Brenda Burney

Brenda Burney has over 35 years of progressive financial aid experience, mostly in public four-year and public two-year institutions. She held various financial aid positions in the for-profit sector for three years and worked in a marketing and outreach capacity at Sallie Mae. Brenda recently retired from her position as Financial Aid Director at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, Tennessee.

Brenda’s career began at Marshall University. She then joined Austin Peay State University’s financial aid office. During her 17-year tenure at Austin Peay she served as an assistant director and subsequently an associate director. In addition to her work at Marshall and Austin Peay, Brenda was the director of financial aid at Tennessee State University.

She is well versed with the Ellucian Banner, Ellucian Colleague, College Board’s PowerFAIDS and the U.S. Department of Education’s systems and platforms. She was on implementation committees for two Financial Aid Management (FAM) systems prior to Banner.

Throughout her career, Brenda has been active in state, regional and national financial aid associations. She has served on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (TASFAA) and chaired several committees. Brenda has also conducted training for the new financial aid officers as well as guidance counselors at the national level. In 2014, She was awarded TASFAA’s Milestone Award in recognition of her career-long commitment to the financial aid profession and for service to students.

Brenda received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Marshall University and her Master of Science degree from Austin Peay State University.