Howard Appointed Director of Financial Aid

Tessa Howard has recently been appointed director of financial aid at UMW. Howard has had a progressive and comprehensive career at Mary Washington since 2011, when she began as a financial aid specialist administering and disbursing aid through the Federal Direct Loan Program. She later added state aid program management and financial aid counseling in her role as senior assistant director for nearly a decade, followed by a focus on operations and Banner systems as associate director of systems and processing. For the past six months, she has served as interim director of financial aid.

In the ever-changing world of financial aid, Howard brings deep knowledge and engagement to ensure continuity of resources through compliance while also advancing strategic planning to best support students. She is invested in creating a customer-focused financial aid office and team. In her most recent role as interim director, changes in structure, process and philosophy are already underway to better serve students, their supporters and university stakeholders involved in the financial aid process.

Howard is a University of Mary Washington alumna, earning her undergraduate degree in English in 2007 and her MBA in 2017.