Student Engagement & Scholarship Manager

Position Summary

The Student Engagement & Scholarship Manager leads Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Foundation’s efforts to connect with students (current, prospective, and graduates), with the goal of increasing post-secondary opportunity, affordability, and career success. The successful candidate will demonstrate a critical combination of skills: a passion for building authentic relationships with young adults along with the commitment to operational excellence and detail-orientation required for effective, donor-driven scholarship administration.

This role ensures that PASSHE Foundation develops strong relationships with scholarship recipients, donors, and partners; delivers targeted scholarships to support recipients’ degree attainment and career success; achieves operational excellence; and uses data to drive decision-making and program enhancements.

Key Responsibilities

Student Outreach & Engagement (40%)

• Develop social media campaigns to build followers, increase awareness of career-connected learning opportunities, and increase applications to PASSHE Foundation scholarships.
• Build scholarship recipients’ affinity with PASSHE Foundation through ongoing social media campaigns, personal outreach, and campus events/connections.
• Build a scholarship alumni network and database through individual outreach and relationship building, informed by researching past recipients.
• Coordinate and facilitate “meet and greets” for all named scholarship funders and their scholarship recipients

Scholarship Program Management (30%)

• Manage the full lifecycle of scholarship programs, including application, review, selection, verification, notification, disbursement, renewal, and reporting.
• Provide ongoing customer service and communicate regularly with applicants, recipients, and families regarding program requirements, deadlines, and outcomes.
• Maintain accurate and timely records in the Foundation’s scholarship administration system.
• Serve as the expert user of the Foundation’s scholarship administration system, to maximize its value and capabilities, ensure data security, and troubleshoot software challenges.
• Recommend process improvements to enhance equity, efficiency, and user experience.
• Ensure compliance with organizational policies, donor restrictions, and legal/financial guidelines.
• Collect, report, and analyze key metrics and trends for internal stakeholders to support ongoing contributions from funders.
• In conjunction with Finance Manager, process award payments in accordance with established policies and procedures.

Donor Stewardship & Stakeholder Collaboration (30%)

• Steward donor relationships based on donors’ individual preferences for in-person meetings and periodic updates.
• Strengthen and expand relationships with PASSHE universities and regional college access organizations to promote PASSHE and Foundation scholarship impacts and to improve PASSHE Foundation offerings to meet stakeholder needs.
• Serve as the Foundation’s liaison to PASSHE university recruitment, admissions, financial aid, and student success offices.
• Prepare annual updates for named scholarship donors to highlight impacts.
• Generate scholarship impact stories (including those from alumni), metrics, and student highlights for donor stewardship and social media.
• Represent the organization at regional events with community-based college access organizations and PASSHE universities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 3+ years of experience in student success, scholarship administration, college access/persistence programs, academic advising, case management, or related fields.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills; ability to manage multiple deadlines and communicate proactively.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully work independently in a remote work environment and positively contribute to a high-performing organization and team.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate opportunities and take initiative to advance the organization’s strategy and mission.
• Demonstrated social media engagement on young adult platforms/spaces; post-secondary education or early career campaign experience is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to build rapport with diverse students, including first-generation, low-income, adult, and nontraditional learners.
• Experience with CRM systems, scholarship management tools, or student data platforms.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and helping students achieve their educational and career goals.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

• Monday-Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, with occasional evening or weekend events.
• Remote work environment.
• Regular regional/state-wide travel (~10-20%) to donors, partner sites, PASSHE Foundation events, PASSHE universities, and relevant community-based events.
• Pennsylvania child protection clearances required.
• Pennsylvania residency required; Eastern Pennsylvania location is a plus.

To apply, email cover letter and resume to careers@thePAfoundation.org. No phone calls please.

The job posting will remain open until July 24 or when filled. Interviews will begin in mid-late July with selected candidates.

• Employee health care
• PTO
• Retirement
• Life and disability