Manager of Scholarship Strategy and Administration

Job Type:

Staff

Job Description:

The Manager of Scholarship Strategy and Administration serves as the university's lead administrator for institutional scholarship strategy, governance, administration, communications, reporting, and student engagement. This position provides strategic oversight of scholarship programs and processes, ensuring alignment with institutional enrollment, retention, and student success goals while maintaining compliance with donor intent, university policies, and regulatory requirements.

The position leads the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of scholarship administration processes, oversees scholarship functionality within Workday, and serves as the primary institutional resource for scholarship-related reporting, analytics, and operational effectiveness. Working collaboratively with Enrollment Management, Advancement, Academic Affairs, Finance, and Student Financial Services, this role advances scholarship accessibility, transparency, stewardship, and student-centered service delivery.

In addition, the position supports key Student Financial Services operations and strategic initiatives through process analysis, operational support, and data-informed decision making.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary resource for institutional scholarship administration and scholarship-related business processes
• Coordinate the setup, maintenance, and assessment of scholarship funds, criteria, and awarding structures within Workday
• Lead continuous improvement of the student scholarship experience by evaluating and enhancing scholarship application processes, procedures, communications, and service delivery to ensure accessibility, transparency, and ease of navigation
• Collaborate with various departments to increase awareness and visibility of scholarship opportunities while ensuring scholarship funds are administered in accordance with donor intent, institutional policies, applicable regulations and within budget
• Monitor scholarship activity and identify discrepancies, exceptions, or compliance concerns requiring review and resolution
• Prepare and maintain scholarship reports, utilization analyses, reconciliation schedules, and operational metrics for leadership review
• Serve as business owner and functional lead for scholarship administration processes within Workday, including configuration requirements, testing, reporting, business process optimization, security coordination, and system enhancement initiatives
• Analyze scholarship utilization, student participation, enrollment impact, retention outcomes and award distribution trend and present recommendations to improve effectiveness and alignment with institutional goals
• Develop informational materials, workshops, and communications that educate students regarding scholarship opportunities, application strategies and deadlines
• Support student account operations through account analysis, operational processes, student account reconciliation, and resolution of complex account issues
• Provide excellent customer services and professionally communicate with students, university departments, and external stakeholders regarding scholarship and student financial matters
• Participate in special projects, strategic initiatives, and process improvement efforts supporting Student Financial Services
• Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Higher Education Administration, or related field required
• Minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in higher education administration, student financial services, scholarship administration, financial operations, or related field
• Experience developing operational reporting, data analytics, dashboards, and business recommendations
• Must have the ability to lead enterprise business processes and cross-functional initiatives
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Word

Preferred Qualifications

• Scholarship administration expertise, including scholarship management, donor-restricted funds, and institutional aid within higher education
• Proficiency with Workday Student or similar enterprise systems, including reporting, dashboards, and data visualization
• Knowledge of higher education financial processes and scholarship administration
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to evaluate data, assess program effectiveness, and recommend process improvements
• Excellent communication, presentation, organizational, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and effectively communicate recommendations to campus leadership

Physical Requirements

• Physical dexterity sufficient to use hands, arms, and shoulders repetitively to operate a keyboard and other office equipment, use a telephone, access file cabinets and other items stored at various levels, including overhead
• Ability to speak and hear well enough to communicate clearly and understandably with sufficient volume to ensure an accurate exchange of information in normal conversational distance, over the telephone, and in a group setting
• Ability to continuously operate a personal computer for extended periods of time (4 or more hours)
• Mental acuity sufficient to collect and interpret data, evaluate, reason, define problems, establish facts, draw valid conclusions, make valid judgments and decisions

Equal Opportunity Employer

KCU is committed to promoting an equal employment opportunity workplace. Equal opportunity is and shall be provided for all employees and applicants for employment on the basis of their demonstrated ability and competence without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, genetic information (GINA), physical or mental disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, ancestry, military and/or veteran status, and/or any other status protected by applicable Federal, state or local law.

Annual Security Report

KCU is committed to providing a safe campus for students, faculty, and staff. Our annual campus security report lists campus crimes and statistics for the campus and public areas around campus for the last three years, in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

Thank you for your interest in a career at KCU!