Aristea Williams

During her nearly 20 years in the financial aid industry, Aristea has worked at two and four-year public and private institutions, a guarantee agency and a state Department of Education. Most recently, she served as Director of Financial Aid at Georgia State University, the largest university in Georgia, where she led a large staff and was responsible for the overall administration and management of counselors, assistant and associate directors. She also worked with campus departments to identify program trends and implemented technologies to improve the student experience.

Her previous experience includes working as the Director of Financial Aid at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where she was on the PowerFAIDS implementation team and assisted senior leadership with the execution and expansion of their Teach for America program. She has vast experience with verification, professional judgement and compliance as well as staff mentoring and coaching.

She is experienced with several financial aid management systems such as Ellucian Banner, College Board PowerFAIDS, Oracle PeopleSoft and the US Department of Education’s NSLDS and COD programs.

Aristea serves as the Chair of the Delaware, District of Columbia and Maryland Association of Financial Aid Administrators (Tri State) where she has also been the co-chair of Federal Relations and Professional Development and Training. She also has served as the co-chair of Federal Relations for the Eastern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (EASFAA). She has participated in several trips to Capitol Hill to speak with Senate and house leadership about higher education issues and was a member of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) pipeline.

Aristea has a Bachelor of Science degree in History and a Master’s degree in Higher Education from Florida State University.