding determination and packaging through ongoing funding administration, graduation or withdrawal, and repayment processes. The Financial Services Department strives to create an environment where students understand their financing options and how they impact their current educational experience as well as their financial future, and students can complete the Financial Services process quickly and accurately in order to focus on their studies.

The Director of Student Finance will provide leadership for the department to ensure students are properly serviced throughout their funding lifecycle, while ensuring the timely, accurate, and compliant administration of all applicable funding sources, including Title IV, Veterans Affairs (VA) education benefits, Department of Defense Tuition Assistance (TA), employer assistance, self-pay, and other institutional or third-party funding sources. The Director of Student Finance provides oversight of both student-facing funding and packaging functions and back-office Student Finance processing and operations and collaborates across departments to support the student experience and effective administration of student funding.

Responsibilities:

• Oversees development and maintenance of Student Finance procedures, SOPs, training materials, and operational controls and partners with the Director of Funding Compliance on institutional policy and regulatory interpretation.
• Maintains strong working knowledge of all applicable federal, state, accreditor, VA, DoD, and institutional funding requirements and ensures Student Finance processes are operationally aligned with those requirements in coordination with the Director of Funding Compliance.
• Oversees required data exchanges and processing between the SIS and applicable to federal, military, and other funding systems.
• Serves as an escalation point for complex student funding, operational, and cross-functional issues.
• Ensures appropriate staffing levels are maintained.
• Oversees operational reporting, data quality, and processes necessary to ensure student funding information is timely and accurately reflected in institutional and external system.
• Maintains current professional and operational knowledge through ongoing training, professional development, and collaboration with the Director of Funding Compliance and other subject matter experts. Manages employees including hiring, disciplinary action, annual reviews, and termination.
• Participates in institutional committees and leadership meetings as assigned.
• Oversees accurate and timely R2T4 determinations, calculations, post-withdrawal disbursements, and required returns for other funding types for applicable students.
• Oversees timely and accurate processing of credit balance stipends and refunds, in conjunction with Student Accounts.
• Ensures compliant and timely batching of Title IV funding and posting to student ledger cards.
• Ensure all student funding communications, counseling, award notifications, and outstanding-item outreach are timely, accurate, clear, and compliant.
• Maintains sufficient working knowledge of institutional, federal, VA, DoD, and third-party funding systems to effectively oversee departmental operations.
• Works closely with employees, peers, and Online President to identify process gaps and inefficiencies and ensure corrections are implemented.
• Provides Student Finance operational insight and recommendations to institutional leadership as requested.
• Oversees front-end eligibility and packaging functions, including FAFSA/ISIR processing, verification, C-code resolution, conflicting information, professional judgment, file completion, packaging, and repackaging. Oversees post-packaging Student Finance operations, including funding adjustments, over awards, COD processing, reconciliation, and other activities affecting student funding eligibility or disbursement.
• Maintains relationships and oversight of third-party vendors and consultants and assists with contract renewals and terminations.
• Works closely with other departments to ensure an exceptional student experience.
• Serves as the primary Student Finance operational contact for funding-related audits, program reviews, VA compliance surveys, TA audits, and other regulatory examinations and coordinates with the Director of Funding Compliance and other institutional stakeholders.
• Provides operational input to Compliance and institutional leadership regarding proposed or changing funding requirements and new program offerings and their potential impact on students and Student Finance operations.
• Establishes and monitors processing timelines, service levels, workload, staffing needs, quality indicators, and other performance measures for Student Finance.
• Partners with Compliance and Quality Assurance to address identified errors, trends, findings, and corrective actions while maintaining appropriate independence between operational processing and QA review.
• Other tasks as assigned.

What we offer:

• Highly competitive compensation
• Award winning culture
• Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
• Comprehensive benefits package with 100% company-paid medical option for employee
• 401(k) with generous company match
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Pet Insurance
• Company-paid Life insurance
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick, and Volunteer time off!)
• 14 Paid holidays
• Referral program
• Education Tuition Benefit program
• Career development opportunities with a growing company
• And perhaps most importantly, a team who is dedicated to your success!

Requirements

What we are looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, education, administration, or related field.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in student financial aid, student finance, or related higher education operations, including significant leadership and supervisory responsibilities and demonstrated experience overseeing Title IV financial aid operations.
• Strong knowledge of student funding operations, Title IV administration, VA and TA benefits, scholarships, employer reimbursement, internal controls, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Proficiency with student information systems, financial aid and federal funding systems, and data/reporting tools, with the ability to analyze operational data and identify risks and process gaps.
• Knowledge of online, modular delivery models is a plus.
• Proven leadership skills with a player-coach mentality and the ability to inspire, motivate, train, and develop teams to achieve results.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, interpersonal, and influencing skills, with the ability to build strong relationships and collaborate across department.
• Highly organized, results-oriented self-starter with strong multitasking skills and the ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and implement sustainable process improvements.

Sonoran Desert Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It recruits and hires without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran or disability status, sexual orientation, gender expression, or any factors prohibited by law and affirms in policy and practice to support equal opportunity in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

All benefits not available immediately upon hire. Some eligibility requirements may need to be met to be eligible for some benefits based on company policy.