Para professional vs student assistant

The differences between para professionals and student assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a para professional has an average salary of $28,118, which is higher than the $25,439 average annual salary of a student assistant.

The top three skills for a para professional include para-professional, mathematics and IEP. The most important skills for a student assistant are customer service, front desk, and administrative assistance.

Para professional vs student assistant overview

	Para Professional	Student Assistant
Yearly salary	$28,118	$25,439
Hourly rate	$13.52	$12.23
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	90,689	29,093
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	-

Para professional vs student assistant salary

Para professionals and student assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Para Professional	Student Assistant
Average salary	$28,118	$25,439
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $38,000	Between $17,000 And $37,000
Highest paying City	Glen Cove, NY	Albany, NY
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	Rhode Island
Best paying company	Schneider Electric Industrial Services	Ncar - The National Center For Atmospheric Research
Best paying industry	Education	Government

Differences between para professional and student assistant education

There are a few differences between a para professional and a student assistant in terms of educational background:

	Para Professional	Student Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Northwestern University

Para professional vs student assistant demographics

Here are the differences between para professionals' and student assistants' demographics:

	Para Professional	Student Assistant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 24.7% Female, 75.3%	Male, 36.8% Female, 63.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 58.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%	Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 8.1% White, 56.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between para professional and student assistant duties and responsibilities

Para professional example responsibilities.

Train and manage kindergarten classroom and achieve significant improvements in their productivity.
Perform responsible human support and paraprofessional work assisting classroom teacher or other professionals, achieve institution objectives.
Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) design to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
Obtain CPI certification through the school district.
Follow ABA procedure by redirecting students when behavior occurs.
Implement learning and ABA programs as written and instruct by the BCBA.

Student assistant example responsibilities.

Help troubleshoot public computers according to directions and also manage database of library.
Adhere to all aspects of FERPA and student confidentiality guidelines.
Answer phone, run errands, take messages, help office manager
Order, open and distribute office supplies weekly, and run errands.
Clean and stock supplies in restrooms, wash windows, walls and fix light fixtures.
Perform CPR during emergency rotation.

Para professional vs student assistant skills

Common para professional skills

Para-Professional, 19%
Mathematics, 10%
IEP, 7%
Kindergarten, 6%
CPR, 5%
Crisis Intervention, 4%

Common student assistant skills

Customer Service, 13%
Front Desk, 8%
Administrative Assistance, 7%
Financial Aid, 7%
PowerPoint, 6%
Office Equipment, 5%

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Education, Training, and Library Industry
Para Professional
Para Professional vs Student Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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