Caitlin Bell

Tennessee Board of Regents

Statement of Candidacy

Hello! My name is Caitlin Bell. I live in East TN with my wonderful husband and our five-year-old daughter, Olivia, and a black lab named Cooper.  I have been working in higher education going on 14 years with 5 of those years in Financial Aid as a Counselor and the others as Assistant Registrar. I have worked at ETSU as well as a TCAT Elizabethton, so I have financial aid experience in both clock hours and credit hours. I am currently working at TBR and have been working for about a year and a half now, in the Service Center, helping to support and work with our schools in the WEST region of TN.  I have always wanted to get more involved in TASFAA since my first TASFAA conference as a financial aid counselor, when I was fresh out of undergraduate, so that I could be more involved and be a better financial aid provider for students. I also wanted to be able to understand the financial aid world better and aid students in navigating through the red tape. I used financial aid when I was a student and I knew first-hand the steps and struggles students have to go through in order to get money to go to school, and I realized I wanted to be able to help guide students, like me who had no experience in higher education much less the financial world, to be able get into school and complete their financial aid so that they can attend and plan for a better future.

I enjoy the rigors and fast pace of the financial aid world because it always provides me with many learning opportunities and keeps me on my toes but also challenges me to be the best of myself, as a professional, so that I can assist students, parents, and members of the community with their college career path navigation.  The more involved I can be in the financial aid process, the better service I can provide to our students and institutions in becoming more successful in their upcoming academic year.

I came into college as someone who had to learn the financial aid process on my own as my parents were not in a place to financially be able to help me, so I understand the importance of student financial aid. I have also learned the financial responsibilities that come with that, and I think my skills and experiences can be a great tool to students and institutions when they need help. 

You do not choose a career path in financial aid for the money or fame, but because you want to serve others and help them have a better future. Helping others through these challenges are  why I have stayed in higher education so long because students and schools matter and I want them to feel supported and have a community behind them and their success.

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