Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8546-3150

Date of Award

5-31-2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education/Higher Education PhD

First Advisor

Monnica Chan

Second Advisor

Jay Dee

Third Advisor

Zachary Taylor

Abstract

In the financial aid office, student financial aid counselor positions are held by professionals often new to the field of financial aid. Their work supports students’ access to financial aid through routine updates to students’ accounts, counseling students on navigating the financial aid process, and guiding students on petitions for exceptions. Their ability to resolve the financial aid concerns of students may be constrained by obstacles that result from financial aid policy, challenging work conditions, or resource limitations. Their attitudes, behaviors, and conduct not only shape how financial aid policy is implemented but, crucially, place it in the context of the social and political conditions where the work is taking place. This study addresses counselors’ perspectives in their own words, perspectives that are understudied in research on financial aid.

A student financial aid counselor's past experiences and their emerging expertise in their financial aid role influence the ways they approach reducing or removing obstacles to help students through the financial aid process. The study findings highlight the trade-offs between processing and other administrative activities and financial aid counseling, particularly for early-career financial aid practitioners who may lack the autonomy to manage their own time and the authority to prioritize tasks. To align student’s expectations with what may or may not be possible regarding college affordability, participants were both pragmatic and direct with students in financial aid counseling. Likewise, participants felt that compassion or sensitivity were fundamental to humanizing a student’s experience and treating students’ financial aid concerns as consequential.

This study contributes important new perspectives to research on financial aid. As early-career practitioners, participants accepted the constraints of their role, but they also adapted and actively sought out ways to reverse a sense of disempowerment. They distinguished between counseling interactions that were purely transactional and those that were humanizing and chose to respond to students’ concerns with compassion. They pieced together the tools and training they needed for the role, even when the institutional structures failed to provide them, to resolve obstacles that improved students’ access to financial aid to pay for college.

Comments

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