If you’re just starting out in the student-affairs profession, you will find that the job varies considerably from campus to campus, depending on all sorts of institutional characteristics.
That’s important to know because of the tendency—common to all types of colleges and universities—to hire people whose work experience has been at a similar institution. So your first or second job may well shape what your third or fourth job will be.
Here are several institutional characteristics that could shape your career experiences in important ways:
Enrollment size. Large institutions offer some distinctive advantages to a newcomer in the profession: They are more likely to have large departments within the student-affairs operation that will afford you an opportunity to specialize in a particular area. A larger student-affairs operation means a larger group of colleagues with which to interact as part of your early professional socialization. A large institution will offer more pathways and opportunities for internal promotion. And large institutions may also feature departments for specialty programs in areas like support for lesbian, gay, and transgender students or parent and family programming.
A small institution, in contrast, is likely to provide more experience for you as a generalist, and greater opportunities for collaboration both within, and outside of, the student-affairs office. Small operations offer early opportunities to be responsible for entire programs or services. In addition, the hierarchical structure at small-size institutions tends to be flatter than at large ones—meaning you may have more chances to interact with senior administrators and perhaps even to be mentored by them.
Setting. The students, staff, and faculty members at an urban university can be among the most diverse in higher education, and working with them may present rich opportunities to be involved in programs for diverse populations. Serving at an urban institution may also offer the experience of working to develop a sense of community in vertical or high-rise spaces.
Student-affairs professionals in cities have easy access to their counterparts at nearby campuses. The proximity of other institutions also increases the possibilities for promotions that do not require relocation or the disruption in your home life that comes with moving.
Finally, a small but not unimportant career benefit is that an urban college offers more opportunities to access low-cost airfares or other transportation, making it more affordable for you to attend professional conferences and workshops.
The students, staff, and faculty members at a rural college or university may not be as diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, but they are diverse in other ways. At a rural institution, you may have the chance to help students who are members of farming or ranching families (and it’s important to recognize there is a difference between the two). You may work with members of the rodeo team or student leaders from the agriculture club. In some areas of the country, you may get the chance to work with Native American students from local tribal communities.
Another interesting dimension of professional practice at rural institutions is their prominence in the local area. Rural institutions are often significant entities in the town and region in which they are located, and the staff members can have a much higher profile—for better or worse—than might be the case for their peers working in urban environments.
Selectivity in admissions. Selective institutions are perceived as elite, and that reputation can transfer to their employees. Guiding the “best and brightest” students is often perceived as prestigious work, like a doctor who treats the stars rather than the general public.
It is interesting to note, however, that while there is a premium in income that typically accompanies serving as a doctor (or a lawyer, or in some other profession) to society’s elite, salaries for student-affairs administrators at selective or highly selective institutions sometimes are lower than at less-selective ones. There seems to be a sense that, somehow, it is a privilege to serve at such institutions or that jobs at those institutions are particularly desirable (hence there is a buyer’s market).
One result of increased selectivity is reduced emphasis on student-retention services and programs—functions that draw a great deal of attention from student-affairs officers at moderately selective or open-admission institutions.
Mission. Enrollment management, retention, community engagement, and support services are typically constructed differently at two-year colleges than at four-year institutions. And the nature of the relationship between the institution and its students can be different as well. Similarly, the career experiences and opportunities of student-affairs professionals are shaped in unique ways by working at historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges, service academies, and online or proprietary institutions.
The single greatest effect of institutional characteristics on your career is the problem of pigeonholing—the tendency of institutions of all types to see themselves as somehow unique in ways that require hiring people whose work experience has been at the same type of campus.
It doesn’t matter which type of institution; it seems they all make a case for being special. The elites prefer hiring those who have served at elites or who have graduated from elites. The open-access institution looks for people who have worked with students like their own—typically, that means first-generation college students with a wide range of academic preparation. Two-year colleges, rural institutions, not-for-profit institutions—they are all alike in that they tend to replicate themselves in their hiring.
As a student-affairs professional, you can make career plans and choices that recognize and respond to that tendency, or you can intentionally seek to vary your career experiences by moving across various institutional types. Both choices offer risks and rewards.
The good news is that no matter which choice you make, you will have the incredible opportunity to help students achieve their dreams via higher education. But to do your best work, you have to understand which type of institution appeals to you most.
