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The differences between resident assistants and field assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a resident assistant and a field assistant. Additionally, a field assistant has an average salary of $33,354, which is higher than the $29,971 average annual salary of a resident assistant.
The top three skills for a resident assistant include home health, CPR and vital signs. The most important skills for a field assistant are customer service, payroll, and newspapers.
| Resident Assistant | Field Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $29,971 | $33,354 |
| Hourly rate | $14.41 | $16.04 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 19,033 | 59,751 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Resident assistants help manage peers or younger students who live in a particular residence hall on campus. They are usually in charge of welcoming fellow students, providing residence hall tours, and helping students cope with their new environment. To help students become more at ease with their environment, resident assistants usually act as buddies. They answer inquiries that the students may have and act as the bridge between the students and the residence hall management. They assist with administrative activities in the residence hall, such as handing out forms for students and ensuring documents are correctly filled out.
The duties of a field assistant depend on one's line of work or place of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around performing support tasks such as preparing documentation and presentations, recording data and updating information systems, managing schedules, attending meetings, and performing research and analysis. There are also instances where a field assistant must visit job sites to conduct observation or to gather samples, coordinate with other staff, handle calls and correspondence, and run errands as needed.
Resident assistants and field assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Resident Assistant | Field Assistant | |
| Average salary | $29,971 | $33,354 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $39,000 | Between $24,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Roseville, CA | Chicago, IL |
| Highest paying state | California | Illinois |
| Best paying company | Mount St. Mary's University | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | Education | Agriculture |
There are a few differences between a resident assistant and a field assistant in terms of educational background:
| Resident Assistant | Field Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Biology |
| Most common college | SUNY at Binghamton | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between resident assistants' and field assistants' demographics:
| Resident Assistant | Field Assistant | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 34.0% Female, 66.0% | Male, 55.0% Female, 45.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 6.7% White, 58.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.1% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |