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College assistant vs project assistant

The differences between college assistants and project assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a college assistant and a project assistant. Additionally, a project assistant has an average salary of $38,564, which is higher than the $29,899 average annual salary of a college assistant.

The top three skills for a college assistant include cleanliness, english language and customer service. The most important skills for a project assistant are data entry, powerpoint, and customer service.

College assistant vs project assistant overview

College AssistantProject Assistant
Yearly salary$29,899$38,564
Hourly rate$14.37$18.54
Growth rate-8%-8%
Number of jobs41,27359,664
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Average age5050
Years of experience22

What does a college assistant do?

A college assistant is responsible for administrative, clerical, and research work in educational institutions. Your day-to-day duties may vary but typically include answering telephone calls, maintaining records such as rosters and inventory control records, and ordering office supplies and equipment. In addition, you will be responsible for assisting in research activities by collecting and compiling data, performing data entry, and preparing reports. Other duties include providing assistance in instructional programs, processing expenses, and purchasing reports, and advertising various events through social media.

What does a project assistant do?

A project assistant's role mainly revolves around assisting a project manager. The responsibilities may vary upon the industry or organization. Still, most of them will be administrative tasks such as preparing reports and documentation, responding to calls and other forms of correspondence, and coordinating with various offices and personnel. Furthermore, a Project Assistant must also ensure the department's efficient workflow, proper utilization of budget, review documentation and schedules, attend meetings, and maintain an information database.

College assistant vs project assistant salary

College assistants and project assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

College AssistantProject Assistant
Average salary$29,899$38,564
Salary rangeBetween $23,000 And $38,000Between $25,000 And $57,000
Highest paying CityNew Haven, CTPortland, OR
Highest paying stateConnecticutOregon
Best paying companyUniversity of California, BerkeleyAstraZeneca
Best paying industryEducationTechnology

Differences between college assistant and project assistant education

There are a few differences between a college assistant and a project assistant in terms of educational background:

College AssistantProject Assistant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 65%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityWestern Carolina University

College assistant vs project assistant demographics

Here are the differences between college assistants' and project assistants' demographics:

College AssistantProject Assistant
Average age5050
Gender ratioMale, 40.1% Female, 59.9%Male, 32.9% Female, 67.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage6%6%

Differences between college assistant and project assistant duties and responsibilities

College assistant example 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
  • Join new PCs to a Microsoft windows domain environment, imaging computers to school standard.
  • Tutor students with diverse mathematical abilities in various undergraduate math courses
  • Show more

Project assistant example responsibilities.

  • Manage SharePoint document repository and ensure that project managers comply with PMO policies.
  • Manage facilities by coordinating relocation of departments by using the facilities management database and VISIO.
  • Compose and balance departmental grants, tabulate and process payroll distribution, manage and maintain office routine during supervisor's absence.
  • Manage QA budget for assign projects by identifying actual and potential budget over-runs and under-runs, develop and monitor project/program plans.
  • Create a useful project tracking tool call JIRA.
  • Communicate with donors via phone, email, and twitter.
  • Show more

College assistant vs project assistant skills

Common college assistant skills
  • Cleanliness, 20%
  • English Language, 16%
  • Customer Service, 11%
  • Data Entry, 7%
  • Mathematics, 5%
  • Windows, 4%
Common project assistant skills
  • Data Entry, 11%
  • PowerPoint, 8%
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Project Management, 8%
  • Meeting Minutes, 4%
  • Data Collection, 4%

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