Banner Financial Aid Consultant

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced Ellucian Banner Financial Aid Consultant to join our growing Banner practice. In this role, you will partner with colleges and universities to implement, optimize, and support their Banner Financial Aid systems, helping institutions better serve students while maintaining compliance with federal and state regulations.

You will work directly with financial aid directors, IT staff, and institutional leadership to translate business requirements into effective Banner configurations and workflows. This is a client-facing consulting role that blends deep functional expertise with a passion for higher education.

Responsibilities

Implementation & Configuration

• Lead end-to-end implementations of Ellucian Banner Financial Aid modules for new and existing clients.
• Configure Banner Financial Aid rules, funds, packaging, and awarding processes to meet institutional requirements.
• Translate federal and institutional financial aid policies into Banner system logic and rule sets.
• Conduct gap analysis between client business processes and Banner functionality, recommending best-practice solutions.
• Assist with data migration, system testing, and cutover planning during Banner upgrades or new implementations.

Client Advisory & Training

• Serve as a trusted advisor to financial aid offices, providing guidance on Banner best practices and process improvement.
• Facilitate requirements-gathering workshops, process design sessions, and stakeholder meetings.
• Develop and deliver end-user training, administrator workshops, and reference documentation.
• Build strong client relationships and proactively identify opportunities to add value beyond the initial engagement scope.

Compliance & Regulatory Support

• Support clients in configuring Banner to align with Title IV federal aid regulations (COD, NSLDS, ISIR processing, R2T4).
• Stay current on U.S. Department of Education regulatory changes and advise clients on their Banner implications.
• Assist institutions with Banner setup for state grant programs and institutional aid policies.

Project Delivery

• Manage your workstreams within larger project plans, meeting milestones and communicating status to project managers and clients.
• Document functional specifications, configuration decisions, and test scripts.
• Collaborate with technical consultants on Banner batch processing, interfaces, and integrations (e.g., Colleague, Workday, third-party servicers).
• Participate in internal knowledge-sharing, contributing to practice tools, templates, and methodology improvements.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in a related field (Higher Education Administration, Business, Information Systems, or similar).
• 3–5 years of experience working directly with Ellucian Banner Financial Aid, either in a consulting capacity or as a Banner administrator/functional analyst at a higher education institution.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience configuring Banner Financial Aid modules, including funds management, awarding rules, satisfactory academic progress (SAP), packaging, and disbursement processing.
• Working knowledge of Title IV regulations including COD processing, NSLDS, ISIR workflows, verification, and Return to Title IV (R2T4) calculations.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to break down complex regulatory and institutional requirements into actionable Banner configurations.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to present to both technical and non-technical audiences and facilitate productive client workshops.
• Ability to manage multiple client engagements simultaneously in a fast-paced consulting environment.
• Willingness to travel up to 10-25% to client sites, as project needs require.

Preferred

• Experience with Banner upgrades (Banner 9 / Banner XE) and Banner Self-Service Financial Aid.
• Experience with Regent Awards, Aidvantage, ECSI, or other third-party financial aid servicers and their Banner integrations.
• Prior experience writing Banner job parameter sets, Argos or ODS reporting, or Banner INB/SSB configuration.
• Ellucian partner or certified implementation experience.