Nayamka (Naya) Ward’s career as a financial aid professional spans almost 20 years. She began as a Financial Aid Advisor in 2004 and advanced to a Director of Financial Aid. Naya’s comprehensive experience in higher education administration has given her a hybrid-type of approach to financial aid that compliments other departments: admissions, academics, student affairs, and business office. She specializes in the front-end functions of a financial aid office, military and VA educational funding, processing, R2T4 calculations, audit/regulatory preparation and visits, and interdepartmental campus planning.
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As a Senior Financial Aid Advisor – Military Specialist for an online campus, Naya worked with active-duty military personnel, veterans, and their families that were stationed in various locations throughout the world. In this role, she worked with multiple government agencies to secure educational funding for our servicemembers and their families in adherence with strict compliance guidelines. In the high volume and fast-paced atmosphere of the online campus, she maintained one of the highest accuracy ratings for quality assurance review in the department.
As the Director of Financial Aid at a nursing school in New York City, initially working as a one-person department, Naya handled the entire financial aid process from counseling and advising to awarding and processing for the 900+ student population. She trained new FA staff members with no prior FA experience and developed the department to provide the customer service needed for the growing campus in compliance with federal, state, and other regulatory requirements and guidelines. The campus growth, curriculum changes, and new degree programs required a pivotal need to work with other departments and learn their functions.
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