Organizational Mission and Purpose
PASSHE Foundation expands college opportunity for students and partners with Pennsylvania's employers to ensure students have the skills they need. The Foundation brings value to Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education and its 80,000 students by incubating innovative initiatives, building industry partnerships, and strengthening the connection between education and opportunity.
To support this mission, PASSHE Foundation is uniquely charged with securing philanthropic funds that enhance and support the goals of the Board of Governors and Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. This charge includes convening cross-sector partnerships to meet the changing needs and expectations of the Commonwealth and its citizens.
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.
Reports To: President & Chief Executive Officer
Salary Range: $60,000–$70,000 (based on relevant experience)
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.
• Pennsylvania residency required; Eastern Pennsylvania location is a plus.
• 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.
To apply, email cover letter and resume to [email protected]. 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.