By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter

MVP: Most Valuable Professional is an occasional series that features a brief Q&A with a different NASFAA member. Do you know a financial aid colleague with something interesting to say? Send the names of potential future MVPs and a short note about why you're nominating them to [email protected]. 

MVP Keri Gilbert, FAAC^® 
Associate Vice President of Financial Aid Analytics and Compliance
Stephens College

Meet Keri Gilbert, FAAC^®, associate vice president of financial aid analytics and compliance at Stephens College. 

Keri started her work in financial aid at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and has since worked at the Missouri College & Career Attainment Network and Stephens College. 

For Keri, what she finds most fulfilling of her work is helping students access higher education. 

“I find it incredibly fulfilling, even if it's just one or two students, helping them access and complete post secondary education,” Keri said. “Access is very, very important to me.”

Keri has years of experience volunteering at the state, regional, and national level. At the Missouri Association of Student Financial Aid Personnel (MASFAP), she currently serves as treasurer and a member of the Communications Committee. She has also served as a member of the Legislative Committee. 

For the Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA), she currently serves as the chair for the Professional Development and Advocacy Committee, and a member of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Committee. 

At NASFAA, Keri currently serves as a member of the Leadership and Legislative Conference Compliance Track Task Force and is an adjunct professor for the NASFAA U Return of Title IV Funds online course. She also has served as a member of the National Conference Program Task Force.

Keri also recently joined Blue Icon Advisors, NASFAA Consulting, as a part-time compliance assistant. 

Learn more about Keri, her interests, and her career path in the Q&A below!

How did you get your start in financial aid?

I worked in a bank while I was in college, and when I graduated with my degree in anthropology, I had dreams of working in a museum. So, I got a job right out of school in a museum, and I hated it so much. 

I started looking for something I could do to decide my next step, and I saw a listing for a scholarship check processor at my alma mater, which is the University of Missouri, Columbia. I thought, well, I know what to do with checks. I applied, and haven't really left the financial aid field since. 

What do you find the most rewarding and fulfilling about your work?

Definitely students. Being part of a student’s journey – whether it's finding a creative solution to help pay a student's bill, or influencing or writing institutional policies to make things easier for students – is incredibly fulfilling. 

If you could change one thing about financial aid, what would it be?

I don't want to be controversial, but I would increase the annual federal loan limits, and I would allow institutions the flexibility to limit federal loans not necessarily by case by case anymore but to open it up and allow us to do it by enrollment status or program. I'm not for increasing student indebtedness at all, but I do wish there were more federal options for a student, instead of turning to a private loan. When students can't get a private loan, they don't have a way to pay to go to school. 

Of course, I would also like to see a doubling of the Pell Grant and have it moved to mandatory funding. Reinstating an automatic inflation adjustment to the Pell Grant would also be a welcomed change.

What's something you wish all higher ed folks knew about financial aid?

How complex it is. I remember whenever we were gearing up for FAFSA simplification, I was presenting all over campus about it, and folks didn't understand why financial aid is so difficult. They just don't understand the minutia and the nuance that goes on from a student submitting a FAFSA to us putting together a financial aid package. I do think if there's been one silver lining out of FAFSA simplification, it has been the light shined into how complex our processes are and how they impact every part of the institution. 

Do you have any recommendations for people just getting started in the field?

I would say practice looking things up. I am a type-A person, so I like to know everything that is coming and be prepared about everything all the time. I really struggled when I first started, because I didn't understand how I couldn't know everything. It took me quite a while to realize that even the people you think that know everything about financial aid do not, because nobody can. I’ve gotten a lot better at saying “I need to dig into that a bit more,” or “let me get back to you with more information.” Also, definitely find your people – that circle of people that you can trust and bounce things off of is very important. 

Tell us about your institution. What are some unique aspects of working at Stephens College?

Stephens College was founded in 1833 and we are a women's only college. We do have a co-ed Conservatory of Performing Arts that opened within the last five years. One of the most unique things about working at Stephens is that we practice a block schedule. We implemented that this fall, and that means that a student takes one class at a time for three and a half weeks. They're in class from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. every single day. And when that three-and-a-half-week block is over, they have a four-day break. Then they start a second block with a brand new class. So on and so forth. 

What that means is that all financial aid is processed in modules. Whenever Stephens was talking about implementing this block schedule, I was sweating bullets thinking about how complex this was going to make all of my processes. It has certainly been an opportunity to learn about modules and financial aid. 

What's something you couldn't function without?

I have a lot of different text groups, that are financial aid and non-financial aid. Those groups have been the only thing that's kept me going this last year. Having a really safe space to commiserate, ask questions, and all of that. It has been full of lots of almost crying, but also lots of laughs. That has definitely been something I cannot function without – those really close relationships with my good friends. 

What is the best thing that's happened to you recently?

I recently purchased tickets for me and four of my friends to go see SIX The Musical in February. 

Anything you've learned in the last year, or a new hobby you've picked up?

The thing that I have learned in the last year, and also is a new hobby I've picked up, is being 100% myself all the time. Before, I always felt like I had to tamp down, because I am very high energy. I like to joke around and all of that. For a long time, I was kind of tamping that down and trying to be more serious. Over the last year, I'm just like I can't, I'm exhausted. I just don't want to do that anymore. 

So towards the very beginning of the year, I have just been 100% myself. It has been amazing and so freeing. I feel like I'm making deeper connections with people. Especially professionally, I'm building closer networks because I am just who I am all the time.

Any fall plans or typical activities you enjoy in the cooler months?

My favorite thing about the cooler months is that I don't arrive to meetings sweaty. But other than that, I am planning on a girls trip with two of my best friends. We're going to upstate New York in October. We're staying on a lake, and it has a hot tub, and it's going to be a really great time. The trees are supposed to be beautiful, so I'm really looking forward to that. 

Publication Date: 9/30/2024

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