TBR | The College System of Tennessee

Title: Student Account Services Specialist 

Pay Rate: $33,060 - $40,310.00/per year. Pay will be determined based on related work experience above required. To be considered in determining pay, all related work experience must be listed on the application.

Number of Positions: 1

Position #: 651210

Classification: 3 on-campus

Division: Administrative Affairs 

Type of Appointment: Full-Time

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

Required Documents Needed to Upload at Time of Application:

·    Resume

·    Unofficial Transcripts

·    Three Professional References (See below)

Reference check requirements:

​ Non-supervisory roles: three (3) current or former supervisors

·    Personal references (friends, clergy, customers, relatives) are not considered acceptable references

Job Summary: The overall purpose of this job is to provide excellent customer service to students and other parties regarding account balances and accurately processing and receipting payments on customers’ accounts in accordance with TBR policy and state law. This includes maintaining and auditing information for student refund appeal forms submitted by students, determining eligible amounts and administering the State of Tennessee Dual Enrollment Lottery Scholarship program, determining fee waiver and exemption eligible amounts and posting to student accounts and maintaining records regarding payments.

Essential Functions:

20% Receipt payments to include determination of customers account number, charge type with code number, and payment type by using Banner or Touchnet cashier system when applicable.  Perform data entry in student system and print receipt.  Separate documents and distribute.  Provide customer service for all customers in-person, on the phone and through the Student Accounts email address.  Must be able to review student account to determine correct answers for questions regarding payments, account balance, tuition and fee charges, refunds, 1098T’s, local scholarships and other inquiries. Assist students who are dropped from their classes with re-instatement into their classes and payment of their tuition and fees.  Prepare daily deposits. When needed take deposits to the bank.

15% Review PSCC bank account daily for deposits related to the VA33/Post 9/11 GI Bill. Post payments to student accounts and complete deposit. Analyze veterans accounts before refund of any VA33 funds to the student. Coordinate with the VA Certifying Official to answer any questions related to the payment or refunding of VA33 funds. Review all overpayment letters received from the Office of Veterans Affairs and return funds if necessary, following Veterans Affairs policies and procedures.

15% Verify eligibility, update TSAC FAST system and post State of Tennessee Dual Enrollment Lottery Scholarship awards to student accounts. Verify document accuracy and completeness, determine scholarship amount, enter awards on student accounts and reconcile to Student system report, process amount corrections, correspond with staff, students and outside authorizing agencies concerning problems and submit for payment to State of Tennessee.

10% Determine appropriate accounting entries and posting of monies received by mail, including verifications of supporting documentation for accuracy, verification of monies amount, determination of proper accounting entries, data entry of collections, and balance funds received before submission for deposit.  Apply payments for monies received by Collection Agencies, including verifying money has been received by Collection Agency, applying payment to student accounts, applying collection fees to accounts if applicable, updating collection fee balance in Banner, and submitting receipt of payments to the appropriate staff.

10% Apply fee waivers and discount payments to student accounts.  Enter waiver or discount amount and reconcile to Banner system reports.  Verify document accuracy.  Determine student eligibility using Banner or Touchnet cashier system.  Process amount corrections.  Prepare spreadsheets for billing.  Correspond with human resources staff, students, and outside authorizing agencies concerning problems.  Maintain files for audit. Scan files into the BDMS system. Complete a final audit of contract fee discount forms and billing spreadsheets. Set-up exemptions for non-contract fee waivers and fee discount forms by updating relevant detail codes and eligible dollar amounts every semester.

10% Assist with accounts receivable processes:

• Prepare and maintain documentation related to collection accounts
• Promise to Pay program – Determine student eligibility for program, advise and enroll students, collect agreements, maintain files and communicate with other TBR schools in compliance with TBR requirements.
• Payment Agreements - Advise students, collect agreements, maintain accounting files and determine students to be sent to collection agencies.

5% Prepare daily cash reports to include verification and listing of receipt documents, determination of proper accounting codes, review and interpretation of daily clearing report, and additional maintenance of receipt book deposits.

5% Audit documentation for student refund appeal forms submitted by students. Investigate student situation with internal college offices and external parties as appropriate. Compile appeal file and make a recommendation concerning credit of fees.  Send fee reduction request to the Records Office and notify student of results.  Notify Financial Aid or Accounts Receivable if applicable.  Audit files to spreadsheet. Maintain spreadsheet and files.

3% Enter accounting data entry into the Banner Finance system for Student Account Services department. Entry of daily cash reports, invoices for non-students, web credit card and ACH student payments, wire payments, monies received by mail, etc.

2% Review and audit student accounts to find students who have withdrawn to verify the student had met enrollment requirements for the term.  When needed, coordinate with the Records office to have the student withdrawn at the appropriate refund percentage. 

2% Create, maintain and distribute procedures for student account’s office. Maintain file of all procedures and update as needed or requested. When procedures are updated distribute to other departments as needed.

Note: The College reserves the right to change or reassign job duties, or combine positions at any time.

Key Result Areas:

This position is responsible for posting and auditing State of Tennessee Dual Enrollment Lottery Scholarship.  This position must clearly understand the state laws concerning Dual Enrollment. The college receives over 1,000 grants per semester.  All payment amounts must be balanced and audited between TSAC and the college. 

This position posts Veterans Affairs Chapter 33/Post 9/11 GI Bill wire payments to student accounts.  Veteran accounts must be analyzed before refund of any VA33 funds to the student.  This position must coordinate with the VA Certifying Official to answer any questions related to the payment or refunding of VA33 funds.  Overpayment letters from the Office of Veterans Affairs must be reviewed and funds returned if necessary.  This position must clearly understand Veterans Affairs policies and procedures, as well as Pellissippi State refund policies and procedures.  The college receives between 150-250 VA33 wire payments each semester.

This position processes student payments, student club and departmental deposits, as well as third-party invoices.  Account number, detail code, and payment type must be determined.  This position answers all customer inquiries and prepares the daily deposit.

This position reviews student refund appeal forms.  Each student situation is unique and this position must have a clear understanding of TBR fee requirements and college policy and procedures in order to determine when a credit of fees can be granted.  The person in this position must be able to communicate clearly in situations with irate, upset students and must be able to explain policies and procedures. This task requires use of multiple Banner screens, an understanding of financial aid and records office procedures, maintenance of a shared Excel worksheet used by all the Student Account Services office employees and communicating in writing to students, financial aid, academic affairs, records and other departments.

This position is responsible for student fee waivers and discounts.  This position must clearly understand the state law and TBR guidelines concerning waiving or discounting of fees. This position must communicate in different formats and access state directories to determining eligibility of state and TBR employee to receive fee waivers. Policies for fee waivers do change based on state and TBR policy changes. This position must be able to review these policies and update and communicate changes to staff and students. The college receives over 800 forms per semester.  Each form must be audited for correct information and eligibility determined (i.e., age, original signature, etc.).  All payment amounts must be balanced and audited as needed by the college Registrar for reporting to the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Job Requirements:

Associate degree and 1-year experience in cashiering, bookkeeping, data entry, or general office work with financial responsibilities; OR some college coursework (less than an associate’s degree) in accounting, finance, or a related field plus 2 years relevant work experience; OR HS Diploma/GED equivalent and 3 years’ experience in cashiering, bookkeeping, data entry, or general office work with financial responsibilities.

Part-time work experience is calculated at 50% of full-time experience.

Skills and Abilities:

• Written and verbal communication skills
• Problem solving skills
• The ability to multi-task and stop and start projects while addressing phones/assisting students, employees and other constituents at the window
• The ability to apply policies and procedures to various situations/scenarios while meeting needs of students, employees and other constituents.
• The ability to learn and switch between multiple computing platforms, software and web applications
• Able to engage in the College’s mission and values.

Complexity & Creativity:

This position is responsible for posting and auditing around 1,000 State of Tennessee Dual Enrollment Lottery Scholarships per semester.  This position must clearly understand the TSAC guidelines and college policy concerning Dual Enrollment. A determination of eligibility for different types of courses, graduation date, number of courses previously taken, and dollar amount must be made in order to accurately post the grant. This task requires using the Banner system, Argos reports, Excel formulas and the TSAC system to track and determine changes in enrollment and post and adjust payments to the student accounts.

This position reviews student refund appeal forms.  Each student situation is unique and this position must have a clear understanding of TBR fee requirements and college policy and procedures in order to determine when a credit of fees can be granted.  The person in this position must be able to communicate clearly in situations with irate, upset students and must be able to explain policies and procedures. This task requires use of multiple Banner screens, an understanding of financial aid and records office procedures, maintenance of a shared Excel worksheet used by all Student Account office employees and communicating in writing to students, financial aid, academic affairs, records and other departments.

This position is responsible for determining eligibility for student fee waivers and discounts.  This position must clearly understand the state law and TBR guidelines concerning waiving or discounting of fees. This position must communicate in different formats and access state directories to determine eligibility of state and TBR employees to receive fee waivers. Policies for fee waivers do change based on state and TBR policy changes. This position must be able to review these policies and update and communicate changes to staff and students.

This position is responsible for revising cashiering policies and procedures to adapt to changes in state law, state policy or college policy. This position maintains files of procedures and distributes these as necessary to staff. The employee works closely with the Student Account Services Manager to update these procedures and send them out to other Student Account Services office staff.

Magnitude of Impact:

The system of checks and balances is set up to catch any inconsistencies. In the event that a mistake was to be made the Student Account Services Supervisor and/or Student Account Services Manager are performing checks to catch issues before they cause financial harm to the college.

Responsibility for Accuracy:

Errors could occur when creating the daily deposit. This type of error would be found by the Student Account Services Supervisor when compiling all deposits for the day. If an error was not detected, the deposit to the bank could be completed for the wrong dollar amount.

Cash Reports are prepared daily and verified by the Student Account Services Supervisor and the Student Account Services Manager. An error on the cash report could result in incorrect entry into the Banner system and the check register. This should be caught in a monthly reconciliation.

Dual Enrollment grants and scholarships errors could result in an overpayment or underpayment to the student. This could create negative relationships with students and parents. These grants and scholarships are audited each term by the Student Account Services Supervisor, errors could also be found by parents and students when reviewing their account.

Financial Impact:

Proper evaluation of student appeal request can correct registration errors or help a student who has had a critical, unexpected crisis in their life.  Proper and timely response creates goodwill with students and their families/friends. Often student appeal decisions affect whether a student will return to take classes at PSCC or receive a transcript. The refund can lead to refunding funds to the student, returning financial aid loan funds to the lender or a decrease in accounts receivable balances.

When monies received by mail and departmental deposits are processed correctly, the college’s financial general ledger and subsidiary ledger are correct, leading to proper financial reporting to internal and external constituents and no audit findings.

When payments are processed to accounts correctly, students and other constituents are given correct receipting information. Inattentiveness when giving change for cash transactions could result in a cash short or cash over.

Proper determination of eligibility for dual enrollment grants/scholarships to students will prevent overpayments to students.  Overpayments cause college account receivable balances to rise and could create a barrier to future student enrollment.

Judgement & Decisions:

This position requires a clear understanding and knowledge of all the college operations and procedures in order to make decisions concerning refund appeals forms. Refund appeal decisions are reviewed and approved by the Director, Fiscal Operations.

Determination of eligibility and award amounts for Dual Enrollment Lottery scholarship funds requires in-depth knowledge of the state program, including current award amounts and eligibility requirements.

Determining eligibility for fee waivers and exemptions and the Promise to Pay program require knowledge of state law, THEC and TBR policies and procedures. This information must be used to assess the individual student account to determine eligible award amounts or hold/registration status.

Nature of Contacts:

Instructors-Class rolls

Records Office- Student accounts

Courier-Receiving/Sending site money bags

Counselor- Information about students

Financial aid- Information about students

Campus Secretary-General Campus information, receipt book audits

Evening Coordinator-Information about student, receipt book audits

Dual Enrollment Coordinator-Information about Dual Enrollment students

Assistant Vice President of Business and Finance – Dual Enrollment billing and reconciling with Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation

Student Account Services Staff – information regarding invoices, third party billing, and various student inquiries

Students and Parents regarding questions or issues with student accounts

Dual Enrollment contact with the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation – issues within the state TSAC system

Physical Demands:

Requires getting up and down/standing constantly to serve customers. The position does require the long use of phone to answer customer questions. The position requires prolonged use of a video display terminal.

Hazards:Full-time Employment Benefits:

​• Insurance Options Health, dental, vision, life, short/long-term disability, FSA/HSA Wellness Incentive Program, if​​enrolled in health plan

​• Educational Assistance Fee Waiver Spouse/Dependent discounts Audit/Non-Credit Reimbursement Program

​• Employee Assistance Program

• Retirement options Tennessee traditional pension plan option (TCRS) 401k with $50 company match/457/403b

• Employee Discount program with over 900+companies

• 13 Paid Holidays/Year Includes paid days off the last week of December

• Sick Leave Bank

​• Longevity Pay

• Many opportunities for professional development

Special Instructions to Applicants: To be considered for a position at Pellissippi State, you must create an on-line application. Your skills, abilities, qualifications, and years of experience will be evaluated using only what is recorded on your application. Work experience that is not listed on the application will not be considered towards qualifying and/or compensation. Please note: attaching a resume does not substitute for completion of the application form. Part-time work experience is calculated at 50% of full-time experience. Please note: to scan, upload, or attach documents, a computer and scanner are available at the Hardin Valley Campus Educational Resources Center, if needed.

Pellissippi State Community College is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA employer

If you have any problems or questions please contact Human Resources at Pellissippi State Community College’s Human Resource Office at 865-694-6607 or by email at recruiting@pstcc.edu.

If you are interested in this position, click on the link to the left to apply.

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