School Counseling & Student Support

The counselors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, and others who keep students healthy, safe, and on track.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

• Director of Student Services / Counseling: District leader who oversees counselors, psychologists, nurses, social workers, and student mental health programs. Typical pay $120k.
• Pediatric Neuropsychologist: Psychologist who tests how a child's brain is working (memory, attention, language) to diagnose learning and developmental conditions. Typical pay $125k.
• School-Based Health Center Nurse Practitioner: Runs a full medical clinic inside a school, diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medicine for students. Typical pay $125k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

• School Counselor: Helps students with academics, college and career plans, and personal or emotional challenges. Typical pay $65k.
• School Psychologist: Evaluates students for learning and emotional disabilities and helps schools support their mental health. Typical pay $87k.
• School Social Worker: Helps students whose lives outside school (poverty, family problems, homelessness) affect their learning. Typical pay $60k.
• School Nurse: Registered nurse who manages student health at school, from daily medications to emergencies. Typical pay $65k.
• School-Based Mental Health Therapist: Licensed therapist who provides ongoing counseling to students right at school. Typical pay $59k.
• Independent College Admissions Consultant: Self-employed advisor whom families hire to guide students through choosing and applying to colleges. Typical pay $70k.
• High School Athletic Trainer: Licensed health professional who prevents, evaluates, and treats sports injuries for student athletes. Typical pay $60k.
• Dean of Students (K-12): Handles student discipline, attendance, and school culture so teachers can teach. Typical pay $80k.
• School Resource Officer: Police officer assigned to a school to keep it safe and build positive relationships with students. Typical pay $77k.
• SEL / School Climate Coordinator: Leads programs that teach students skills like managing emotions and resolving conflict, and tracks school climate. Typical pay $68k.
• Foster Care Education Liaison: Makes sure kids in foster care can stay in their school when they move homes, get rides there, and keep their credits and supports. Typical pay $58k.
• Therapeutic Educational Consultant: Helps families of struggling teens choose therapeutic boarding schools, treatment programs or support at home, after visiting and vetting programs. Typical pay $90k.

Starter: fastest way in

• Restorative Practices Coordinator: Runs talking circles and mediation so students can repair harm after conflicts instead of only being suspended. Typical pay $52k.
• Family Engagement Liaison: Connects families with the school, often helping immigrant or low-income families navigate the system. Typical pay $42k.
• Attendance Officer / Truancy Specialist: Tracks students who miss school and works with families to get them back in class. Typical pay $42k.
• Homeless Education (McKinney-Vento) Liaison: Makes sure students without stable housing can enroll, get rides, and stay in school. Typical pay $50k.
• School Health Aide: Runs the school health office when the nurse is away: ice packs, medications, and calling parents. Typical pay $36k.
• College Access Adviser: Helps high schoolers, often first-generation students, apply to college and find financial aid. Typical pay $42k.
• School Campus Safety Monitor: Patrols school hallways, entrances, and events to keep students safe. Typical pay $38k.
• Migrant Education Recruiter: Drives to farms, packing plants and trailer parks to find children of migrant farmworkers and enroll them in free school help, tutoring and summer programs. Typical pay $42k.

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.