How To Become A College Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a college assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A college assistant is typically a person who is employed by an institution of higher learning and is responsible for various administrative and clerical work. These individuals assist the academic and administrative departments of a college and are responsible for answering phones and inquiries, maintaining records, ordering office supplies, managing inventory, and sorting through mail and correspondence.

Other roles involve assisting upper management and teachers with various instructional programs, processing expenses, running purchasing reports, as well as advertising school events through social media.

Depending upon the department, a college assistant may also issue ID cards to students and staff, handle transactions and cash, perform data entry tasks, answer student and faculty questions, and maintain student rosters. These individuals perform clerical duties for the departments in which they work and should be adept at multitasking and possess excellent communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.

They should also have a working knowledge of computers, printers, phones and other related technologies. A college assistant usually works in an office environment during normal college hours.

Although some assistants possess a bachelor's degree in a related educational field, an advanced degree is not necessarily a requirement provided the individual has comparable knowledge and experience. Most college assistants can make up to $34,000 per year in the US, but the career field is expected to decline 7% by 2028.

ScoreCollege AssistantUS Average

Salary

2.3

Avg. Salary $29,899

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.0

Growth Rate -8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 3.80%

Black or African American 9.11%

Hispanic or Latino 15.96%

Unknown 3.87%

White 66.53%

Gender

female 59.88%

male 40.12%

Age - 52

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 52

Stress Level

6.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.4

Complexity Level is basic

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a college assistant

Explore college assistant education requirements

Most common college assistant degrees

Bachelor's

57.2 %

Associate

25.7 %

Master's

8.1 %

Start to develop specific college assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Cleanliness	20.34%
English Language	16.20%
Customer Service	11.11%
Data Entry	7.31%
Mathematics	4.57%

Complete relevant college assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New college assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a college assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real college assistant resumes.

Research college assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage and develop the daily clinical schedule for the in-patient rehabilitation staff taking into consideration Medicare guidelines and staffing ratios.
Create PowerPoint presentations for various events as needed.
Design PowerPoint presentations for recruitment events, college fairs, and information sessions.
Assist children with mild disabilities on their spelling, math, and reading homework

Prepare your college assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your college assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a college assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable College Assistant Resume templates

Build a professional College Assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your College Assistant resume.

Apply for college assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a college assistant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do college assistants rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

College Assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019

Pros

Interaction with clients and or customers is what I mainly liked, especially when confidentiality was needed! I also liked multitasking for different. departments.