How much does a Clinical Instructor make a year?

elkpark · Oct 11, 2010

In my experience, the clinical-only instructors at the ADN and BSN programs in which I've taught have been employed on a prn/adjunct basis -- limited hours, no benefits, no guarantee of continued employment. And they rarely get paid more per hour than the same person would make working in a clinical position. Full-time faculty positions are for the people doing classroom/lecture as well as clinical teaching, and that requires at least an MSN in many (most?) programs.

No one goes into nursing education for the money. :) It's rare that anyone in nursing education makes as much teaching as they could make working in a clinical position. Usually, teaching involves a significant pay cut.

Of course, money isn't the only consideration. Best wishes for your journey!

dorimar, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2010

Ditto to what elpark said.

TooterIA · Oct 14, 2010

Ditto the others. I work clinicals when they need me, it is no fun to wait for the call every semester hoping they need me. As for the pay, it is about a $5/hour paycut from my hospital job.

mAGGI315 · Oct 17, 2010

In my area, clinical instructors make about 30/hour, although it is salary based. Since most work only 2-3 days per week, and have extra hours involved such as grading papers, it probably comes to about 25/hour. We are hired and have a contract one semester at a time. So there's no guarantee of employment. However, it's a great way to make extra money and break into the education field. I love it and love the hours. With children at home and a sick husband, it's been a great way to bring in extra income without the burden of a full time position and I am off holidays, weekends, christmas break, etc.

I've been looking around trying to find some salary examples for full time professors/instructors for a masters degree report. I've been surprised how little is out there, it's like a closely guarded secret.

I am writing a 5 year plan for my school and need more information on salaries, if anyone has something. It's frustrating not to be able to find the information, it's taking me longer to do that then it will to write the paper!

llg, PhD, RN · Oct 17, 2010

In my area, most clincal instructors are adjunct faculty and not paid a full time salary, benefits, etc. The pay rate is $25-$30 per hour, but that is based on a conservative estimate of the number of hours it requires to do the job. Most clinical instructors I know actually work more hours than they get paid for.

The figures for adjunct faculty teaching classroom courses range from about $2500 - $5000 per semester-long course.

There are some figures available for full-time faculty of different ranks published by the Association of University Professors (or whatever that group is named) and published in the Chronical of Hgher Education. I'll see if I can find those and come back and edit my post.

Edit: I just checked The Chronical of Higher Education website and as I suspected, the data is not specific to nursing, but rather given by academic rank across all disciplines. Also, it is only available to people who subscribe to the Chronical. Nationally ... the average salaries for Instructors are in the $45-$50 K range. The average salaries for Lecturers are in the mid $50's. The average salaries for Assistant Professors are in the $65K neighborhood.

Obviously, those are just national averages and there is a lot of variation depending on the type of institution and geographic location. With only an MSN, most nursing instructors would fall into the Instructor or Lecturer ranks. Also, keep in mind that those figures are for 9-10 month contracts. A lot of faculty members work a 2nd job (e.g. clinical job) on a per diem basis during the school year and pick up more income in the summer months. Others teach a summer class to pick up some extra cash.

Finally, if you are in a tenure track position, you have more opportunities for advancement ... but it comes with many more requirements, making it very difficult to earn extra money by working a 2nd job or picking up a summer class for extra money.

I hope that helps.

TooterIA · Oct 18, 2010

I am writing a 5 year plan for my school and need more information on salaries, if anyone has something.

I teach clinicals for a small community college and full time nursing instructors start at $36,000-38,000 :down:

Like elkpark said, no one goes into it for the money. I am praying I will get offered a full time teaching job at that communtiy college and will be taking an almost $20,000 paycut from my bedside nursing job.

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2016

I make 55/hr

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2016

In my town at the cc pay starts at 60 to 80 thousand a year..... But you need a msn.

I teach on the side and it's a nice supplement .

APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Feb 25, 2016

Full time faculty at the local Community College can start at no higher that around 80,000. You have to have your MSN in order to considered the instructor (faculty) of record. You may have your BSN, or ADN with experience in order to be a clinical instructor for the students on the floor. You can be adjunct faculty with a BSN.