Nursing Faculty Shortage and Salaries

[Rhilogan]

We are all aware that we have a nursing shortage, but we also have a major crisis in regard to nursing faculty shortages all across the country. One of the main reasons for this crisis is the disparity between salary in clinical practice for MSN prepared nurses and the nursing educator role.

If you would like to contribute to my data base please either post or email me the following info:

Degree held:

Educator Role:

Salary:

State you work in:

Type of Institution (College or University)

There is a movement going on in some parts of the country to equalize the salary between the clinical setting and the educational setting. I look forward to communicating with you!

[RNCEN]

I am shocked at the salaries (or lack of) presented here. What part of the country do you live in??

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

Most of the college profs I know in general don't make enough to feed a mouse. Some of the high power profs (med school docs, for example) or "famous names" tend to bring money into the college, so they get paid more. I've got a friend who's an English professor with a CPA background (teaches English and Accounting at a private university) and she survives on what she makes during tax season, not what she makes at her university.

Most of the nursing profs I know either work at a hospital, or have a spouse who can, as one of my teachers put it years ago, "fund my addiction to teaching."

[lindarn]

Does anyone ask these colleges how much they pay the Football and Basketball Coaches?? No one ever died because the foot ball team lost the Rose Ball, but how many patients have died because there were not enough qualified nurses at the bedside?? Just a thought. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[MedSurgeMess]

I'm starting my MSN-Ed in Spring '10 and this is scaring me!

Education: BSN

Setting: College

State: IN

[JaneyW]

BA, ADN, MSN

Starting at 55,380 for 10 month contract, benefits with about $6500 contribution from me for my family

Southern California

Community College

I could make more working on the floor, but my heart is in teaching.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

I personally, don't see the salaries as a tragedy....then again, it depends on what part of the country you live in.

Folks, get out a calculator and DO THE MATH!

Around here, a new grad nurse gets paid about $18 an hour....AT MOST....that is without shift diffrential....2 weeks paid vacation a year...that is 12 months of employment...$37,440 a year....and that is IF you work 40 hours a week...at my hospital, we only work 3, 12-hour shifts....so my salary is even less....a little over $33K...this is for a new grad RN.

How much vacation time do you get????

What kind of benefits do you get?

Do you get a pension where you work that INCLUDES health insurance and all the other perks that state retirement offers, which is usually only 20 years in most states?

Do you get your full summers off at work? So you get every weekend, Thanksgiving, Fall Break, Spring Break, Most of Christmas, etc...off where you work at the hospital????

Take the above salary of $40K....that is for NINE months.

If you factored that in what you make per month, that is $4,440 a month...that is more like $53K a year with all of the benefits of STATE employment.

You can never, ever just look at the salary for any job, you have to look at the benefits that come up with it.

You have to look at the ENTIRE picture.

Also...why is their a nursing faculty shortage when so many post in the faculty forum that nursing education is HARD to break into???????

The instructors at my school only actually lectured about 6 hours a week....and did clinicals about 20 hours a week...that leaves 14 hours each work week for planning, preparing lecture (which they pulled from the PP that came with the book 99% of the time), meeting with students, etc.

Did I mention we didn't even have class on Fridays?

Yup...a deal I would take hands down.

[iteachob, MSN, RN]

I personally, don't see the salaries as a tragedy....then again, it depends on what part of the country you live in.

Folks, get out a calculator and DO THE MATH!

Around here, a new grad nurse gets paid about $18 an hour....AT MOST....that is without shift diffrential....2 weeks paid vacation a year...that is 12 months of employment...$37,440 a year....and that is IF you work 40 hours a week...at my hospital, we only work 3, 12-hour shifts....so my salary is even less....a little over $33K...this is for a new grad RN.

How much vacation time do you get????

What kind of benefits do you get?

Do you get a pension where you work that INCLUDES health insurance and all the other perks that state retirement offers, which is usually only 20 years in most states?

Do you get your full summers off at work? So you get every weekend, Thanksgiving, Fall Break, Spring Break, Most of Christmas, etc...off where you work at the hospital????

Take the above salary of $40K....that is for NINE months.

If you factored that in what you make per month, that is $4,440 a month...that is more like $53K a year with all of the benefits of STATE employment.

You can never, ever just look at the salary for any job, you have to look at the benefits that come up with it.

You have to look at the ENTIRE picture.

Also...why is their a nursing faculty shortage when so many post in the faculty forum that nursing education is HARD to break into???????

The instructors at my school only actually lectured about 6 hours a week....and did clinicals about 20 hours a week...that leaves 14 hours each work week for planning, preparing lecture (which they pulled from the PP that came with the book 99% of the time), meeting with students, etc.

Did I mention we didn't even have class on Fridays?

Yup...a deal I would take hands down.

You really have NO idea!!

I could go on, but I have to get ready to go to my supplemental job.

[AOx1]

You really have NO idea!!

I completely agree!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I personally, don't see the salaries as a tragedy....then again, it depends on what part of the country you live in.

As iteachob said ... it's obvious you have NO IDEA what most faculty jobs entail. Before you make judgments, you should do some homework and get the facts. I don't have time to list all your misconceptions & misrepresentations now, but I'll list a few and hopefully others will add to the list.

1. The salary for RN's you quoted did not include shift differentials (by your own admission). But in reality, most staff nurses DO earn shift differentials, overtime, etc. that adds considerably to their pay. They may even earn Charge Nurse differentials, preceptor differentials, etc. after only a year of practice.

2. The requirements for the staff nurses is only 1/3 that of an instructor -- an only 1/6 that of a professor. You seem to forget that most faculty members are required to have at LEAST an MSN, and that many positons require a PhD. That 4-8 years of higher education more than that required of a staff nurse.

2. You forgot completely about the fact that faculty members have a schedule full of committee meetings, student advisory sessions, faculty work groups, etc. as part of their required service to the school. You also did not adequately consider the time it take to grade papers and do the many administrative tasks involved in teaching. That's what we do with much of our Christmas breaks, Spring Breaks, etc. So, we don't really have that time off. While students get a "vacation," the faculty gets a break from teaching that gives them some time to catch up on all the other work that needs to be done to run the school. So, we don't get as much time off as you think. Schools do not run themselves. Faculty do it when they are not in class (and when the students get vacations). Who do you think reads all those application materials? ... and interviews applicants? ... and produces the course materials? ... and produces all those reports that are required for accreditation? ... and meets all the university requirements so that students can be awarded a degree? ... etc. etc. etc. (Here's a clue: the faculty)

3. You also seem unaware that any faculty members on the tenure track have requirements for research, publication, conference presentations, etc. that must be completed in order to keep their jobs. That's what they do with a lot of that time off that you mistakenly think we have when the students aren't in class -- such as over the summer, Christmas Break, etc. That's required work -- NOT time off. Many people outside of academia don't understand that.

4. You write about state employee retirements at 20 years. They are not universal -- and the few I know about are not very attractive (e.g. no paid health insurance). Nursing faculty members generally need to work to similar retirement ages as staff nurses. There is not a "cushy" retirement package after only 20 years of teaching. Many places don't even offer pensions anymore: it's the same 403B plans that hosptals have.

5. Faculty have technology requirements (e.g. home computers with accessories), travel expenses (gas, parking), home office supplies, etc. on a regular basis that are not reimbursed. The money for those expenses comes out of our pockets. There aren't many things a staff nurse needs that are not provded by the employer. (As an adjunct, I don't get an office or ANY supplies. I even paid for my textbook myself! -- though I could have borrowed one for free if I didn't want to write in it. Since I wanted to be able to write in it, I had to buy it. But I get a 10% discount at the university bookstore.)

I agree with you on one thing. You can never look at only the salary. You have to look at the entire picture. And yes, sometimes faculty salaries aren't so bad when you consider some of the benefits that some people get. However, your comparison was WAY off in terms of many of the facts. Anyone considering this topic needs to have the REAL FACTS and not base their conclusions on the misconceptions of people unfamiliar with the actual workload and compensation packages of most staff nurses and nursing faculty.

Since so many nurses in clinical practice as unfamiliar with the realities of faculty positions, perhaps some of my fellow faculty members can provide a few details here to enlighten those nurses and students who are interested in learning the real facts. I think that is what the OP wanted in the first place.

I'll re-start:

I have a PhD plus 32 years of nursing experience. I am an adjunct making $3600 per course (1 full semester, 3 credit hour course). It has a large online component plus bi-weekly video-streamed lectures. I get no benefts and must pay for all of my own supplies myself (computer, textbook, paper, long-distance phone bills to call distance education students, etc.). Things like student counseling, writng letters of recommendation, etc. I don't get paid anything extra for stuff like that.

[iteachob, MSN, RN]

As iteachob said ... it's obvious you have NO IDEA what most faculty jobs entail. Before you make judgments, you should do some homework and get the facts. I don't have time to list all your misconceptions & misrepresentations now, but I'll list a few and hopefully others will add to the list.

Thank you for that well written reply, llg!

Even now (June.....no teaching load) I am developing 2 syllabi on my "time off" for the Fall semester. I've also been recruited for new student advising....also during "time off" (we do get a stipend for that).

Still, I do enjoy teaching and I don't whine much.

[Rhilogan]

I am not sure if you are MSN prepared or Doctoral prepared, but from my perspective I feel you need to do a little more research before making this comment. IT IS NOT A DEAL! MSN prepared (Nurse Practitioners make between 85,000 to 110,000 per year depending on their speciality).

Why in the world would someone give up that salary to enter into the education arena????? This is why there is a faculty shortage crisis in this country! We have to live and pay our bills and we can't do it on the ridiculous salaries I am seeing on this post.

No matter how much we love to teach and how rewarding it is to see a student mature into a professional, I can't believe you would think it is a "deal". Until we stop just accepting that "this is the way it is" and demand to be paid our worth it will continue.

We need to be rewarded for obtaining our MSN, Ph.D and our experience. We are valuable!!!

I will tell you that some of the colleges here in las vegas have heard our voices and have actually answered the call. UNLV pays MSN faculty (12 month contract) 90,000 per year. Ph.D faculty 105,000 to 120,000 per year (12 month contract). Several 2 year colleges are paying MSN and Ph.D educators 80,000 to 85,000 per year for a 12 month contract. We are working toward luring some of the MSN and Ph.D prepared nurses back into education by actually paying them what they are making in the clinical setting.

Please, do not accept your current salaries! IT IS NOT A GREAT DEAL!!! 40,000 is a joke and an insult to our profession.

[iteachob, MSN, RN]

Now considering moving to Las Vegas after reading that last post........