Financial Aid Office - Schock
The Financial Aid Office is responsible for providing information, services, and assembling financial resources that are available to and/or needed by students who are attending West Chester University in order to obtain an undergraduate or graduate degree. In doing so, the Financial Aid Office serves and facilitates the process that provides assistance to students who, without such aid would be unable to attend college. The Financial Aid Office is an integral partner in carrying out and actualizing West Chester University’s overall Vision and Mission Statements as well as the University’s purpose and Strategic Plan for Excellence.
Physical Address:
030 Kershner Student Service Center. 25 University Avenue
Website:
Community Service:
No
On/Off Campus:
On-Campus
Student Department Assistant (Pay Band 1)
Supervisor Contact Information
- Position Responsibilities:
- Customer Relations, Customer Service, Data Analysis, Data Input, General Office, Social Media
- Involves the following:
-
• Confidential or sensitive data/information
• Handling financial, student or personnel data/records
• Being responsible for/or providing services to anyone under the age of 18 - This position will provide general assistance with:
- General office duties such as data entry, reception/answering telephone phones, typing, filing, Xeroxing, faxing, scanning, answering telephones and emails. Maintain high degree of confidentiality of materials and information of the department. Send documents via inter-office and U.S. postal service. Assist with on-going and special projects, as needed.
- Specific duties as they relate to this department:
- General office work - filing, scanning, mailings, and faxing. Computer work - including checking records in financial system, data entry, working with counselors to update social media sites and working with Microsoft Works. Assisting with keeping the department’s resources current, including Financial Aid’s scholarship binder, Facebook page, and website information. Customer Service - helping students with general questions on the phone and in person.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Communication Skills - students will have the opportunity to practice public speaking and improve customer service skills while working with prospective and current students. Computer Skills - students will be able to improve their skills in Microsoft works, learn the advantages of using social media, and assist with website design and management. Time Management - learning to manage multiple projects and prioritizing the needs of employees and customers.
Bilingual Liaison - Community Service ( Pay Band 4)
Supervisor Contact Information
- Position Responsibilities:
- Customer Relations, Foreign Language, Student Mentor, Tutoring, Translation
- Involves the following:
-
• Confidential or sensitive data/information
• Being responsible for/or providing services to anyone under the age of 18 - This position will provide general assistance with:
- The Bilingual Liaison will partner with the Upper Merion Area Middle School to provide interpretation and translation of key concepts in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies in Spanish for students in the ESL program. Student will also partner with West Chester University to provide translated forms, outreach materials, and presentations to the Montgomery and Chester county area when requested to do so.
- Specific duties as they relate to this department:
- In addition to this the student will provide translated college access materials to students and families in the Chester and Montgomery area. The student will also help the Financial Aid office by translating forms and documents to create current versions in Spanish. Student may be asked to also present a Spanish version of the Financial Aid night presentation to middle, high school, and college aged students in the area.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Students interested in this position should have advanced verbal and written communication skills in both Spanish and English. Students will get a chance to not only work directly with middle aged students and develop their teaching skills, but since they will primarily be working with ESL students and families they will also have a chance to develop their translation and communication skills. This position also requires a level of independent work and flexibility with scheduling. Therefore, students will be able to enhance their time management skills.
Financial Literacy Ambassador (Pay Band 3)
Supervisor Contact Information
- Position Responsibilities:
- Customer Relations, Customer Service, Data Analysis, Data Input, Graphic Design, Public Relations, Social Media
- Involves the following:
-
• Confidential or sensitive data/information
• Handling financial, student or personnel data/records
• Being responsible for/or providing services to anyone under the age of 18 - This position will provide general assistance with:
- Ambassadors will be expected to complete all four #WCUFinLit certifications as well as additional training sessions when necessary. Evening hours are a possibility and therefore ambassadors need to be able to provide detailed information about their class/activity schedule for each term. All ambassadors will be expected to sign confidentiality statements prior to the start of their employment. Ambassadors will be expected to make a full year commitment and meet bi-weekly to review progress, results, and strategies.
- Specific duties as they relate to this department:
- SOCIAL MEDIA/COMMUNICATIONS - Promote financial literacy programming on Facebook and Twitter. Write and distribute communications such as brochures, emails, and surveys. WORKSHOP AND #WCUFinLit SUPPORT - Help organize and prepare financial literacy workshops. When necessary host financial literacy workshops in different areas. Collect & organize data for each workshop hosted/supervised by ambassadors. Meet with students to help them complete #WCUFinLit lessons. PUBLIC RELATIONS/MARKETING - Develop and distribute marketing materials on campus. Host information tables on campus. Utilize survey results to creatively build new marketing campaigns. DEFAULT MANAGEMENT SUPPORT - Support different communication initiatives. Help track data and progress of different communication plans.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Develop oral and written communication skills Increase knowledge of financial literacy topics such as: student loan management, personal finance and budgeting, and credit management. Practice building public speaking skills while leading Financial Literacy Workshops for groups of students. Build time management and organizational skills while scheduling and creating a calendar of events for students Interpersonal skills will be put to use during one-on-one assistance with #WCUFinLit lessons and managing information tables. Learn about how to use a CRM (customer relationship management) model while collecting survey data and measuring outcomes.
Unaccompanied Homeless Youth (UHY) Liaison (Pay Band 4)
Supervisor Contact Information
- Position Responsibilities:
- Customer Relations, Customer Service, Data Analysis, Data Input, General Office, Office Ambassador, Public Relations, Social Media, Student Mentor
- Involves the following:
-
• Confidential or sensitive data/information
• Handling financial, student or personnel data/records
• Being responsible for/or providing services to anyone under the age of 18 - This position will provide general assistance with:
- General day to day operations of Safe Harbor of Chester County. Maintain high degree of confidentiality of information at the shelter. Assist the Financial Aid Office with expanding services to help provide assistance to unaccompanied homeless students. Send documents via inter-office and U.S. postal service. Assist with on-going and special projects, as needed.
- Specific duties as they relate to this department:
- Act as West Chester University liaison with off campus shelter, Safe Harbor: share new information with both supervisors and update resources when necessary for both locations. Complete general shelter duties such as assisting residents with basic rules of shelter, escorting residents to agencies that provide services that are available in the West Chester area, help prepare and serve lunch to those in need, monitor chores, laundry duties, clean up, and distributing needs list requests. Provide support with appropriate tasks during hours at Safe Harbor. Assist with research of federal regulation and resources that support students determined to be unaccompanied/homeless youth. Create and enhance publications that provide information for unaccompanied/homeless youth including creating a database for unaccompanied homeless youth to have access to resources in the West Chester Area. Provide unaccompanied students with information to find emotion, financial, educational support and any other resources they’ll need during their college experience on and off campus. Assist with updating social media sites with relevant information. Update and organize spreadsheets and databases when needed with relevant data. General skills and attributes desired: Strong work ethic, reliable, personable, and approachable. Able to keep composure in stressful environments. Great customer service attitude. Strong communication skills. Computer comfort, knowledge and skills with Microsoft word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint is helpful. Ability to work with basic office equipment. Enthusiastic and positive attitude. Ability to be organized and pay attention to detail. Ability to complete goals and task assigned. Ability to work with minimum supervision. Open to suggestions and growth.
- Learning Outcomes:
- Communication Skills - students will have the opportunity to practice public speaking and improve customer service skills while working with prospective and current students. Computer Skills - students will be able to improve their skills in Microsoft works, learn the advantages of using social media, and assist with website design and management. Time Management - learning to manage multiple projects and prioritizing the needs of employees and customers. Research/Writing - Student will learn how to navigate federal regulation, professional websites, journals, and social media in order to develop publications that share current information for students designated unaccompanied homeless/youth.