Jonathan Mador
Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Services
High Point University
SAFSAA

Jonathan Mador has over 20 years of experience in higher education, with over six years of direct experience in financial aid. Jonathan’s career has ranged from working in student auxiliary services to student accounts to financial aid at institutions including Pace University, University of Bridgeport, High Point University, and more. 

For Jonathan, he says as an openly out gay man now living in the South, he hopes to contribute to the forward momentum the LGBTQ community is making.

“With some of the recent national setbacks encountered, I hope to learn more from this collective of under-represented groups ways to remain resilient, continue to sustain the progress made, and foster further equality growth within the LGBTQ community,” Jonathan wrote. 

Jonathan adds that he hopes the Diversity Leadership Program will make him a stronger advocate for other marginalized groups in higher education. 

“As a leader, I hope to grow as more of an advocate for our under-represented groups within our current education system from our students all the way up to top administration and their board,” Jonathan wrote. “I want to learn how I can and should be more of a voice for the community in my current environment and even on larger levels where possible.”

Learn more about Jonathan in the brief Q&A below.

How did you get your start in financial aid?

My career in higher education started in residence life over 25 years ago at Pace University. I went from residence life over to student auxiliary services, and then transitioned into their combined student accounts registrar. That's where my first real interaction with financial aid was. I was processing all of these students’ refunds. So of course, we're working very frequently with the financial aid team there and kind of got my first taste of it. 

After that, I've been in several different environments that have combined stops of student accounts, financial aid, and/or registrar throughout my career. I've been doing financial aid in some capacity for well over 10 years now. I’ve been doing that work all the way up until I took a break from it, for about six years. I moved away from financial aid and went into an associate controller’s role at a school and just decided that I didn't like not being in a more front-facing role. That's what brought me into my present role here at High Point University (HPU), overseeing both financial aid and student accounts.

How have you seen diversity in higher education change since you began your career?

I think I've been pretty fortunate in my career. I feel like higher education, in the business sector, has always embraced diversity a little bit more. To me, I think the biggest change that I've seen in improvements in diversity is a larger volume of leadership within the higher education industry over the course of my career.

How does your perspective impact how you do your job and approach financial aid?

I think all along, I've always been of the mindset that in addition to what students are going to be learning academically while they're in college, what they learn outside of the classroom is equally important. And that's where I feel as a financial aid administrator I have an opportunity to provide students with some real life skills and learning on how to manage their personal finances.

What advice do you have for others working in financial aid?

Unfortunately, in the world of financial aid, there's always the difficult decisions and the times at which you have to share bad news. We're not always the people to say “yes” to everything. So I think it's important for individuals working in higher ed to always keep in mind the multitudes of students that we help every single day, and take the time to celebrate when that help is acknowledged. I think that helps to overcome the adversity we sometimes face in the industry, just because of the nature of the work that we do, and often are not sharing the best of news with everyone.

What do you do when you're not working?

If you asked at home, the question would be when am I not working? I definitely put in a lot of long hours doing this job. But for the most part, I generally just like to be able to spend time with my friends, my family, and my dogs. Being able to relax and enjoy the moment is where I'm at presently in my life.

Who is your favorite historical figure, and why?

The person that I landed on is Leonardo da Vinci. I think he is very representative of what a true Renaissance man should be. For most people when you hear the name DaVinci, you think of art and of course, he was well known for his art. But he was also a mathematician, an architect, an engineer, a scientist, and trying to do a little bit of everything, but also being able to do a little bit of everything well. I think that's something that I would really like to aspire to be myself – someone that's recognized for the good work that I do and the variety of things I'm capable of doing.