Registrars' Office Staffing Size & Primary Responsibilities: November 2021

Registrars' Office Staffing Size & Primary Responsibilities: November 2021 | 60-Second Survey

This 60 Second Survey focuses on registrars' office staff size and responsibilities; it discusses the opportunity to work remotely, vacancies, and the level of difficulty in filling the positions.

The November 2021 60 Second Survey is the third survey of its kind to focus on registrars’ office staff size and primary responsibilities. The first two were completed in 2015 and 2019, respectively, and are available on the AACRAO Research website. This version of the survey includes three questions about the opportunity to work remotely, vacancies, and the level of difficulty in filling the positions. Not all institutions have a stand-alone registrar’s office; some have a registrar in each college, one by level of student served, or some combination of the two. As such, the survey included a question to differentiate the institutional model. A complete portfolio of responsibilities is included in the Registrars’ Career Profile Report. The staff size data is separated based on primary responsibilities.

Of the 896 respondents, 846 are from U.S. institutions, 37 from Canadian institutions, and the remainder are participants from 12 additional countries.

Some key facts and findings:

All Respondents:

26% have seen a decrease in the size of their staff since the start of 2020.
53% have one or more current vacancies.
63% currently allow staff to work from home at least one day a week.

Records and Registration Functions Only:

52% have six or fewer employees; 33% report ten or more full-time employees.

Records, Registration, and Admissions Functions:

45% have six or fewer full-time employees; 45%report ten or more full-time employees.

Registrars' Office Staffing Size & Primary Responsibilities: November 2021 | 60-Second Survey

Related Content

Unless otherwise noted in a specific report, the AACRAO member institution size, type and control categories are based on the following definitions and sources:

The enrollment value used to delineate the institution's size category is defined as full-time enrollment plus 1/3 of part-time enrollment and is based on the enrollment reported by the institution to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Institution type and control values are also defined by and verified through NCES criteria.