Concordia Magazine

Jane Williams

Jane Williams joined the Financial Aid Office in 1983 as assistant to the director. She became the assistant director in 1986, the associate director in 1997 and the interim director in 2005 until she officially became the director in 2006.

Throughout the years she has seen financial aid formulas come and go, adapted to three software conversions and more recently worked with her staff to manage a student loan conversion from private banks to federal direct lending, no small task with $16 million in loans processed annually.

Among her many duties as director, Williams was accountable for determining such things as whether or not students were eligible for financial aid, were U.S. citizens (or eligible noncitizens), graduated from a legitimate high school, had not been convicted of drug possession or the intent to sell drugs, that they and/or their parents had filed their taxes correctly and, if they were males, had registered with Selective Service. She also was responsible for the timing of posting funds within the correct parameters.

Williams is greatly admired in her field and was honored with the Minnesota Association of Financial Aid Administrators President's Award in 1999, the Distinguished Service Award in 2000 and the Special Achievement Award in 2012.

Always front and center at visit events and scholarship programs, she had a unique approach with her audiences. Williams understood the challenges families faced when struggling to finance a college education. She recognized the sacrificial contributions many parents and students made in assuming significant debt to finance their Concordia education. This empathy and her devotion to Concordia led her to a long career of dedication and leadership in the Office of Financial Aid.

“A woman who ‘rose through the ranks’ as a financial aid professional, among her many contributions to Concordia over the past 29 years was guiding the office into the ‘modern age,’” says Steve Schuetz, vice president for Enrollment. “A big part of her lasting legacy is the outstanding team she assembled in the Financial Aid Office.”

In retirement, Williams will be able to spend much more time with her two granddaughters, her three sons Alex, Matt and Ben (who currently live in different parts of the world), and her husband Duffy.

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