What Is a Director of Student Services?
It can be difficult managing all of the students in a school, so the duties of looking after each school’s student body is typically broken down into several positions. For example, admissions directors are charged with handling incoming students, whereas deans may look after all of the students in a particular college.
Directors of student services are education administrators who are responsible for handling all of the different student services that are made available to the scholarly population, such as health services, counseling services, housing, financial aid, and social events. They work with other student service departments to ensure that everything is running efficiently.
In smaller institutions, the director of student services may in charge of all of the different branches of student services, whereas at larger institutions, they may simply oversee the different directors for each department, such as registrars and financial aid directors. Some directors of student services also help in preparing the department’s budget for the year.
How to Become a Director of Student Services
There are no official training processes for directors of student services, but most directors are teachers or professors who have moved on to administrative positions or those with a degree in educational leadership. A bachelor’s-level degree or graduate-level degree is typically preferred for those pursuing director of student services positions.
During your degree program, you should take courses in leadership, team management, and administration. You should also familiarize yourself with the education field if you do not already have teaching credentials.
Those completely new to the position will have better employment prospects at smaller schools, as those institutions are more likely to hire and work with those with relatively little experience. From there, directors of student services can gain experience and work their way up to bigger and more intricate schools and programs. Currently employed teachers looking to move into administrative positions may find the best luck of doing so at their current school.
Director of Student Services Career Outlook & Salary
The salary for directors of student services varies greatly depending on where the director is working. A director for a large, well-known institution typically earns more than one working at a smaller and more obscure school.
The national average annual salary for directors of student services is between $42,149 and $63,768, according to PayScale.com, a salary research website. The salary range remains largely the same for those working in primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions.
The job prospects for directors of student services will be positive well into the next decade due to the education industry experiencing a boom. Numerous other sectors suffered large job losses due to the economic recession, but the education industry prospered because of the renewed interest in obtaining a higher education. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment opportunities for education administrators, such as directors of student services, will increase 2.4% from 2008-2018.
