Accountant-III

MassBay fosters educational excellence and academic success to prepare students for local and global citizenship, to meet critical workforce demands of communities and to contribute to region’s economic development.

Massachusetts Bay Community College values diversity, inclusion, and collaboration. We strongly encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply to join our community.

Located in Greater Boston, MassBay is a comprehensive, open-access community college, offering associate degrees and certificate programs on three campuses in Wellesley Hills, Framingham, and Ashland, Massachusetts.

Position Summary

The ideal candidate will join a vibrant and inclusive educational community, and have a desire and ability to work with a diverse population.  Reporting to the Director of Student Accounts, the Accountant III position is responsible for providing key administrative and technical support to the Student Account’s Office in connection with assigned activities such as collections, payment processing, student communications, data input, and running key processes within the Student Information System. This position will support all enrollment services functions and transactions, including Student Accounts and Registration. The Accountant III will assist the Student Account’s Office with: collections and dunning notices, student payments and refunds, 3rd party payments, financial holds, student health insurance, book vouchers, and financial agreements after enrollment cancellation.

Key Responsibilities and Duties:

• Assist the Director and Associate Director of Student Accounts with: the review of student balances, removing and applying financial holds, processing of student book vouchers, student health insurance enrollment and waiver reconciliation, third party contract management, Nelnet Payment Plan processing, processing of student refunds, third party billing and review, Veterans Services billing and deferments, 240-day review and outreach, posting of employee tuition and fee waivers, and management of the student payment lockbox and in the reviewing and updating of department policies and procedures;
• Develop and maintain a payment plan program to assist students in settling their current or past due financial obligation;
• Troubleshoot and resolve student account issues, negotiate and authorize student-specific strategies, often with on-the-spot resolution, that will assist students in settling their outstanding debt prior to sending to collections;
• Manage past due student billing process; including setting up payment plans with current and former students, sending out monthly dunning notices for past due balances, partnering with collection agency on accelerating delinquent accounts and reconciling monthly inventory of all student accounts, and submitting intercept files;
• Responsible for logging into Cashpro to retrieve, post, and organize lockbox payments;
• Oversight of Student Accounts, Bursar and Collections email Accounts, including responding to emails in a timely manner;
• Receive, download, and organize W-9S Forms for updating of student SSN’s and TIN’s;
• Responsible for the review and organization of Financial Agreement Forms during enrollment cancellation processing;
• Responsible for reviewing the Student Accounts webpage for accuracy and recommending updates as needed to the Director of Student Accounts;
• Assist the Student Accounts Director and Associate Director to streamline tasks, optimize efficiencies, identify, vet, and implement technology solutions to improve operations;
• Perform Registration & Records, and/or Student Accounts transactions: enrolling students, receiving and processing payments and miscellaneous charges, responding to inquiries, and assisting students;
• Perform data-entry activities: registration, add/drop, course withdrawals, update of personal and demographical data;
• Provide professional and high-quality front-line customer Interact positively and professionally with all College constituents, both internal and external, including prospective students and their families, current students, faculty, staff and the general public, in-person, on the phone, or electronically;
• Create and generate inter-college correspondence between Student Accounts and other offices;
• Monitor activities for effectiveness and Recommend procedural changes as appropriate and take part in creating procedures and continuous workflow improvements;
• Other duties as

Commitment to Equity

• Support MassBay’s commitment to the Equity Agenda; collaborating with faculty, staff, and students on the College’s strategic initiatives dedicated to closing the equity gap related to student outcomes;
• Support MassBay’s commitment to being anti-racist; embracing a community free of bias and inequality;
• Contribute to discussion and review of applicable College policies with a critical lens toward diversity, equity and inclusion.

This list is not to be considered all-inclusive. A supervisor may assign other duties as required to meet the needs and foster the mission of the College.

All employees of MassBay are expected to work collegially and collaboratively within a community that values and celebrates diversity.

Minimum Qualifications: (per union job specifications)

Applicants must have at least (A) three years of full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional experience in accounting or auditing, of which at least (B) one year must have been in a supervisory, administrative or managerial capacity, or (C) any equivalent combination of the required experience and the substitutions below.

Substitutions:

An Associate’s degree with a major in accounting, business administration or business management may be substituted for a maximum of one year of the required (A) experience.*

A Bachelor’s degree with a major in accounting, business administration or business management may be substituted for a maximum of two years of the required (A) experience.*

III.  A Graduate degree with a major in accounting, business administration or business management may be substituted for the required experience.*

*Education toward such a degree will be prorated on the basis of the proportion of the requirements actually completed.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Sensitivity and commitment to the goals of Affirmative Action and workforce diversity;
• Experience working in a diverse environment;
• Demonstrated commitment to working with underserved students;
• Ability to establish rapport and maintain harmonious working relationships with persons from varied ethnic, cultural and/ or economic backgrounds;
• Bachelor's degree or higher;
• Ability to work effectively with faculty, staff and students;
• Ability to organize, prioritize and multi-task;
• Strong working knowledge of PeopleSoft;
• Working knowledge of Windows, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Access);
• Ability to take initiative and when necessary, work independently;
• Excellent customer service skills;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Prior higher education experience, with a focus on student accounts;
• Demonstrated ability to work cohesively with students, staff, and faculty

Additional Information:

Salary Range:  AFSCME Unit I, Grade 18 Step 1 $59,960.94 annually.  Appointments from outside the bargaining unit begin at Step 1 of the range.

As a Massachusetts State Employee, you are offered an outstanding suite of benefits adding value to your salary.

• Array of choices for health insurance plans to meet individual/ family needs
• Affordable Dental Insurance and vision discount program
• 12 paid State/ Federal holidays
• Generous sick, vacation, and personal time
• Telework option depending on the role/department
• Flexible Spending Plans to reduce your taxable income
• Low-cost basic and optional life insurance

• Defined Benefit Pension Plan, providing a fixed, pre-established benefit for employees at retirement

• Thinking to save more money towards retirement: consider Deferred Compensation plans i.e., 457(b) or 403(b).
• Tuition Benefits for employees and dependents at state colleges and universities
• Free Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Eligibility towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
• Free gym and parking on campus

Need more info: https://www.massbay.edu/employment/benefits

Classification: Please find the link to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Human Resources Division Classification Specification for the position,

https://www.mass.edu/forfacstaff/classificationspecs/home.asp.

Hours and Days:  Monday through Friday

Source of Funding: State Appropriation

To Apply:  Please include a letter of interest and resume with your online application.

Deadline: Open that until filled.

Final candidates are required to provide sealed transcripts and official certifications.

Hiring is contingent upon a successful CORI clearance.

Massachusetts Bay Community College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran or military status, genetic information, gender identity, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable statutes and college policies. The College prohibits sexual harassment, including sexual violence.  Inquiries or complaints concerning discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or sexual violence shall be referred to the College’s for Affirmative Action and/or Title IX Coordinator (Lisa MacDonald, Director of Equity Compliance, lmacdonald@massbay.edu or (781) 239-3147), the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission or the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.