"Working in higher education must be interesting these days, huh?"
That question was posed to me by several people who recently learned that I worked in higher education. The recent discourse around the industry and field has certainly shifted in narrative and the overall feel within it.
I recently wrapped up my fourteenth (!!) academic year. It's remarkable to think that I've been serving students and following a passion for this long. This is especially the case considering the rising turnover, the documented yearly burnout, and the increasing exodus from the field.
And, yup, there is that whole enrollment cliff combined with the politics that are more present than ever on college campuses.
So yeah, higher education is weird right now. Very weird.
Some quick thoughts :
IS IT TIME?
Yes, I have thought about leaving the field several times. Especially, over the last few years. COVID didn't really bother me, but it's safe to say that the world of higher education after COVID has been an ...umm, adjustment. More than ever, it feels like your work isn't valued, appreciated, or sometimes, understood.
CHANGING GENERATIONS
We've all made a Gen Z joke at some point. Yet, there lies truth in humor. With every incoming class, the disconnect feels greater for me. The current generation is passionate, caring, and ambitious. However, accountability, communication, and adversity are things they have no interest in. Once the founding characteristics of student development during your college years are now an immediate reason to email
Also, with the change in generations comes a change in parents. That generation too, has been difficult as parents. Helicopter parents are sort of...normal, now. It's been quite an adjustment.
POINTLESS FOCUS
As many of you know, I work in Athletics. I would argue that college athletics only exist because they need a name going forward. It's quite discouraging to watch an entity I was passionate about, that gave me such a launching board as a student-athlete myself, evolve into this model where resources are spent to win.
Maybe it's a cold-take on my part, but it's hard not to ask "For, what?" in watching so many resources deployed to win (or for fruitless reasons) at the expense of supporting students.
POLITICS
Education and politics in the last five years rolled around together and somehow are now unable to untangle themselves. We see it in the K-12 system through town halls, local laws. and your daily uninformed social media posts.
College campuses are dialed up as the student base holds much more power than your middle schooler. Campuses are just hotbeds for political action. It's gone from the space of providing growing individuals a space for educational expression to an outright pawn in the greater political ecosphere.
DEMAND
This is a big one for me. The role of a college administrator continues to grow every year. Programmer. Mentor. Advisor. Counselor. First Aid. Hazing. Suicide awareness. Secual Assault reporter. Financial advisor (and wizard, for those of you handling a budget). And on, and on, and on...
We're asked (basically expected) to be everything for students, which often includes carrying their burdens, fulfilling the institution's needs, and filling the gaps of a likely understaffed (or ill-staffed) department.
A higher education practitioner's toolbox is full of the necessary experience that employers are seeking, which makes higher education administrators attractive candidates in other professions. Thus, a likely exodous.
I've mentioned burnout...but it's more real than ever before. And at times, depending on the matter, the ease of "quiet quitting" is a way.
Just go through the motions!! Which is not what many of us wanted to do when we entered this field with passion.
IS IT WORTH IT?
We've heard that question asked many times, as many now question the path of higher education altogether. What's on the other side of that question is an entire field working to dispute or dispel growing narratives that this experience is still worth it.
That, too, can be tiring, draining, and exhausting.
And it has been
However, finally...
THE FUTURE
As mentioned above, the incoming classes have been interesting to observe, work with, and serve. The most interesting thing today in higher education is the students and the admission from them that they, too, are struggling with whatever environment higher education has shifted to.
Expensive. Is it worth it? (but I'm here) Politics. And the overall demand.
They, too, are trying to cope. This has given higher education nerds administrators a new challenge to fight.
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I'm not sure how long I have remaining in higher education. This year could be the final year. I could be in this thing for another fourteen. Only God knows.
I joined this field because higher education gave me a platform that launched me into spaces I never would have had access to. My experiences there gave me the tools to break down doors that weren't open for family members before me.
I had life-changing professors. I benefited from amazing campus programs. I endured experiences that I still carry today.
I STILL want that for students of today and tomorrow. I enjoy that reward, which is the greatest emotional benefit of working in this field.
Right now. Today, in higher education...as an administrator, that feeling, that one we crave, by the sum of all the current parts involved, is a crushing experience.