Working in Higher Education AKA The Bad Place

I’d like to share a little about my experience working in higher education. I worked at a large state college in Florida for almost 12 years, mostly in Student Affairs. And spoiler alert, Student Affairs in higher ed is literally the bad place, getting worse every year, and nothing is being done about it. I have only worked at one institution, but I have friends and colleagues that do currently or have previously worked at most of the colleges and universities in Florida. If anything my school’s situation is the least shitty, but it’s still unacceptable.

Let’s do a little time traveling, I started as a part time (25 hours/week) Career Advisor in 2010. I helped students with career assessments, general course/degree advising, resume and cover letter writing, applying for internships, blah blah blah. Then I got the chance to really live large in a different advising role that was still part time but 29 hours a week, doing similar work, add some admissions stuff, take away the career stuff. About six months into working my fancy, new, ballin’, 29 hour a week job, some employment laws changed and I was too close to being eligible for benefits so my hours were cut to 25 hours a week. I consider this my first official “fuck you” from the college.

After feeling used and abused for the first time, I left Student Affairs for a lower grade, lower paying, full time job in the Academic Dean’s office. Despite going from working 25 hours to 40, I made less money per paycheck, but I was treated a hell of a lot better. Almost like a human. Plus, finally having health insurance and getting paid for forced school breaks was nice. But good fucking grief that job was boring. So when I finally got the opportunity for a full time advising job, I went back to Student Affairs, despite knowing better in my gut. BTW, I was never selected for an interview for a full time advising job in the 4 years I actually worked in advising, but sure now that I work as an assistant’s assistant, go ahead, interview me. So they did and I got that job. It took me 5.5 years to get my first full time job in education after graduating from college, despite having 6 years of experience in Pre-K - 12 education before ever applying to anything in higher ed.

Now, let’s skip ahead to my next/current job. My title and what people call my job are VERY different. My title is Student Services Coordinator, my collegewide team is usually referred to as Orientation Managers, but none of our positions are still manager positions because then they’d have to pay us manager money. BUT, when I was hired into this role, it was still considered a low level administrative roll, so I could FINALLY get a raise IF I got a Master’s Degree. I researched schools, decided I wanted a Master’s in Communication so I could teach Intro to Speech, and because I would get a modest 3% raise for earning a Master’s AND I could teach adjunct, I figured if I had to take out loans to pay for grad school, at least I knew I had a path to pay them off. I could finally see a return on my investment in higher education for myself. Fast forward a few months, more employment law changes, and my job was reclassified, so now I’m an hourly worker who will not get a raise for an advanced degree and is not eligible to teach where I already work. My second “fuck you”. Needless to say, I did not go to grad school, I did not earn a Master’s Degree, because I do not make enough money working in HIGHER EDUCATION to afford an advanced degree for myself. That is not something colleges/universities actually value, they just pretend to.

So I’ve been in this role for six years, I’ve seen a lot of institutional changes and with each one my job gets closer and closer to the job I had last, meaning I basically have been in a role decline since I was hired into this role. It’s like getting demoted every year. They don’t take money directly out of my paycheck, they just don’t give raises in line with the increase in the cost of living in addition to slowly stripping away all of the leadership responsibilities, autonomy and input over the program I am supposed to oversee, the third “fuck you”. My college wide team and I have reverted back to being advisors, just with a different job title and description. This is no longer the job any of us applied for or want to do. I left advising because I was burnt out doing that job and wanted a change. Now I’m back to doing a job I left for a good fucking reason. I have stayed in higher education hoping that things would get better. I have stayed for the students who need people like me. I have stayed to be a voice for new employees who don’t know any better, who feel like they can’t speak up when they have these experiences. I have stayed because I am extremely good at my job. Ask literally anyone that has ever worked with me.

In theory, I love my job. I love helping people, I’m patient with strangers, I have people skills dreams are made of. I can connect with basically anyone and get them the information they need, stay calm in difficult situations, offer resources like a fucking directory service, and don’t even get me started on my beloved spreadsheets. I am a mother fucking gift to education. FULL STOP.

But when you work in higher education, none of that matters. There are no benefits for people who are good at their jobs and stick around. You just stay good at your job, don’t get paid a living wage, and hope you don’t get fucked, AGAIN.

I can no longer work at an institution or in a field where we say our mission is one thing and we do the opposite to meet enrollment numbers. I cannot be that person that keeps doing a soul crushing job where I am not valued, I am not a respected professional even after 18 years of professional education experience, and where leadership ignores the advice of the people who do that actual front line work.

It has taken me over a decade to figure this out, but I am worthy of a job where I am respected, valued, and that aligns with my values and beliefs. And unfortunately, that is no longer higher education in the state of Florida.

Best of luck to all of my colleagues and friends who are still fighting the good fight. I appreciate your dedication to students, and I hope shit turns around for y’all soon.