3. COLLEGE STUDENT DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL

JOB DESCRIPTION

Overview

This category encompasses a broad range of positions involving counseling or human development work on a college campus. Student development, or student affairs, professionals work in partnership with faculty and administrators to help students have a personally satisfying and productive college experience. Specific areas in which student affairs employees can be found include admissions, counseling and career centers, financial aid, residence life, student centers, health centers, and athletics. These are also the college staff responsible for providing specialized services (academic and personal) to disabled, minority, international, and commuter students.

Typical Job Duties

Job duties depend on a student development professional’s area of specialization. Some examples include:

• Academic support services: working with individual students to plan academic schedules; coordinating tutoring programs; conduct programs on time management or study skills

• Admissions: recruiting and conducting interviews with prospective students; visiting high schools and participating in college fairs; evaluating college applications

• Career development and placement: counseling students about majors and careers; occupational assessment; maintaining occupational resource library; hosting on-campus job fairs

• Financial aid: counseling students and their families about economic matters; reviewing and awarding aid packages; working with loan and work study programs

• Residence life and housing: supervising undergraduate resident assistants; conducting educational and social programs; providing personal advising, crisis management, and discipline of students

• Student activities: advising student organizations; coordinating leadership development programs; developing wide range of cultural/social programming; overseeing student center

Job Outlook

Faster than average job growth is expected overall due to increasing college enrollments, greater emphasis on higher education, and growing competition for students among colleges and universities. Residential counselors rank 27th on the BLS list of the 30 fastest-growing occupations.

Potential Earnings

Starting salaries vary widely (roughly $24,000-$30,000), depending on specialization area and the size and type of college/university at which one is employed. Median salaries range from $30,000-$35,000. Administrative position salaries (e.g., Director of Admissions, Dean of Student Activities, Career Center Director) range from $30,000-$60,000, again depending on the type of campus and breadth of responsibilities.

TRAINING

Professional Degree Required

Most entry-level positions in student development require a master’s degree. A number of relevant graduate degrees are possible, and although all are related, the names of degree programs vary, e.g., guidance and counseling, college counseling, college student personnel, counselor education, higher education administration, and student development. Each requires approximately two years of full-time study.

How to Find Programs

Because of these varied routes to a career in college student development, identifying and research graduate programs is not so easy as in some fields. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) maintains a directory of accredited programs in a category called “Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education” (SAPHE). CACREP can send this list or you can examine it via the American Counseling Association web site (addresses below). Consult the list to locate the strongest programs in this general field, but keep in mind that a general counseling degree might also suffice.

Entrance Requirements/Admissions

See this section under the “Counselor, Community” job profile. One difference: The type of volunteer or work experience most helpful for college student development program applicants would likely be in college student services (e.g., working as an RA, experience in student activities, internships in student affairs offices).

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Print Materials/Organizations

Collison, B. B., & Garfield, N. J. (1990). Careers in counseling and human development. Alexandria, VA: American Association for Counseling and Development. (Chapter 4: Careers in postsecondary settings).

Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304. 703/823-9800. Directory of accredited counseling programs.

Internet Resources

American Counseling Association (ACA) home page (for graduate school/CACREP information, click on “Students in Counselor Education” and then “CACREP Directory”): http://www.counseling.org/

American College Personnel Association (ACPA) home page:

http://www.acpa.nche.edu/

National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) home page: http://www.naspa.org/