What Does a Graduate Program Coordinator Do?
Graduate students juggling research, teaching and a thesis can lose a whole semester over one missed form. The graduate program coordinator in a university department is there to stop that, tracking every form and deadline from admission to graduation. Exams, thesis defenses, assistantship and stipend paperwork and the final degree audit all pass across the coordinator's desk, along with a steady stream of questions from students.
Also known as: Degree Program Assistant, Graduate Degree Professional, Graduate Program Administrator
Other Job Titles for This Work
Workers in this occupation report titles such as Administrative Assistant (Admin Assistant), Administrative Clerk, Administrative Secretary (Admin Secretary), Administrative Specialist (Admin Specialist), Administrative Support Assistant (ASA), Administrative Technician, Department Secretary, Office Assistant.
Graduate Program Coordinator Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a graduate program coordinator include:
- Manage graduate admissions files and send complete applications to the faculty admissions committee.
- Track each student's milestones, including qualifying exams, committee forms and thesis defense dates.
- Schedule defenses and book rooms, video links and time on committee members' calendars.
- Process teaching and research assistantship appointments, tuition waivers and stipend paperwork.
- Audit degree requirements before graduation and send clearance forms to the graduate school.
- Answer prospective and current students' questions about deadlines, funding and program rules.
- Organize orientation, recruitment visits and the program's end-of-year events.
- Update the graduate handbook and program web pages when policies change.
- Pull enrollment, time-to-degree and placement data for program reviews and accreditation reports.
- Remind students and advisers about upcoming deadlines before registration holds are placed.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a graduate program coordinator, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Slate, Banner or PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
- Excel for tracking student milestones
- Knowledge of graduate school policies and forms
- Calendar juggling across busy faculty schedules
- Friendly, steady support for stressed students
- Careful handling of FERPA-protected records
- Event planning on a small budget
- Clear email writing to students and faculty
Education and Training
Many graduate program coordinators learn the program's rules on the job, but some start out by working as department assistants or as graduate students themselves. Universities often prefer coordinators to be college graduates. For the wider group of administrative assistants these posts fall into, BLS lists a high school diploma as typical.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $38,830 - $58,000 per year, with a median of $47,540.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive.
BLS projects employment of secretaries and administrative assistants (outside legal, medical and executive work) to decline about 6 percent from 2025 to 2035. Even so, turnover in such a large group leaves roughly 163,900 openings a year. Coordinating a graduate program is often less exposed to that decline than general office work because it depends on knowing one program's rules, deadlines and people.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive.
Graduate Program Coordinator Pay Range
| Earners | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | $33,280 |
| Bottom 25% earn less than | $38,830 |
| Median (half earn more, half less) | $47,540 |
| Top 25% earn more than | $58,000 |
| Top 10% earn more than | $66,350 |
Highest-Paying States for Graduate Program Coordinators
The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are District of Columbia ($59,910), Massachusetts ($57,940), Washington ($57,330), Connecticut ($57,210), California ($55,400). Pay is lowest in Louisiana ($38,790), Arkansas ($37,630), Mississippi ($37,340).
Median pay in all 51 states with BLS data
| State | Median annual pay |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $41,630 |
| Alaska | $48,530 |
| Arizona | $47,940 |
| Arkansas | $37,630 |
| California | $55,400 |
| Colorado | $48,690 |
| Connecticut | $57,210 |
| Delaware | $47,970 |
| District of Columbia | $59,910 |
| Florida | $45,900 |
| Georgia | $41,600 |
| Hawaii | $50,830 |
| Idaho | $43,710 |
| Illinois | $48,310 |
| Indiana | $44,270 |
| Iowa | $45,150 |
| Kansas | $42,270 |
| Kentucky | $44,200 |
| Louisiana | $38,790 |
| Maine | $49,820 |
| Maryland | $48,680 |
| Massachusetts | $57,940 |
| Michigan | $46,020 |
| Minnesota | $51,400 |
| Mississippi | $37,340 |
| Missouri | $43,540 |
| Montana | $43,940 |
| Nebraska | $46,760 |
| Nevada | $46,570 |
| New Hampshire | $48,080 |
| New Jersey | $50,260 |
| New Mexico | $46,450 |
| New York | $49,600 |
| North Carolina | $45,790 |
| North Dakota | $47,480 |
| Ohio | $46,230 |
| Oklahoma | $39,660 |
| Oregon | $51,740 |
| Pennsylvania | $46,270 |
| Rhode Island | $52,140 |
| South Carolina | $44,880 |
| South Dakota | $41,700 |
| Tennessee | $45,810 |
| Texas | $45,140 |
| Utah | $47,050 |
| Vermont | $48,920 |
| Virginia | $47,620 |
| Washington | $57,330 |
| West Virginia | $40,370 |
| Wisconsin | $47,710 |
| Wyoming | $45,450 |
What the Work Is Like
O*NET surveys people who work as secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:
- 97% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
- 93% spend more than half the workday sitting
- 93% are on the phone every day
- 93% use email every day
- 91% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
- 74% work indoors in a climate-controlled space every day
- 48% use their hands on tools, objects or controls for more than half the day
Education Workers Say the Job Needs
| Education level | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| High school diploma or GED | 50% |
| Associate's degree | 22% |
| Bachelor's degree | 11% |
| Some college | 10% |
Tools and Software Graduate Program Coordinators Use
Tools and equipment
Software
Is This Job a Good Fit for You?
People who do well in this job tend to enjoy organized work with data, records and clear procedures as well as leading, persuading and making business decisions.
Skills O*NET rates most important: Active Listening, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Service Orientation, Time Management.
Knowledge areas used most: Administrative, English Language, Computers and Electronics, Customer and Personal Service, Administration and Management.
Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 2 of 5, which means some preparation.
Related Careers
These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:
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Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035.
- O*NET 30.1 Database, occupation 43-6014.00 (Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive). View on O*NET OnLine.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The Job Explorer has modified some of the information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these changes.