At this point, I don’t envision a long-term future in Student Affairs, and I certainly don’t see myself retiring from the field. After accepting a promotion two years ago, I’ve experienced heightened stress and anxiety, often carrying the weight of work home with me. While I’m committed to making a meaningful impact, I’m increasingly seeking roles that allow me to grow and advance without compromising my well-being. I’m looking for spaces with healthier margins, where leadership doesn’t come at the cost of my peace or personal fulfillment.
The above quote is from a mid-level professional who participated in the Mid-Managers Institute and a survey assessing the experiences of this group of professionals. These types of comments are not uncommon and are being heard with greater frequency. The role of the mid-level professional has always involved challenges. Some examples include navigating supervisor differences amongst colleagues, timeliness with information sharing, varying levels of confidence to manage conflict, not always being the final decision maker, managing the stress of progressive leadership, and an on again/off again confidence that their work is making a difference. However, in the current context, the work of these professionals has become even more challenging. In student affairs, we continuously seek to improve ourselves and our profession. This article is meant to provide a voice to these administrators and share insight with supervisors, managers, and senior leaders who have the ability to shape the culture in our profession and provide improvements to the experiences of mid-level managers.
Higher Education and Student Affairs in Today’s Context
Criticisms and challenges facing higher education have a history almost as long as the founding of higher education itself. Complaints include concerns about college access: the ability to access the university is too narrow, only the elite are being granted the ability to pursue collegiate study, colleges are not serving students with enough services, enrollments are not diverse enough. Those not only in, but outside of higher education have historically been quick to offer critique of colleges and universities.
Other concerns related to working in higher education center a lack of work/life balance is causing an increasing number of employees to consider a different field and the cost of education has skyrocketed. With all criticisms and challenges, several sources can be identified that include parents, alumni, employers, students and also employees from within the colleges and universities themselves. individuals employed in those institutions. Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights (2025) reported that trust in higher education continues to decline. Consumers of higher education have expressed concerns with the career preparedness of college graduates and the rising cost of tuition (Hua et al., 2022). A recent study showed 60% of families and students have concerns about student costs and 40% about indebtedness (Elfman, 2024). Being able to meet the challenges of the day and for the improvement of society goes back to the roots of why colleges and universities were first created.
Public pressure, donor expectations, and accrediting bodies have expectations regarding value and outcomes. There is increasing pressure on institutions to provide increased student support, programs, mentoring, tutoring, and intentionality to impact the student experience. State governments are also demanding more accountability from colleges and universities related to graduation rates.
The Demographic Cliff and Increased Demands on Higher Education
The anticipated decrease in the number of direct-from-high-school college students in the United States or “demographic cliff” is expected to begin in 2026 (Knox, 2024). This shift is pushing colleges and universities to plan and prepare for what enrollments might look like in the future. Preparing for this change is not just the work of the university president and executive leadership, but requires dedicated efforts from many across the institution, including mid-level managers.
This need for increased student support has increased the workload for student affairs professionals. Part of this increased workload has included constantly evolving challenges supporting the students’ increased needs related to mental health, campus safety, and campus unrest (Walker et al., 2023).
This expanded workload has impacted the satisfaction and retention of many mid-level professionals in student affairs. Since 2020, the voices and departures of mid-level administrators have become very visible due to Covid burnout, social media, and the “Great Resignation” (Ellis, L., 2021). The voices from this group and others are prioritizing, maybe demanding, a new construct in the workplace and these challenges have impacted mid-manager in a variety of ways. Workload and role-ambiguity has increased, staff well-being has decreased, as well as a lack of alignment between mid-manager expectations and training (Walker et al., 2023, Lemmons, A.A., 2024). These factors combined create a challenging environment for all student affairs practitioners with specific challenges for those in mid-level positions.
The Mid-Level Manager
Mid-managers are defined as student affairs professionals with five or more years of experience, not serving in a senior leadership role such as Dean of Students, Assistant/Associate/VP, or Vice President. Many of the day-to-day student interactions in student affairs are overseen by mid-level administrators. When mid-level professionals leave an institution, the impact of these departures are quickly felt by the students served and the colleagues who remain. Senior-level administrators have expressed concern about the decreasing pipeline of professionals to fill future leadership roles (NASPA, 2024). The complex issue of frequent staff turnover has made the recruitment and retention of dedicated employees an important factor in the continued success of student affairs. While departures occur in all areas of student affairs, a 2023 study by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources showed that admissions and residence life are two areas with especially large turnover (Ferraino, 2024). The increased departures and satisfaction of employees in student affairs are areas that need attention.
Mid-Managers Institute Survey
To gain a clearer understanding of the mid-level manager experience, participants from the SACSA/NASPA Region III Mid-Managers Institute (MMI) from 2023-2025 were surveyed in June 2025 to learn more about the factors impacting their retention and the departures of their counterparts. 96 MMI participants completed the survey, which consisted of eight core questions as well as demographic information.
When asked “What are the top three challenges you currently face as a mid-level manager in Student Affairs?” We identified five core challenges: resource constraints and budget issues, navigating institutional and political challenges, staffing and retention struggles, balancing leadership and operational demands, and professional development and mobility. One survey participant said, “(A challenge for me is) not being part of the decision-making that matters. Being the middleman and having to determine what should/shouldn’t be shared with staff. Salary (is another challenge), my own and not being able to reward the good work of my staff.” Another participant wrote that a challenge for them was, “Feeling stuck in my role with no growth opportunities.”
Another question focused on the support structures or resources mid-managers felt would help them thrive and engage more/most in their current role. Professional development and mentorship were top responses, followed by compensation, work-place flexibility and well-being, cross-departmental collaboration and communication, and opportunities for career advancement and recognition. One participant wrote of cross-functional collaboration, “Our university is siloed, and we are not making enough progress for me to remain invested” and another said, “(My university needs) adequate staffing and resource allocation. The university has high expectations, but low investments.” Mid-level managers are yearning for a number of support structures that stretch what higher ed. is accustomed to. When looking at the themes that emerged from survey responses, 4 out of the 5 themes involve little to no financial investment. Mentoring, workplace flexibility, collaboration/communication, and recognition are all achievable outcomes that leadership can thoughtfully and intentionally incorporate into the workplace. Retention and strong employee engagement are dependent on it.
When asked ways that their institutions or supervisors could better support professional growth and well-being, the themes mirrored those of question two. The only additional theme was having more supportive leadership. One participant said, “(Providing) more flexible schedules, funds for professional development, and succession/gap planning to ensure reasonable workload is so important.” Financial investments might be needed now more than ever when it comes to employee retention and engagement. Salaries, work from home flexibility, and the perception of less stress have become highly valued criteria for where an employee calls home. These types of investments can potentially be isolated to certain divisions across the university, but a perhaps fairer way to approach meaningful financial investment into professional growth and well-being of mid-level managers (and all employees) should come from executive leadership at the institution. Leadership development programs can be created or enhanced for mid-level manager staff and open to those across the university so that the content is relevant and seen as worthy by the employee. Divisions can create customized opportunities or new programs that do not compete with university-wide initiatives, but complement the offerings, so professional growth and well-being feels value added and prioritized.
Beyond simply identifying challenges, the survey also asked those who responded to provide suggestions and guidance. Participants shared what would motivate them to remain in student affairs for ten or more years. The responses included fair compensation, clearer professional career trajectory in higher education, work-place cultures prioritizing employee well-being, and supportive leadership that fosters trust in times of systemic challenges in the field. While another felt that “Sponsorship over mentorship; opportunities for professional development outside of the traditional “student affairs” development.”
Putting the Data into Practice
Supervisors of mid-level professionals should not find these survey responses surprising due to the alignment with current national research and personal commentary seen on social media. We need to have additional and ongoing conversations to mitigate and address current challenges. Student Affairs leadership needs to actively engage with mid-level professionals to provide support. Their retention has a direct impact on both student and staff retention, satisfaction, and continued improvement and succession in the field.
Based on the survey, below are a few suggestions that can be included in the conversations supporting mid-level professionals:
- Structured campus mentoring can be offered to mid-level professionals from senior level professionals. This experience would not only provide mentoring, but networking is an opportunity for senior leaders to have more one-on-one engagement with mid-managers.
- If budgeting or staff size is a barrier, consider working with nearby institutions to create a community of mid-level professionals, mentors, and professional development opportunities.
- While salary increases are not feasible for all universities, “professional packages” can offer opportunities to increase professional development, offer flexible work schedules, provide additional vacation during student breaks, or by offering cross-functional training via professional internships or practicums in other functional areas.
- Some positions can be intentionally designed as two- to four-year roles that include opportunities for mentorship and career advancement. This keeps newer employees in the field with structured guidance. These growth-focused positions allow the supervisors and mid-managers to enter the experience with clear expectations of professional commitment and professional growth opportunities.
- Providing safe opportunities for mid-managers to engage in open dialogue with supervisors and senior leaders can help leaders create policies and practices that support a positive culture and work environment.
Renewed Focus on Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is a term frequently used in student affairs and across other growth minded organizations when seeking progress in various facets of student engagement and support units. This same focus should be used when addressing the trends and practices that impact the retention, succession, and well-being of student affairs professionals. It simply needs to be more verbally spoken about and integrated into employee development and organization mantras. Continuous improvement in organizations has a positive impact on employee engagement, sense of ownership, and encourages innovative thinking (Jerab, 2024). Similar processes and procedures of assessment should be used to assess the experiences of mid-managers, such as those used to conduct external reviews.
Conclusion
Values and social identities shaped the initial interest of many professionals who’ve entered student affairs, but over time, conflicts such as work-life balance, salary and compensation, student behavior and mental health trends, and limited opportunities for advancement are causing many to leave, or consider leaving, the field and have major dissatisfaction with student affairs as a career direction (Nyunt, Pridgen, & Thomas, 2024). When focusing on the challenges of mid-managers, supervisors and senior leadership should consider using various methods of support to find what best fits the professionals at their institutions. The same energy and mindsets used to improve the student experience should also be used to improve the experiences of mid-level managers in student affairs. To gain a greater understanding of the experiences of mid-level managers and to learn ways to support their growth and development, supervisors are encouraged to review the linked report.
Author Biographies
Dr. Adrienne Michele Craig (she, her) is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She has 20 years of experience in Student Affairs working at universities in North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Dr. Craig is an active member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and Southern Association for College Student Affairs. She currently serves as the Director for the Mid-Manager Institute (2025-2026). Dr. Craig earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Old Dominion University, a master’s degree from Virginia Tech, and a doctorate in Leadership & Innovation from Wilmington University. She is also a proud mom to her goldendoodle, Hercules Lamont JaBarkus Craig.
Dr. Ken Gassiot (he, him) is the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Georgia Southern University. With over 26 years of experience, Dr. Gassiot has worked in public and private institutions in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas. He has served in nationally elected and nationally/regionally appointed positions in NASPA with currently serving as the Chair of the AVP Steering Committee (2025-2027) and Co-chair of the 2026 AVP Symposium. He serves as an on-site accreditation evaluator for SACSCOC and holds undergraduate and graduate teaching experience. Fun facts about Dr. Gassiot is that he is the proud father to Jonah, Sydney, Ian, and Ainsley as well as being a background actor in various television/movie productions filmed in/around Savannah, GA including Lady and the Tramp (2019), Fear the Walking Dead (2023), Manhunt (2024), Origin (2024), Juror #2 (202), and Peacemaker (2025).
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Knox, L. (2024, December 11). A Long Way Down the Demographic Cliff. Inside Higher Ed.
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Nyunt, G., Pridgen, R., & Thomas, I. (2024). Disrupting student affairs staff departure: Examining needed changes to the field of student affairs to attract and retain a diverse workforce. Journal of College Student Development, 65(2), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2024.a923528
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