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The differences between student development specialists and specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a student development specialist, becoming a specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a specialist has an average salary of $58,013, which is higher than the $41,280 average annual salary of a student development specialist.
The top three skills for a student development specialist include student development, professional development and student services. The most important skills for a specialist are patients, customer service, and work ethic.
| Student Development Specialist | Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $41,280 | $58,013 |
| Hourly rate | $19.85 | $27.89 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 65,270 | 358,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A student developmental specialist attends meetings and educational seminars and conducts various campaigns related to educational matters. They are responsible for fostering the students' learning environment, counselling with the guardians, and addressing academic implementation. Moreover, they are responsible for finding the students' abilities, traits, and personality characteristics.
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
Student development specialists and specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Student Development Specialist | Specialist | |
| Average salary | $41,280 | $58,013 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $53,000 | Between $32,000 And $104,000 |
| Highest paying City | Arlington, VA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Washington | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Los Alamos National Laboratory | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | - |
There are a few differences between a student development specialist and a specialist in terms of educational background:
| Student Development Specialist | Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between student development specialists' and specialists' demographics:
| Student Development Specialist | Specialist | |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.4% Female, 64.6% | Male, 47.5% Female, 52.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 5.9% White, 60.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 11% |