Nursing PhD salary?

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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How much money do nursing PhDs make? Also, is an NP certification something that is usually earned along the way to a PhD, or is it not like that? Thanks for any insight. :)

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Salary is based on the particular job position -- not the academic degree. A person with a PhD teaching for a small under-funded community college would make no where near what a person with a PhD who was the Chief Nurse Executive of a large hospital corporation would make.

It also depends on the geographic location. Salaries vary widely from location to location. Small town in the deep south? Big city in Californial? Big difference.

You'll have to be much more specific to get any sort of decent answer to your salary question.

As far as the NP education ... that's a whole other issue. Lots of PhD's are not NP's. The NP courses and clinical hours are not part of the usual PhD curriculum. Historically, they have been taught at the Master's level and some NP's have chosen to go on for a PhD after completing their Master's. Now, most NP programs are converting to DNP programs. I doubt many DNP's will choose to get PhD's ... but a few will. The NP and DNP are focused on clinical practice. The PhD is focused on research and other scholarly activities. 2 different emphases. Some people want both -- but not most people.

I mean, as a professor at a U.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

I know at my U they make 80-170k, I imagine this is high? I go to a state school with a strong nursing program.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

The figure you quote is very high -- particularly the higher end. Most new PhD's start out as Assistant Professors, making somewhere between $50K and $85K per year. It can be a bit less or a bit more than that, depending on the location and type of employer. (Public college in poor area vs. private doctoral level university in high cost of living area) After years of experience and a few promotions, a full professor typically makes between $85K and $150K, depending.

If you are curious about salaries at a particular school ... most public schools have their salaries posted somewhere.

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Yes, I think the salaries you are quoting are VERY high actually. Particularly for someone at the bottom rung of the ladder - it takes years and years to ascend the rungs.

Specializes in Pediatrics.
I mean, as a professor at a U.

I know at my U they make 80-170k, I imagine this is high? I go to a state school with a strong nursing program.

Can you send me an application for a position at your school?? :D

Haha. I got those numbers by looking at my state salary search. PM me if you want to know which school this is.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Another thing you need to consider when looking at "compensation" on web sites, etc. ... is exactly WHAT the published figures include. Do they include only the cash portion of the compensation package ... or do they include the cost of the benefits (such as health insurance, retirement package, etc.) converted to a dollar amount and added in for "total compensation" ?

In the practice arena, people usually refer to a person's salary as the cash portion only when they quote a salary figure. However, university compensation packages are very different ... and government compensation packages are different. In order to compare the compensation between different institutions, the figures listed are sometimes the dollar value of the "TOTAL" compensation package -- which would include the dollar equivalents for the paid vacation time, insurance benefits, retirement package, etc.

When I changed jobs from university faculty to hospital employee, I got a cash raise of about $10,000 ... but actually, it was pretty close to an even swap because the benefits at the university were a lot better. The university had a much more generous retirement program and paid 100% of the health care insurance, for example.

Another thing that universities do is list their pay in terms of a standard "12 - month" appointment when if fact, most faculty are on either 9-month or 10-month contracts. By using a standard metric (e.g. 12-month contract equivalent) it allows them to compare the salaries of faculty who are on different lengths of contract. But those faculty members don't actually get the 12-month equivalent salary -- they just get paid for the portion of the year covered by their contract.

So ... you have to be sure you know those details when you read (or hear) about the salaries paid by various institutions. The details are important.

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

This post made me search the salaries of faculty at the nursing school our university medical center is affiliated with. This is a highly-ranked state-run institution in an area of California known for high cost of living and inflated RN salaries.

Research faculty at the Professor level do make around 140-150K a year based on the public records. These are faculty with high yield as far as publications and research as well as national expertise in their field. The lowest paid junior faculty such as Research Associate Professors make around 80-90K a year. Interestingly, many clinical faculty with lower ranks (Associate Professor) make around 150K because their appointments also include clinical practice in the medical center as NP's (they are NP's with a PhD).

Something to ponder I guess knowing that bedside RN's in the area can easily rack up 180K a year.

Nursing faculty contracts are also not uniform (which makes it more difficult to compare salaries). Most faculty at my institution are on 9-month contracts (late-August to late-May). Teaching in the summer is optional, and means extra compensation. Many clinical faculty will PRN in the summer. Other universities in Virginia have 10, 11 and 12 month contracts

The schedule of nursing faculty is can also be an improvement in quality of life. We've had a number of clinical faculty leave the bedside for family reasons (no nights, no weekends, no on-call, a month PTO at Christmas and 3 months free in the summer). Having a 9-4 schedule only during the school year can be great for those with kids.

The salaries in the Bay Area of California are far from the national norm. Starting salaries at UVa are lower --- but so too is the cost of living. One could find a renovated 3BR detached home with a yard only 2 miles from the University for under 250,000 (far, far less than a similar home in San Francisco).

llg is very correct in looking at the total benefits. I used to work at a university that had great retirement benefits (a 4:1 match in my 401K) --- I contributed 3% of my salary and that was matched with 12%).

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

The salaries in the Bay Area of California are far from the national norm. Starting salaries at UVa are lower --- but so too is the cost of living. One could find a renovated 3BR detached home with a yard only 2 miles from the University for under 250,000 (far, far less than a similar home in San Francisco).

That's a point I'm trying to make in my post. The inflated salaries in this area reflect the high cost of living that in fact, may not seem proportional for the price you have to pay to live here.

Ouch, I didn't think they'd have to start out as assistants for as low as 50-high 60k sometimes. I'm interested in possibly teaching way down the road for job satisfaction and enjoyment, but to put in that much time to make half as much as I could going down another path seems like too great a sacrifice. Plus, I am still helping people going down those other paths, too.

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