Student Support Specialist

Position Title:

Student Support Specialist

Compensation:

$18.45 - 20.34

Department:

Cardinal Central_C

Start Date:

09/01/2025

About this opportunity:

Cardinal Central welcomes applications from those who wish to work in a forward-facing, one‑stop environment. This position is a full‑time on‑campus position, geared towards assisting students, their families, and Ball State staff.

Candidates for searches must have current authorization to be employed in the United States without employer sponsorship.

What you'll do and what you'll bring:

Position Function:
The Student Support Specialist is part of the centralized team within Cardinal Central that provides a student‑focused approach to quality service to provide an exceptional, seamless service experience that supports student success and institutional goals of recruitment, retention, and graduation. This position is crossed‑trained to provide front‑line support to students (prospective, current, former, alumni), parents/families, and other campus community members in the areas of University Registrar, Financial Aid and Scholarships, and the Student Financial Services (Bursar).

This position answers questions for a significant breadth and depth related to the offices and facilitate transactions. The Specialist is the first level of student contact where personal interaction and problem solution begins, providing specialized information and responding to inquiries, acting as a triage for complex enrollment issues, solving end to end issues, and elevation complex issues to the appropriate Specialists and/or Advisors in the office that support the Center.

• Counsel and advise students and parents regarding in-depth financial aid questions concerning FAFSA completion, financial aid eligibility, cost of attendance, expected family contribution, types of aid and disbursement processing. Proactively reach out to students before next term’s registration to initiate contact and respond to any questions. Use Salesforce communication tool to accurately reflect interactions with students for record‑keeping purposes. Types of interactions include but are not limited to emails, calls, walk‑ins, virtual appointments, chat rooms, and service tickets.
• Investigate eligibility and disbursement issues related to federal, state, institutional and private sources of assistance including, but not limited to loans, grants, scholarships, and federal work‑study.
• Counsel students requesting to withdraw from or not to return to the University. Investigate reasons why students are requesting to leave and identify solutions and campus resources that may assist in their persistence.
• Advise and problem solve with students on a variety of registration, enrollment, and records issues. Includes but is not limited to Withdrawals, navigating SSB, grade appeals (as they apply to holds/probations/grant and loan consequences), and reaffirmations.
• Use proactive approach with outreach and engagement efforts as necessary for prospective students, current students, and parents as appropriate.
• Review and process requests for academic information including transcripts, certification of enrollment, letters of academic standing, and insurance third‑party enrollment verifications.
• Collect financial aid appeals, verification, and other requested documentation, ensuring all documents required are sufficient and complete.
• Review, analyze, and interpret student account activity (Ebills), credits, debits, adjustments, and statements in order to be able to respond to student inquiries.
• Respond to inquiries in person, by phone, and email timely and with accuracy using excellent customer service skills. Enforce Proxy rules in order to stay in compliance with FERPA.
• Provide exceptional customer service; determine student’s needs in a professional, courteous manner, and resolve issues proactively; provide accurate information after careful analysis of the appropriate CASHNet/Banner screens; establish mutually acceptable payment arrangements; calculate deferment options; process all payments on day received with accuracy.
• Determine when an exception is warranted or a late or deferment fee should be…