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Student financial services encompasses veteran's services, student employment, institutional scholarships, workforce retraining, and financial aid.

The employees serving in student financial services can be found doing everything from auditing student enrollment to ensure classes are financial aid eligible, to supporting Veteran students as they navigate the GI bill.

Victoria Hill has held positions in almost every sector of this area of student affairs, starting as an office assistant in the Financial Aid office of Tacoma Community College, to her current role as Dean of Student Financial Services at South Puget Sound Community College. When it comes to her wealth of knowledge, Hill says "we're all teaching each other all of the time."

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Hill struggled earlier in her career when she was asked to apply for promotions when she was already acting in the role in an interim capacity. Her mentor and supervisor knew she was capable, so why, she asked, was she being asked to apply for the job she was already doing?

"I never want anyone to question your legitimacy."

Her mentor, also a person of color, knew that she would likely face questions around her abilities as a Black woman in higher education. He didn't want any perceived nepotism or favoritism to cloud the perception of her abilities.

As a scholar practitioner, we must utilize the information we have to ask our selves, "what is right? What is just?" (Kupo, 2014) Hill's supervisor knows that the right thing to do is to recognize the ways that systemic racism has, and will, marginalize individuals as they move into positions of power, and welded that knowledge to create a more stable professional future for Hill.

The rewarding aspect is, as many people in higher education know, the students. Seeing students' perspectives of themself change as they set and accomplish goals, learning the full spectrum of what they are capable of.

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Hill is clear that her story is one of learning from her mistakes, of getting a late start in life without social, economic, or cultural capital. Her perspective is "learn, as much as you can, and do it with grace." A reflection of the era of professionalism student affairs is currently in, wherein we must "[assess] student affairs professionals' own growth and development of knowledge, awareness, and skills necessary for effectiveness" (Jones, 2014).

This is also not a bootstraps story - I have no doubt that Hill has worked twice as hard for half the rewards, because she started her career as a Black single mom on welfare.

However, the lesson here isn’t that it is easy if you put your mind to it. The lesson is that it is hard, and you have to work for it constantly. Knowing leadership is possible for people who showed up on their first day without the support so many take for granted is inspirational to me.

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Kupo. (2014). Becoming a Scholar-Practitioner in Student Affairs. New Directions for Student Services, (147), 89–98. https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.20103

Jones, S. R., & Abes, E. S. (2017). The History of Student Affairs. In V. Torres, S. R. Jones, & J. H. Schuh (Eds.), Student Services: A handbook for the profession (pp. 137-152) (Sixth edition). Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Imprint.