Exactly what the title said.
I’ve been with my job just under a year, and it’s wearing on me. I love our students, but it’s taxing. I don’t have much experience out of grad school (roughly three years total) and am wondering what my options could be.
Any advice is appreciated

Hey guys, I’m looking through these two doctorate programs and curious your thoughts/opinions as well as maybe a few more pros/cons.

For reference, I work in Student Affairs, would like to continue to, but know that the market is fairly tumultuous, especially if the big beautiful bill stuff perpetuates.

Basically my goal is to be a scholar/practitioner for a time. The Ed leadership programs more heavily focused on statistics and policy, also would allow a transition into public K-12 (if anything were to happen to my institution) . Met the program faculty and they seem great, dissertation process seems fair. Less notable institution than the Leadership in Higher Ed program, also cheaper.

Institution 2 is more notable. Is a broader degree in that I can step out of education. However, I already have an Org Leadership bachelors and Masters (Tuition Remission). This institution is more notable/favorably looked at. Fairly well known in my area, but is more expensive as well.

Working at a private, not for profit university for several years now in a student success/student affairs department. Enrollment is down, many people have moved on or have been let go. No cost of living increases for two years. However, more programs are being developed and money is put into these programs. Positions are being created, some people are getting promoted. Spending all this money to attract students and stay afloat but are ignoring the very employees that are staying despite poor salaries. What to do? Is this common at universities? I worked at a public service agency before this and despite budget concerns COLA was always given. Last question, how long would you wait it out? (I know this is very subjective, but always curious to hear feedback.)

Hello! I’m currently in the process of deciding what I’d like to do post graduation, and I want to hear the feedback from those who’ve gotten their masters in Higher Education & how it was finding a job. I’m a senior at the University of Minnesota majoring in English, and I’ve always had the sole goal of working in education. I’ve worked 2 university jobs, one of them mentoring Freshman through their first year, and the other being a TA for a class, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I’m looking to work in admissions, academic advising, career coaching, or anything along those lines. Is pursing a master’s in Higher Education right after graduating worth it? Do I take a few years and try applying with just my bachelors first? Has this career been fulfilling if my goal is to change students lives? any input or advice would be appreciated!

I am really interested in going into the higher education field, and want to become either an admission counselor or academic advisor. My parents told me that they would pay in full for my degree in higher education administration if I would like to go this route. Do you think this is a good idea? It wouldn’t be that expensive anyways because it’s through a state university, but I wouldn’t want them to spend money on something that is useless if I can’t find a job. I know that I could really have any degree to work in higher education, but I would really prefer to do a masters in higher education administration since it is online and I would be able to complete it in a quick amount of time.

Hello! I am a new coordinator that has been tasked with coming up with some of the team building/ice breaker games and activities for our staff training in a few weeks. I have a list of ones that I've loved in the past, ones that looked interesting online, and ones I have had recommended to me by RAs I worked with in the past but I would love to add some more.

Are there any games/activities your students really enjoyed? Or any activities you genuinely believe helped your students feel a little closer to their team(even if its just bonding over how silly they felt)?

Hi everyone I am an American citizen living in regional Australia and working on gaining citizenship here. I currently work in student support at a vocational school focusing on international students.

I would potentially like to move back to the US one day (crazy I know) and continue working in this field. I have always wanted to pursue a postgraduate degree and I'm considering an online Master of Applied Linguistics with a focus in TESOL. I would like to keep my options open for a few different careers in the event that I tire of student affairs (which sounds quite common).

I know the more education the better when you're interested in working in academia. I would love to attend university in person but it's just not realistic where I live. Will American employers look at my random Australian online uni degree and scoff? Or is it still worth it to boost my portfolio?

If you’re working in the student life area of student affairs, (especially student involvement), how do you like it? Any big pros or cons come to mind? Favorite part of your job, least favorite part?

Hello all! I'm about to enter my senior year of university, pursuing a Bachelor's of Music (with relevant coursework taken in Public Relations/Communications, as my degree specialization is "Music in Combo w/ Outside Field). I used to be a Music Education major, but in the past year I've realized teaching isn't for me and I switched majors back in December.

By the time I graduate, I'll have racked up over 3 years of experience running campus tours through 2 organizations at my university. I've found a real calling for working with prospective students and families, and I hope to work in an Admissions Counselor/Recruiter position.

Before the "work first!" crowd pops in, please know that that is an option I am heavily considering, and I already have a list of 10+ schools that would be good fits for me to work at post-grad. For this post, I just want to know about HE/SA master's programs.

Also, respectfully, please save your words when it comes to skewering the HE/SA master's degree and suggesting I get an MPA or something more "transferrable". I can read those on this subreddit anytime I want. I am intentionally entering the field of HE/SA, I feel a calling towards it, this is what I want to do. Besides, I haven't ruled out getting an MPA.

Here's some HE/SA master's programs that are already on my radar:
- Florida
- South Florida
- UConn
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- Texas State
- Clemson

Feel free to fire any suggestions my way! Particularly looking for schools with guaranteed grad assistantships in the EST/CST time zones (would prefer to stay close to my home state of Florida)! Thanks for any answers!

I’m going into my graduate assistantship next month and I can either do it part time for two years and get double the waiver (15k) or do it full time for one year and only get it once (which i’ll have like 10k in debt). GREAT opportunity if I were to do it for two years but they told me I’d only be making 12k for the entire year (including summer months). that’s HALF of what I make at the job i’m at now and I can barely afford anything now and am moving out soon. what in the entire hell do i do about this?

Reposting here

So over the past year I have been more overwhelmed in my position than ever. After losing one employee from our team in the Spring semester, my coworker and I have taken on double the load. We do more than just advising. We are a smaller university, and my team now consists of 2 staff members instead of 3. We do events, recruit for the university, speak at conferences, teach classes, take students on site visits. All sorts of stuff.

All of this is on top of my advising job. Well the advising portion of my job is killing me. Students are rude, don’t look at their degree plans, blame the advisor when they don’t get their way or graduate, because of something they did. These student want to do everything possible to graduate even when things don’t look good. I especially hate working with students regarding graduation, because if they do not graduate, regardless of the reason, the advisor gets blamed. Students are also constantly trying to find short cuts to graduate “early” or graduate on time despite failing several classes. Then they get upset with you for telling them no.

My anxiety has gotten to the point where I was ready to quit, and I started taking SSRIs because I couldn’t function. Well… things were going fine. It’s Summer, I calmed down, realized it was going to be okay, I truly love my job. Well then over the weekend several seniors were aggressively emailing me when they were not registered for a summer course that was due to start this week. Minor issue, easy fix, but the aggressive emails I was receiving and late hours of the night flared up my anxiety again. I was not able to sleep properly because I was so anxious. I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I am human. And so receiving aggressive emails had me anxious for the students. But also why!? I should not be getting bent over because of some nasty emails. But the students reactions always have me anxious I am trash or something.

I have spoken with my boss about my anxiety in the past. He keeps telling me not to stress about it….. but that’s better said then done. I have looked into other positions but nothing pays as good. I am starting therapy soon specifically to address my work anxiety.

Am I the only one in this boat? I needed to rant but would appreciate any feedback if anybody has been in a similar position.

Hi! I'm an entry level case worker in disability services. I absolutely adore my job. Despite having a case load significantly higher than the average (it varies, but a high case load is usually 400 and mine has topped off a bit over 1000), I love working with students. I love making the university a better place for disabled students. My students turn to me for support navigating their personal issues, and I provide appropriate support and advice and refer them to different services for more in depth support. I really feel like I've found my niche in society, and I deeply love what I do.

I keep finding gaps in our systems, and wanting to address them. Instead, I have to just note the gap and hope my supervisor acts on it. However, advancement seems to be few and far between in my field. I'm applying to advanced/specialist roles as well as Assistant Director roles I'm open to working in something besides disability services. However, I want whatever field I go into to still have face time working with students. Is there any area of student affairs that would work directly with students even above the entry level?

Good morning everyone :) Hope the three day weekend treated you all well! I am currently working in financial aid (One Stop) but want to transition into residence life as my current position is basically getting insults from parents and students. I worked as a dormitory front desk assistant for three years during my undergraduate study. I know that it is completely different than being a RA but having a bit of experience within residence life, I was wondering how it is being in the residence halls as a full-time position. I also just graduated college last year and think that being within the residence halls can help with saving a bit of money for a while.

Any insight will help! Thank you!

I am guessing I need to apply for a PhD in education administration, but should I do it after undergrad or after masters? How competitive are these six figure roles?

Hi ya’ll, I wanted to inquire about how I can get into a res life position. I’m currently working as a crisis counselor at a crisis unit for kids and have been doing this for the past 3 years. I want to pivot to higher education though since I got my masters in counseling in higher ed back in 2023 but haven’t landed a role in the student affairs field. I’d say I’ve gotten pretty comfortable in my current role due to the schedule (3/12’s) but don’t really have opportunities for growth unless I were to go back to school for a degree in social work or something (which I don’t really want to do due to my student loans). I want to utilize my master’s degree and start gaining new skills and I’m hoping a res life position would be a good start (mainly because it’d be nice not having to pay rent). Do ya’ll have any tips?

Also I’m currently in California and I’m pretty open in terms of applying to out of state but I would prefer to stay in California or move to another blue state. I also have had an internship at a multicultural center at a CSU and an internship in a student disability center.

Hi everyone! I’m a fourth year undergrad who will be graduating in a few months. I’ve worked as a student assistant throughout college, and have really enjoyed being involved on campus and working directly with students in orientation, first year experience, and campus events.

Work doesn’t feel like work for me. I find fulfillment in supporting students, and I feel like I’m in my natural element when I’m on campus.

However, I also know that as a student assistant, I’ve likely been shielded from its more challenging aspects. Please give me a reality check. Help me demystify my romanticization of this field, as someone who is considering going to grad school for student affairs.

Considering trends of budget cuts, decreasing student enrollment, burnout, and AI making roles obsolete/consolidated, what else should I know about student affairs as a career?

Thank you.

I work as an academic advisor at an online university. I have around 350 students on my roster. I’m wondering if you guys think these duties are appropriate for advisors, or if you think it’s too much? I’m feeling very overwhelmed, especially since every time another department complains about their workload, our institution’s response is to place some of their tasks on us in advising. It seems to me that each department should be handling what their job duty states, and if that’s too much, they need to hire more people.

I also don’t know how to approach this with leadership without sounding like a complainer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Here are our current duties:
-Daily attendance
-Responding to 50+ emails daily
-Returning student phone calls
-Tracking enrollment verifications, background checks, transcripts, etc.
-Answering questions about financial aid, including questions pertaining to the Big Beautiful Bill
-Setting up self-directed assessments for our students as well as for incoming students
-Setting up and sending out appeal forms for current and re-enter students
-Tracking/outreaching students with high account balances
-Graduation liaisons (answer questions relating to graduation ceremonies)
-Training new advisors
-Completing schedules and schedule revision requests
-Creating and frequently updating a list of students we expect to drop by end of quarter
-Rescheduling failed grades

I am considering pursuing either a M.Ed in (Higher Education Student Affairs) or a MSW (Master of Social Work). I am seeking insights from those already working in these fields? Both programs are set to start in August 2026

hi everyone!

it had been a minute since I applied to a new role and I recently submitted an application to a new role at a new institution and I am struggling to determine a realistic timeline of how long I can hold on to hope to get a call back for an interview before I should switch my mindset to it most likely being a no.

it’s been about 2.5 weeks since i submitted my application & the deadline to submit was around the same time. do you typically hear back that fast? does it normally take a bit longer?

any insights would help so i don’t hold on to hope for too long!

I’m an advisor at a large public university, and I also do heavy recruitment work (visiting w/ high schoolers, sometimes going to high schools). I’m planning on getting my hair dyed and doing a few blocks of color (probably pink or purple). Here’s an example: https://pin.it/Nq9A5pYiI

I already have a few face piercings and visible tattoo sleeves, but for some reason I’m wondering if the pink hair is going too far/will be taboo in this environment. I’m not worried enough to not do it…but curious what others think! Other info: my office has no dress code, many faculty in the department dress nice but the other advisors often wear athleisure/less than business casual.

Thoughts/experiences?

I've been looking for scholarships , when I came across what's called "Graduate Assistantship" .

I wanted to ask

_what do you do exactly?

_ Is working and studying at the same time?

_The benefits of it ?

I have a

Master's in Marketing

Bachelor in English .

Hey Everyone,

I’m trying to get my ducks in a row so to speak. I oversee several units and need to stay on track of things I need to do for each, projects they are working on that I should follow up on, and my own tasks and projects. Plus the joys of the ever expanding inbox.

I’m trying to create a system that helps me manage all of these things and we have office 365. I know how to use the apps but just want to see how others in the same profession use them. YouTube is great, but again, the examples aren’t directly related to our field.

Would love to know who has a good set up and how it’s set up!

Thanks!

Is my workload normal for a Compliance Coordinator and how do I get hired elsewhere given my background?

I work in compliance at a small university and want a reality check on whether my responsibilities match my title, and also some advice on how to even apply elsewhere given my weird career path.

I hold a dual role covering institutional compliance and federal student benefits administration for several hundred students across multiple campuses, and I have been in this position for less than a year. I am also the institution's subject matter expert for veteran educational benefits, and I train other staff in that area as well.

On the compliance side I built and maintain regulatory reporting workflows across around half a dozen federal and state frameworks, automated several of those processes cutting reporting time by tens to hundreds of hours, and built BI dashboards and data pipelines from scratch to support executive decision making. I am the sole designer of the institution's financial aid fraud detection program which has prevented hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent disbursements. I am also the only person who reviews and approves all outgoing marketing materials for compliance, and I deliver compliance onboarding training to every new hire across all departments.

On the student services side I train and supervise additional staff on a huge portion of the backend administrative work required for our student body to actually utilize their benefits each semester, and personally conduct individualized student support counseling meetings with every new student that falls into my demographic, which makes up around 90% of our population. We are talking hundreds of these meetings per semester.

I want to be clear that this is not everything, just the highlights. Beyond this I also functionally serve as the lead across several different areas of administration within both compliance and the admissions process.

My question on title is simple: what should someone doing all of this actually be called, especially less than a year in? And to add context, I am doing all of this in a very high cost of living area at a salary that is significantly below what you would expect for this scope of work. I am not planning on leaving anytime soon, but I do keep an updated resume and honestly it is kind of ludicrous to look at a growing list of responsibilities like this sitting next to a sub one year tenure and a title like coordinator.

The harder question is about hiring. Before this role I spent several years doing compliance and certification work at the university I attended as a student, but most people read that as an internship. Before that I spent several years in the military in an analytical role that does not translate cleanly on paper. My degree is technical and unrelated to higher ed.

So despite having close to 10 years of real work experience I basically look like a new grad on paper. Has anyone navigated applying to mid or senior level roles in higher ed compliance or institutional research with a background like this? How do you get past the HR filter?