enrollment advisor

faculty

assistant professor

academic advisor

support specialist

National University

A typical day at work consisted of answering daily phone calls internal and external, assisting department employees, faculty, students and staff, creating templates and responding to many emails, weekly and monthly reports, posting grades and many other tasks.

Throughout my time at National University, I have dealt with unsupportive management. I was not given a great first impression due to a horrible evidence I found about their previous experience working with another colleague that I eventually had to work and deal with half the year. Its no wonder many people have left that position. I had to learn the hard way. The management team tolerated this employee which led to many employees believing there was favoritism involved with a supervisor and colleague. I have learned that if your immediate supervisor does not give you a resolution to your concerns, go above and beyond which is the only way for things to get solved. Trust me, I hate drama, but this place was loaded with it. I truly felt like I was in a high school kind of environment.

I have also learned that many co-workers are unhappy with their pay and complain that there is very little movement for career growth. I have seen many people leave to go back to their old jobs or have found something better. I commend you if you have found better with higher pay. Employees don't feel supported by their supervisors (unless you have a very good management team which there is very little of).

The hardest part of the job is having to resolve student concerns and complaints due to other employees not providing the assistance or the correct information these students need. I will say there isn't enough training involved to get the jobs done, done correctly and done on time. There has always been an issue with not having enough employees to help within the departments. My experience was quite frustrating especially with the fact that I did not feel appreciated nor was I paid enough for my experience. I'd have to say the only enjoyable part of the job was meeting a few good reliable employees as well as receiving a free scholarship. That is all NU is good for. Get your degree and and move forward.

I've been an academic and finance advisor at NEP for almost a year now. This organization saves money by combining two usually distinct jobs into one role. It reduces hassle for students, but increases pressure on the advisor, who serves as sole point of contact for ALL student inquiries. Nobody else in the organization speaks to students, leaving the advisor playing games of telephone between other departments and the student. 

The job has very little structure, leaving one free to set up their day as they like. However, the demands of the students and the standards enforced by the company swiftly leave one without time. Three hours a day are devoted to working a phone advising line, with students often demanding and yelling over financial aid problems. I was frequently cursed at, blamed for institutional mistakes, and bombarded with contacts. Emails and voicemails are expected to recieve a reply within 24 hours, no matter how intense the student contact is. The management is out of touch with reality and fails to see the problems with combined advising approaches.

Turnover in this role is extremely high, leading to negative impacts on the organization as a whole and the students. The company does nothing to incentivize staying with the organization and does not offer raises based on performance, instead only offering them after a year of employment. 

The job benefits are fine, but the pay is abysmal. Workplace culture is nonexistent due to being remote. Direct management is fine and often works just as hard as the advisors, but the higher up one goes the more they lose touch with their workers. 

In order to keep up with student demand, I often need to work long after I am supposed to clock out. 

NU employed me as an entry level IT up until I had the knowledge level of a Jr Sysadmin. In that time I was constantly told there is no upward mobility and they don’t give raises. They made good on that promise during my time by never paying fairly or promoting anyone I knew in tech, outside of what they were forced to do. No matter what you do or how hard you work, you will never leave your position and pay. They tend to give different titles with more responsibility for the same pay or hire externally. The people that stay at NU do so because they are from a more comfortable period in NU history with legacy pay and incentives; or they have given up in life. The current IT leadership, Director and above, in the main office has no IT experience and is only interested in appeasing the senior directors instead of doing actual IT. Other departments are allowed to implement tech and influence IT which becomes an unmanageable nightmare. I would only recommend this place to Technicians starting out, or people who want free degrees. I would advise not staying longer than necessary to get degree or experience. 

I "cut my teeth," in management.  I learned how to adjust to the political landscape; understand the changing nuances of the organization and had excellent co-workers.

The most difficult part of the job was the numerous layers of management and the approval process which often slowed down progress and programs being run timely.

I enjoyed my co-workers and staff the most.  We had an open and candid relationship.  We worked together like a well oiled machine.  If one of us failed we all did.  However we could celebrate in successes which included making revenue goals,student registrations and quality improvement changes as necessary based on student and faculty feedback.

National University is a good place to work for people who value advancement and job security. As a not-for-profit, firing people is not common for National. However, the hours are long, and if you work in one of their mall-based "Online Information Centers", very unusual. They pay nobody what they are truly worth (as a not-for-profit, NU can get away with this), and the policies of the school, as well as management's inability to see its issues, have made it a revolving door of turnover. (That and the fact that advisors do jobs that are divided into three at other schools.) Still, those who demonstrate competence move up quickly (within a year or so these days), and the benefits package is first rate, as it is with all education jobs. For people who just need a job, it's a great place to start; whether or not it's career material depends heavily on the individual.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The organization has gone thru so many changes and upheavals that they don't remember who they were and they don't know who they wanna be. This is the only for profit are of the national university system and if they arent making profit, the entire system applies preasure to this small service operations team.


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of clear direction from System leadership. Seriously... run away. They have no plans to develop you in a meaningful way.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Cut throat. And if you don't have a degree, you mean nothing is conversations with the academic side of things. And even if you do have a degree, it has to be from an institution that is vaunted or you'll still be a second class employee.

As a not-for-profit, National University does not have the income to allow their advisors to make a lot of money right away.  That said, the difference between working there and working for their competitors is that National gives its employees the opportunity to do actual counseling / student service, the opportunity to get their own education, ample networking opportunities in the world of education, and does not evaluate based on sales quotas - though they constantly stress the importance of enrolling students, you aren't fired based on not making those quotas, so long as you demonstrate that you are making an effort, and if you do that consistently and long enough, they will reward you with more money.

Loved my campus and the people I worked with there, both fellow staff and students. If my review was based just on my campus it would be very different. If you intend to work at any campus that is not in San Diego, don't get too comfortable. Our campus and another were closed with very little notice even though we were doing very well. We were not allowed to let our students know about the closure, which I felt was super shifty and dishonest. At the same time, student services staff were cut in campuses state-wide. They claimed that the university was financially healthy, but then the closures and staff cutting happened and they still raised tuition after that!

Nobody in higher management cares about students or staff. Might as well be a for-profit school at this point.

I worked for National University for two years. I loved my coworkers at the local campus, I loved working with local students, and I loved what National University seemed to stand for when I first started working there. I hated the upper level management. From what I experienced, it is my opinion that they shifted from focusing on the good of the students and the local communities to focusing on the numbers of online admissions they could get. The pressure to get more students and more numbers became really high, while the pressure to provide quality service to enrolled students was minimal. They are a non-profit university in name only, because their internal practices are reminiscent of a for-profit school.

National University has put together the most professional group of educators in the nation. Their willingness to accommodate working students in unsurpassed, with a rigorous and meaningful curriculum designed to meet current industry needs. Adjunct instructors at National University are hired to teach college courses on a part-time or per class basis. Adjunct instructors typically teach classes online or at the university. This includes preparation of class materials and in-class instruction in line with the established curriculum or competencies for a given class.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Enrollment advisor 4 salaries reported	$23.76 per hour
Faculty 41 salaries reported	$31.09 per hour
Assistant professor 10 salaries reported	$34.47 per hour
Academic advisor 4 salaries reported	$24.18 per hour
Support specialist 11 salaries reported	$22.86 per hour

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