Andrew “Andy” Buchanan

Andy Buchanan has over 10 years of student accounts and financial aid experience in the four-year private institution setting. Andy came to FAS in 2022. As a consultant, he supports financial aid and student account offices across the country. He provides Interim Staffing, Consulting and Assessment services to improve business processes, strengthen compliance efforts, and enhance student satisfaction.
Andy was the Associate Director of Student Accounts at Seattle Pacific University (SPU). His duties included supervising the team of Student Financial Services staff. He also led hiring efforts, assisted with training, evaluations, and other managerial matters. He identified responsibilities, prepared and implemented work plans, maintained a master schedule, and held regular meetings with support staff as needed. Andy acted in an ombudsman role to resolve Student Financial Services issues. He trouble-shot errors in payment/program processing. He was the principal liaison with the General Ledger, Student Academic Services, IT, and other departments. Andy worked closely with the Finance Division staff on monthly close, monthly GL close, and year-end close. He ensured all transactions were properly recorded in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles.
Prior to SPU, Andy held several Student Financial Services positions at New York University (NYU). He worked his way through the ranks to the role of Manager of Student Financial Services. Primarily he partnered with the Director of Student Accounts to jointly manage the Bursar customer service support to students, parents, and the NYU Community. He managed all phases of the Bursar Office’s front-facing engagement. During tenure at NYU, Andy conducted a workflow analysis and developed service level agreements which his teams met and exceed. His front-face staff answered, triaged and escalated over 85,000 calls each year.
Earlier in his career, Andy was a Financial Aid Counselor at NYU. His primary duties included counseling and engagement with students and their families regarding financial aid awards and college financing options. He participated in a variety of university outreach events with prospective students. He was a member of the financial aid office’s (internal) training team, helping train new counselors as well as providing reviews for current staff on office procedures. Additionally, he was part of the cross-functional policy team, which researched federal and state regulations and made sure the office and the university remained in compliance.
Andy is experienced with several student information systems, including Ellucian Banner, Oracle PeopleSoft, College Board PowerFAIDS and the U.S. Department of Education’s suite of applications and website for administering Federal Student Aid.
Andy received a Bachelor of Arts from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN and is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration from Seattle Pacific University.