Colleges and universities rely on admissions positions with high turnover and young employees to do much of the work when it comes to building graduating classes, according to a recent data analysis by College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).
The research report, The Higher Ed Admissions Workforce: Pay, Diversity, Equity, and Years in Position, contains analyses of data reported by 940 institutions about 12,042 admissions employees in six admissions positions: chief admissions officer; deputy head of student admissions; head of student admissions for a college or school; head of campus graduate admissions; graduate program admissions coordinator; and student admissions counselor.
Findings include that median salaries were highest for the position of chief admissions officer; representation of women was higher than men for each race/ethnicity at all admissions position levels; and that turnover was high in admissions coordinator and counselor positions, the roles where the employees tended to be significantly younger (median age 30).
In terms of race and ethnicity, the report found that Asian employees and Hispanic/Latino employees were underrepresented at all levels of admissions compared to Asian and Hispanic/Latino U.S. bachelor’s degree holders, while Black employees were well represented in comparison to Black U.S. bachelor’s degree holders.
