How long does it take to become a Student Assistant?

It takes one year or less to become a student assistant. That is the time it takes to learn specific student assistant skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 4 to 6 years years to become a student assistant.

How To Become A Student Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a student assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A Student Assistant is a position for a student enrolled at university and entails assisting faculty members, basically in everything they do not want to do themselves. This includes a wide variety of tasks, from handling administrative tasks related to the academic matters of students to proofreading academic papers, sourcing references, or doing research for lecture preparation.

There are part-time student assistant positions available on most college campuses. Most of the job is done either at campus offices, responding to student inquiries, handling admission forms, or maintaining student files or at the library doing the legwork for academic research, collecting and organizing data.

However, you need to have great interpersonal skills as well because student assistants contribute to organizing community life on the campus, helping students not only with administrative problems but occasionally providing counseling for personal matters, too.

ScoreStudent AssistantUS Average

Salary

2.0

Avg. Salary $25,439

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.5

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.35%

Asian 8.11%

Black or African American 9.77%

Hispanic or Latino 20.15%

Unknown 4.62%

White 56.02%

Gender

female 63.23%

male 36.77%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress Level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.0

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

10.0

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a student assistant

Explore student assistant education requirements

Most common student assistant degrees

Bachelor's

69.6 %

Associate

13.6 %

High School Diploma

7.8 %

Start to develop specific student assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	12.91%
Front Desk	7.61%
Administrative Assistance	7.45%
Financial Aid	6.51%
PowerPoint	5.84%

Gain additional student assistant certifications

Student assistant certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific student assistant certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for student assistants include Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and Medical Assistant.

More About Certifications

Research student assistant duties and 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.

Prepare your student assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your student assistant 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 student assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Student Assistant Resume templates

Build a professional Student Assistant 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 Student Assistant resume.