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

What is a college director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Stephanie Lorenze

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a college director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $45.07 an hour? That's $93,752 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 15,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What's a day at work look like for a college director?

Stephanie Lorenze

Service Associate Professor, Coordinator for Teacher Education, West Virginia University

They wish they knew, honestly. This uncertainty is challenging. We are supporting them as they approach this time with support in self-care and professional strategies for sustainability in the emotional and academic work of teaching.

ScoreCollege DirectorUS Average

Salary

7.3

Avg. Salary $93,752

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 4.29%

Black or African American 11.34%

Hispanic or Latino 13.85%

Unknown 3.99%

White 65.83%

Gender

female 46.44%

male 53.56%

Age - 47

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 - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a college director

Explore college director education requirements

Most common college director degrees

Bachelor's

64.5 %

Master's

19.6 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific college director skills

Skills	Percentages
Alumni	13.34%
Financial Aid	10.48%
Program Development	9.78%
Professional Development	8.70%
Academic Affairs	6.62%

Complete relevant college director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New college directors 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 director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real college director resumes.

Research college director duties and responsibilities

Lead project management team in development/execution of conferences and enduring CME -accredite programs.
Work with colleges through out Texas to develop common numbering system for courses.
Foster communication with alumni and encourage participation in events, programs and monetary support
Develop relationships with area guidance counselors in order to facilitate alumni transition from high school to post secondary education.

Get college director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a college director. The most common roles before becoming a college director include internship, director team lead and teacher.

Prepare your college director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your college director 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 director 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 director resume templates

Build a professional college director 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 director resume.