Since 2010, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among college students have increased. Student affairs (SA) practitioners may not have received sufficient training to handle issues regarding student suicidality. Results of a survey of SA professionals across the United States assessing their knowledge, opinions, and actions taken around student…

This article explores how changing generational demographics of student affairs professionals influence varied perspectives on workplaces in the field. Accordingly, this article grapples with how generational perspectives show up in supervision and influence the student affairs professional pipeline.

Increasing numbers of academically talented students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are accessing higher education. This is an underserved and understudied cohort of students, as their talents can mask their autism, or their autism can mask their talents. We conducted interviews with 11 professionals who support academically talented students…

The United States continues to become more racially and ethnically diverse, and the nation's colleges and universities' demographics are commensurate with that growth. Between 1976 and 2017, the percentage of White students enrolled in postsecondary institutions fell from 84% to 56%, while the percentage of American college students who identify…

This empirical article presents student affairs and services practitioners' perceptions regarding the sense of accomplishment they feel in their job. Results show helping students, collaborating among colleagues, contributing positively to a broader community, and the autonomous and engaging nature of the work itself provided SAS staff across…

While higher education disability resource professionals are required to use considerable professional judgment to make accommodation-related decisions, there is a lack of guidance on how to make these decisions. Because disability resource professionals commonly ascribe to a "common-sense standard" when making accommodation-related…

The continued underrepresentation of student affairs Professionals of Color poses an ongoing challenge to fully realize the supposed values of social justice and inclusion in student affairs. Midlevel student affairs administrators provide a unique experiential lens to better understand organizational culture, critique structures, and challenge…

The relationship between faith-based institutions and students who identify as LGBTQ+ has attracted considerable attention of late. Most of this scholarly attention, however, has focused upon the students themselves. In this article, we examine the contemporary experience of 371 student affairs leaders (SALs) who serve as the primary mediators…

The financial aid process extends beyond once a student submits the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application. Scholars have found that the financial aid process can be cumbersome, especially for minoritized students. What is unclear in the literature are the additional hurdles students encounter to obtain financial aid. I…

Operating from intersecting theories of validation, marginality, and mattering, this phenomenological study investigated undocumented student support services from the perspective of 49 Undocumented Student Resource Center (USRC) practitioners. In-depth interviews highlighted the ways that USRC practitioners served as validating agents, directly…

The COVID-19 global pandemic caught the United States and the rest of the world ill-prepared, and many institutions of higher education continue to wrestle with unprecedented challenges to provide effective support services to their students. This paper examines how a mid-sized university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States reimagined…

Approximately two-thirds of Latinx college students attend Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Despite the growing number of HSIs, these institutions often fail to result in better educational outcomes and success for Latinx students. As such, more research is needed to explore factors that may hinder HSIs in their ability to support Latinx…

The purpose of this study is to examine Student Affairs Professionals' (SAPs') experiences with campus racial climate at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) including how SAPs make meaning of racialized incidents on campus. This study employed the multi-contextual model for diverse learning environments (MMDLE) and critical incident technique…

The unprecedented growth of universities in recent years has meant that there are more students with learning disabilities attending courses. Consequently, universities have had to adapt, improve and create new resources to ensure greater inclusivity. These resources, their design, and development are managed by inclusion support services, aiming…

This multiple-case study sought to understand how senior student affairs officers engaged in crisis leadership and decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic's first year. Five themes emerged from the research: (a) influence of institutional structure and culture on decisions, (b) uniqueness of COVID crisis decision making, (c) engagement and…