{ "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register", "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/education-administrators-postsecondary/", "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology", "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.", "scored_at": "2026-08-11", "model": "claude-opus-5", "occupation": { "title": "Education Administrators, Postsecondary", "soc_code": "11-9033", "category": "Management", "us_employment": 180470, "median_annual_wage": 104590 }, "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 50, "contested": false, "near_boundary": false, "dimensions": { "task_resistance": 11, "embodiment": 6, "liability_shield": 5, "trust_premium": 13, "judgment_accountability": 15 }, "reasoning": { "task_resistance": "An 11 reflects the split inside a single week: the enrollment funnel reports, transfer-credit equivalency checks, catalog copy, degree-audit exception logs, and the first draft of an accreditation self-study narrative are all machine-drafted now, while the faculty senate negotiation, the tenure dossier meeting, and the 11pm call about a student in crisis are not — that is a genuine half-and-half, not a role whose core survives.", "embodiment": "A 6 covers the fact that most of the job runs from an office and a Zoom window, but commencement, orientation, campus tours, residence-hall walkthroughs after an incident, board retreats, and recruitment travel to high schools and college fairs put you physically in rooms where your presence is the point.", "liability_shield": "A 5 rather than a 0 is because the role carries named institutional obligations — Clery Act reporting, Title IX coordinator or deputy designation, FERPA custodianship, SEVIS signatures for a DSO — and credentials like AACRAO or NASPA training are common, but none of that is a personal license a state board can revoke, so the institution absorbs the exposure and you can be replaced without a licensure gap.", "trust_premium": "A 13 sits at the floor of the top band because faculty compliance with a budget cut, a donor's gift, an accreditor's confidence in your self-study, and a parent's willingness to accept a suspension outcome all depend on knowing who you are — but those relationships attach substantially to the office and the institution's name, and successors inherit them, unlike a therapist's or an agent's book.", "judgment_accountability": "A 15 is earned by calls with no procedure to hide behind: whether a Title IX finding warrants expulsion, whether to close campus during a threat, which program to eliminate and which faculty lines go with it, whether to grant a medical withdrawal that costs the institution tuition — and your name is on the memo when the trustees or a plaintiff's attorney reads it back." }, "rationale": "The modal worker here is a dean, registrar, admissions director, or student-affairs director, and a large slice of the day is document and data work AI now handles competently: drafting accreditation self-studies, summarizing enrollment and retention dashboards, screening applications, writing policy language, and generating catalog and scheduling text. What does not automate is the accountability layer — chairing a tenure or discipline case, negotiating budget cuts with faculty senate, handling a Title IX or crisis incident, and standing in front of parents, trustees, and regulators to own the call. No personal license is required, so the protection is institutional politics and human accountability rather than regulation, and administrative bloat is a standing budget target.", "outlook": "Enrollment pressure plus AI-handled reporting will thin the mid-level administrative ranks noticeably by 2035, while roles that adjudicate people problems and defend the institution externally hold or grow.", "what_would_raise_it": { "levers": [ { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "Federal or state rules naming a specific institutional officer as personally accountable for compliance determinations — e.g. the Clery Act 'Campus Safety Survey Administrator' and Title IX Coordinator roles being extended by ED rulemaking or state law to require a named, signed human certification that AI-generated findings were independently reviewed; similarly a designated certifying officer for Title IV/FAFSA and SEVIS/DSO attestations (DSO signature already legally personal for I-20s). Accreditor standards (SACSCOC, WSCUC) requiring a named officer to attest self-studies were not machine-generated would push the same way.", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 4 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Post-2024 campus-protest and Title VI enforcement wave plus congressional testimony precedent has made discipline, speech, and safety calls career-ending and individually attributable; if state open-records or consent-decree settlements require the deciding administrator to be named in written findings, ownership of ambiguous calls hardens further.", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "task_resistance", "change": "Genuine two-tier job: if AI absorbs the catalog, dashboard, scheduling, and self-study drafting tier, the surviving role is hearing-chairing, faculty-senate and union negotiation, and crisis command — but note this shrinks headcount rather than protecting it, and shows up as fewer positions with higher scores.", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "trust_premium", "change": "Narrow route only: enrollment-management and admissions where families and boards demand a human read of holistic files — visible in institutions publicly pledging no AI-only admissions decisions and in state bills (e.g. proposals restricting automated decision systems in education) requiring human review of adverse decisions.", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 2 } ], "ceiling_note": "No personal license exists or is likely for deans and registrars, so liability_shield is capped around 9-10 via role-designation rules rather than licensure. Budget pressure works the other direction: administrative headcount is the standing cut target, so scores can rise while jobs disappear." }, "adjudication": null, "employment_history": { "points": [ { "y": 2017, "emp": 142160, "wage": 92360 }, { "y": 2018, "emp": 143430, "wage": 94340 }, { "y": 2019, "emp": 144880, "wage": 95410 }, { "y": 2020, "emp": 140880, "wage": 97500 }, { "y": 2021, "emp": 155990, "wage": 96910 }, { "y": 2022, "emp": 167060, "wage": 99940 }, { "y": 2023, "emp": 167270, "wage": 102610 }, { "y": 2024, "emp": 176420, "wage": 103960 }, { "y": 2025, "emp": 180470, "wage": 104590 } ], "from": 2017, "to": 2025, "change_pct": 26.9, "comparable_from": 2019, "spans_soc_revision": true }, "pivots": [ { "slug": "education-administrators-kindergarten-through-secondary", "title": "Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 69, "median_wage": 105870, "overlap": 82, "skills_to_close": [ "Quality Control Analysis", "Operations Analysis", "Speaking", "Learning Strategies" ] }, { "slug": "clinical-and-counseling-psychologists", "title": "Clinical and Counseling Psychologists", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 71, "median_wage": 100580, "overlap": 68, "skills_to_close": [ "Science", "Reading Comprehension", "Social Perceptiveness" ] } ], "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms" }