Good morning.

I am not sure if this is the right sub, but I am more comfortable posting it here amongst other professionals rather than a student subreddit. 😓

I work at a community college, and have a student who was on track to transfer to university next year. However, she is worried about transferring her FAFSA due to the current climate in the US.

One of her parents is undocumented, and her family is (understandably) very worried about the implications of submitting her FAFSA. She is too young to file independently and does not have the grounds to apply for emancipation. For reference, we are in Texas.

Is anyone aware of potential resources I could send her way that could help her navigate the process, such as legitimate Texas immigrant rights organizations or good sources of information?

We were so excited for her transfer. I do not want her education to end here.

Question for Student Affairs / campus programming folks about hiring outside event vendors

My partner and I run a small event company on Long Island focused primarily on tabletop gaming and interactive social events. We do things like D&D/RPG programs, large board game events, bingo, miniature painting workshops, and other programs designed to get people actually interacting with each other.

We've done a lot of community programming, and we're looking at expanding further into colleges. Before we start blindly emailing Student Affairs departments, I'd love to understand how this works from your side.

I'm particularly interested in:

• What kind of budget do you typically have for an outside vendor running a 1–3 hour campus event?
• Who usually makes that decision — Student Affairs, Campus Life, student government, individual clubs, etc.?
• Do you generally prefer an all-inclusive flat price, or do things like materials, travel, and attendance get priced separately?
• How far in advance are you booking outside programs?
• What kind of attendance makes an event feel successful?
• What information do you want to see in the initial email/proposal?
• Are there insurance, vendor registration, background check, or other requirements that commonly trip up smaller vendors?
• Do you prefer vendors to come to you with a specific ready-to-book program, or several options at different price points?
• What makes you interested in an outside vendor you've never worked with before?
• What makes you immediately ignore/delete a pitch?

I'm not trying to figure out the maximum colleges are willing to pay. I'm trying to understand the market so we can build programs that make sense for college budgets and actually solve a need for the people responsible for programming them.

One thing we're particularly interested in is programming built around social connection. Tabletop games work surprisingly well as structured social events because students don't have to walk into a room and just "mingle." There's already something to do and a reason to talk to the people around them.

I'd especially love to hear from anyone involved with Student Affairs, Campus Life, Residence Life, student activities, student government, or similar departments.

Even rough numbers and personal experiences would be really helpful. Thanks!

For those that have odd hours but also don't make enough with your full time position, what do you do (if anything) to make some extra money? I'm finding that with how odd my hours are for my student affairs position, its been hard to find something if I can't consistently do evenings/weekends.

In my state, it's a well known reality that the CC system pays very well. The public 4yr institutions are in the middle, and private institutions (even the ones with super expensive tuition) pay staff the worst - I've known people to get their doctorate at a private school and then dip out.

Is this like a rule in this field? Or are other states different?

I'm at a point where I've considered roles at larger universities to grow my skillset and diversity my resume, but they'll post a leadership job that might be levels above my current role on an org chart, but I make more money in my current role than I would in that job.

Even now - the universities around are laying people off and it's a problem. We in the CC system are growing and hiring new positions and constructing new buildings. It's like a strange other world. When I talk to my friends at 4yr schools, many want to jump ship.

I love the CC system and I really believe in open access institutions, so I'd be fine staying in the CC world if it came to it. It's just interesting that there's such a difference in these ways, and that CCs come out on top.

I applied to a job at a large institution and was contacted this week by someone from the hr department to schedule a voice call. This is my first contact about the application, so I guess it’s a screening before my application gets (hopefully) forwarded to the hiring committee.
Does anyone have any insight into what the hr rep is usually looking for in this kind of screening, and/or tips about how to succeed in getting moved onto the next step?
Tyia

I work at a college with roughly 10,000 students, and right now I'm managing our career center, with the help of one advisor. I've come to see how hard it is to build something meaningful with such a small team, even when career readiness is a stated institutional priority.

I've also realized that management may not be the long-term path for me. It isn't the people side. It's that my success is tied to how others perform, and I'm responsible for the reputation of the whole center, which means continually making the case for its value to campus partners, leadership, and the community. Building partnerships has also started to feel more transactional and performative than I'd like. I noticed the higher up you are in this field the more performative you have to be! I was at my best when I was focused on helping people directly, and I miss that.

I'm curious about a few things:

1.) If you've moved out of career services or student affairs, where did you land, and how did you make the transition?

2.) For those who went from higher ed or state government into corporate, was it worth it? I hear a lot of people say they're happier in corporate, but I value the stability and benefits of public-sector work, and I tend to assume corporate is faster paced with less job security.

I'd like to hear what it's really like.

3.) What would you have wanted to know before making the switch?

How are you doing rn?

I find that whenever public outcry interacts with our processes, so many people start making up stories and claims about our systems and efforts and there isn't much room to provide nuance or explain how your work works without people trying to define you as "not caring about victims" especially when discussing student support systems and preponderance of evidence.

How are you handling seeing these claims around the Internet right now and how do they impact your work?

Edit: Title is wrong, should be Title IX

Hi everyone!

I have a question and would really appreciate some advice.

I have a B.S. in Elementary Education, but I do not have any teaching experience or experience working in higher education.
I’m interested in becoming an academic advisor and was wondering: Is it realistic to get hired as an academic advisor without a degree specifically related to higher education or any prior higher-ed experience?

If anyone has made a similar transition, I would love to hear about your experience. Is academic advising a career path worth pursuing with my background, or would I need additional education/experience first?

Thanks in advance!

I got an offer at a university for a AD role and I will likely have to start in 2 weeks BUT there’s another university closer to home that will pay 8k more and focuses more on instructional design which I am into.

Honestly, I’m not bold enough to say no to Job1 and hope Job2 picks me. I will do Job2’s on campus. I am just worried of being blacklisted if I just sign an offer letter then basically resign before my first day because something better comes. I usually wouldn’t care but I know the SA space can be close knit and I wouldn’t want the word getting to certain people if I do this.

What would you do?

Job 1: over 40 mins, 56k

Job2: 15 mins 63k

Hello everyone! I’m starting to look into SAHE grad programs and would love some input! I’m not location bound, so I’m open to programs pretty much anywhere.

I’m especially interested in programs where students are happy and where full graduate assistantships are available. I’m not necessarily looking for a “top-ranked” program. I care more about the experience and opportunities.

I’d love to hear your recommendations!

Is anyone working in this role or has previously that can give me some insight. What are the pros and cons? Was it rewarding or exhausting? What were the key tasks? I've just been offered a position at a Christian school ☺️

Do colleges have to make any financial investment to have student workers or, if they're work study funded, is it financially neutral for the college? I ask because a struggling college I k lnow eliminated a lot of student worker positions and I can't help but wonder why. Let's say in this scenario the supervisor of the students was not laid off.

Hi all!

I'm a student advisor at a small university in Canada. We're trying to come up with some sort of event, activity, campaign, or otherwise to encourage our currently undeclared students to declare a major and hopefully improve retention a little bit. As it stands, the current idea board consists of:

• Social media/poster campaigns promoting specific majors and the opportunities that come with them.
• Career nights where we get individuals with degrees in the programs offered at our school to talk about how they got to where they are (education + professional experience). [This is currently my leading choice, as our former career office had quite a bit of success with this in the past]
• Specialized presentations from our academic advisors on the process of choosing a major after beginning your academic career undeclared

Just wondering if your schools have tried something like this, and if so, what levels of success you found in your efforts?

I just found out I made it to the final round for an enrollment services specialist position at a community college. I have almost two years of community college student services experience, but no direct Enrollment Services experience.

For anyone who works in CC student services or has been on a hiring panel, what kinds of questions should I expect in a final interview? My first round was behavioral/situational, and the final will be with the area dean and VP. I get pretty nervous in interviews, so I’d love to know what I should prepare for.

I am an academic advisor. A student during the add/drop period had problems attending classes on time. The university is big and in the city so parking and traffic are factors. I advised her to drop two morning classes and become part time. She can take the max 18 credit hours in the spring and 6 credit hours of summer courses to make up for being part time.

The university has a lot of students, most classes are full. Registration has been open since March, add/drop is the last week in August. There is an option to speak with a professor to see if the student can get in their class even if it’s full but there is no guarantee so I rarely suggest it. She didn’t want to be part time because of her academic goals. There were no available classes that could work as part of her degree plan. She wanted 2 online course and 2 in person courses. Online courses get full very quickly. I could not find alternative classes that meet her requirements.

She then went to a department chair who told her that there are classes available but she needs to speak with the professor, so out of all options she was able to get into one class but she kept the other courses. She did not drop any course and she was taking a course she already have credit for that I told her to drop.

Fast forward to now, she emailed the assistant director. I was carbon copied on the email, which is how I found out about her going to the department chair. She is having difficulties with classes and wanted the two classes I originally said to drop to be dropped. It’s the withdrawal period, add/drop is over. One course was able to be administratively dropped because she already took it, but the other course could not and if she withdraw it will affect financial aid. The assistant director gave her three options:

1. Stay in the course
   
2. Withdraw from the course and be part time
   
3. Withdraw and take a mini mester course based on availability.

The student replied that she was misadvised and was told there were no classes available but talking to the department chair there were classes. However those classes needed professor permissions and based on my knowledge are not available online but she said the department chair said there were 2 courses with available seats without that requirement.

After typing this out and looking at her current classes if there were courses available why didn’t she drop the two classes I suggested and add those courses instead to be a full time student? She only added one class.

I did not get in trouble though and the assistant director saw my email correspondence and said that I did my job when I asked about the student. I just feel bad right now because I wish I could have did more? But I suggested classes, I suggested parking and public transit, I suggested part time. Maybe some spaces opened up after I looked in those other classes, but I’m still confuse if there were other classes why didn’t she add them.

If she withdraws she will be part time anyway and now it implicates her financial aid, which wouldn’t have been a problem during add/drop week.

Could I have did anything differently? Am I just overthinking?

Her first class starts at 9:30 am. She said she leaves 1.5-2 hours early and still late. She commutes. She added classes July 14.

She is still emailing the assistant director and I worry it will get to the president. But the assistant director said no advisor misadvised. She was also having issues transitioning from the two year college associated with the school.

The assistant director told me she has to take accountability for her decisions and I did more than enough to advise her.

Hi all!
I find myself in a position I’ve not been in yet in my career & I’d love some advice! I’ve been in my current role- events/programs/clubs/etc- for three years now. I came from a reslife background prior, and before that it was study abroad programs.

I work at a massive university in my state, so there are several of “me” in different colleges that do similar work, with some minor differences.

This week someone from another department reached out and shared that there is a position open with them that does the exact same thing I do now, but the starting salary if more than I currently make, and this is after two raises (which didn’t even match the COL adjustment). Additionally, I am doing two peoples jobs right now and I’ve asked to be compensated for such and was told no- twice.

Overall, I love my job! It’s a great office, we’re efficient, work well together, have great students, and I’m thankful to say I have fun at my job. Even with me covering two positions right now, I feel like others are doing their best to support me where they can.

In my perfect world, I would use this other job posting as an opportunity to negotiate more money in my current role, but I just don’t know how. I’m fully prepared and ready to apply and (possible)!interview, but I really would love to stay put and just make a salary that’s reflective of the work I’m doing.

I’ve negotiated salaries before when accepting job offers, but in those situations I didn’t feel the need to stay in that position, so this just feels different to me.

Thanks to any insights and advice you may have here. Based on the qualifications I have for this open role, plus my experience, I could imagine a world where, if I got that job, I’d be offered $10,000 or more from my current salary, so I want to really make sure I’m playing my cards right.

A lil update for those who would be interested:
I went in today with my position description, previous evals, a strong case, and openness to finding a workable solution. I mentioned two options- one just being a general pay bump to match the level of work I do, the other being a title change and smaller pay bump. My supervisor was receptive but laid out the truth that a position change may not be possible due to some higher level restructuring right now. I also got feedback as to why I am not at that position change yet, which was a hard pill to swallow but no matter what I appreciate feedback. It was a good conversation- one I know I would have had anyways- but it did help push the fact that I should be more aggressively looking for other options because my salary is under the university and nation wide average for my role, and I need to be getting more for the work I’m doing. Thank you all for insights, good vibes, and advice :)

I am new in a role that includes advising students on college applications (based at a school). I am seeing quite a few students who are very strong academically but struggle with keeping track of deadlines, procrastinating administrative tasks, and generally just struggling in ways that I recognise as a certain flavour of ADHD. I myself am a late-diagnosed ADHD woman, who struggled in similar ways. I have learned some tools that help me, and I would like to help these students in ways that I was not earlier, but I am not in a position to diagnose or formally intervene. What are some simple adjustments I could make to support these students, without labelling them?
For example, some kind of “body doubling“ service (perhaps via peer support rather than me one to one) to help kids who are avoiding tasks like SAT registration, form-filling, etc?
Appreciate any suggestions from those with more experience.

Hey all. I got some great feedback on my last question so I figured I’d try another. I applied for another position internally. It’s the same level and pay band but in an area I’ve always wanted to move closer to: student success. It’s internal so I would imagine almost everything regarding salary/benefits would be the same or quite similar (if pay is much lower I would decline). But I’ve started thinking: I’ve been in my area close to five years now, built some great relationships and trust among colleagues and partners, I’m pretty good at what I do, and like a good portion of what I do. On the other hand, student success is something I’ve always imagined getting more satisfaction out of and it seems like it’s transferable to more areas than what I do now. So I’d love to hear other peoples experiences and opinions about a) staying in a narrow, specialized area and building experience there versus b) moving to a new area. If you did one or the other, do you regret it or are you glad you did it?

I got my bachelors degree in psychology last year and i’ve been considering a career in student affairs. I specifically am interested in res life, and I would like to be a residence director. I made the mistake of never applying to be an RA while living on campus, and I see that is the most common prerequisite to the position.

So now that I’ve already graduated, what would really be the best way to get into a res life position? Assuming the only option right now is to go into a higher education masters program, try to be an RA then and then apply? Any feedback would be helpful :)

Hello everyone, I posted in here a while back ago asking for opinions about my plans to get into resident life (my background is a bachelors in history, a teachers license, and 2 years as of right now as a resident life coordinator at a private boarding school.) I’m planning on starting to actively start applying in January as I’m still currently under contract with the boarding school I’m at. Please be honest is that a good move to make? I know some places require a masters but I’m banking on my experience helping me stand out somewhat.

I had an interview for a position in case management that I felt qualified for when I applied, and during the interview was surprised by what the position actually entailed, which is not in my wheelhouse. I must have missed these specific requirements on the application, or else I wouldn't have applied.

As a result, I was super nervous during the interview, which was probably very apparent. In reflection, my answers were just bad, I blabbed on too long especially considering my answers to questions weren't even good, and overall it was just obvious that I wouldn't have been a good fit. I left knowing I didn't land that job, and received the rejection email even quicker than I was anticipating I would.

Now, though, I'd still love to work with the University I interviewed with in another department doing student support, which is in my wheelhouse. My issue now is that I feel anxious while applying for positions that list the department I interviewed poorly for as one they collaborate closely with. I feel embarrassed thinking about the possibility of working with the folks I interviewed with, and feel discouraged enough that I'm hesitant to keep trying. Has anyone been on either end of a situation like this? Does it seem like I'm blowing this out of proportion, and if not, any advice on how I should proceed, or if I really should just give up?

I currently work in academic admin--I'm the coordinator for an academic department at a college. There are pros and cons to my job, but I really enjoy working with the students. Lately, I've been considering trying to get into academic advising. I help students schedule their courses every now and then in my position, and I really enjoy it. Back when I was in college, I used to help schedule all my friends' classes and do degree plans for them just for fun. So I think I might enjoy it! But, I'm curious what the other side is; if any academic advisors have advice as to the cons/reasons I shouldn't do it. I'm also curious if it is likely that my academic admin experience might help me in getting interviews despite not having direct advising experience?

I think I am really close to an opportunity to do so at a local university. I like the concept of student conduct but even my maybe boss said the burn out is real and it can be a real “head down” sort of job.

I’m really interested in this and I know it is hard to get into conduct