New Grad Nurse Residency Salaries

[tinatheRN]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on salary negotiation. I've applied to several residency programs but have found out many of them offer a salary between $20-$30/hr during the residency. I understand that during the residency, you are not a fully active employee and the hospital is investing many resources in you, thus a lower salary is justified. However, many residency programs do not include a pay raise in the contract once the residency is over. Although you have to factor in location and cost of living as well as experience, this report says the average RN salary is $79k per year, almost double some of these residency programs.

Am I being overeager by thinking that new grads with BSNs (and even additional Bachelor's and Master's degrees not related to nursing) deserve a pay raise once the residency is over? And is negotiation usually not an option with these programs? Without doing a residency program, you don't receive as much training and support but have the potential to make double the salary - it seems like a big trade-off.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Oh, my! Your expectations for a new grad salary are not realistic. The "average RN salary" in the report is the average for RN's in a wide variety of roles, settings, and experience levels. It includes nurses with 10, 20, 30, years of experience and some with graduate degrees. It is NOT the average of new grads just starting out in entry level roles with no experience.

Unless you will work in an area with an exceptionally high cost of living (e.g. New York City, San Fransisco, etc.), you can expect to make $20 - $30 per hour as a new grad, if you include the typical shift differentials. $25 per hour equals an approximate yearly salary of $52K. That's what you can expect as an average. If you live in an area with a relatively low cost of living, you will make in the lower half of the range quoted above.

[LV3677]

From your post, I don't think you quite understand new graduate wages. As a new grad, you can expect to be offered a position between $20-30 an hour, not $30-40 (depending on your location of course). As the PP mentions, the salary you are quoting includes RN's who have experience. There is no trade off like you seem to mention- 79k vs. low wage residency.

Some residency programs do offer wage increases after the residency is over. However, I wouldn't anticipate a raise post residency completion.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

tinatheRN said:

Without doing a residency program, you don't receive as much training and support but have the potential to make double the salary - it seems like a big trade-off.

I don't follow where you have the potential to make double the salary. Could you please explain your reasoning?

I have some thoughts but don't want to jump into this discussion without a little more background.

[amoLucia]

The possession of non-nursing degrees, even graduate level, really carry little import for starting nursing salary consideration. It is the work skill set that is what makes a nurse valuable. That you have degrees in exercise physiology or financial planning doesn't make me think you can start an IV any better than the nurse without.

And completion of an extended training program/residency/internship is not any guarantee that you have all the necessary attributes to be 'up & running' like a seasoned practitioner.

New nurses are just that - new nurses. They have little bargaining power and, sad to say this, they are just one more new nurse out there in a glutted labor pool. For every one dissatisfied new nurse, there's a boatload of others (newbie and veteran) ready to accept the position.

[Karou]

tinatheRN said:

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on salary negotiation. I've applied to several residency programs but have found out many of them offer a salary between $20-$30/hr during the residency. I understand that during the residency, you are not a fully active employee and the hospital is investing many resources in you, thus a lower salary is justified. However, many residency programs do not include a pay raise in the contract once the residency is over. Although you have to factor in location and cost of living as well as experience, this report says the average RN salary is $79k per year, almost double some of these residency programs.

Am I being overeager by thinking that new grads with BSNs (and even additional Bachelor's and Master's degrees not related to nursing) deserve a pay raise once the residency is over? And is negotiation usually not an option with these programs? Without doing a residency program, you don't receive as much training and support but have the potential to make double the salary - it seems like a big trade-off.

Pay rate for new grads in residency programs is 23.00 in my area. My hospital compares rates with others (supposedly) to have competitive pay. Negotiation is not an option. BSN makes no more than ASN. PCT's who have worked at the hospital while obtaining the RN make the same as brand spanking new employees. LPN/LVN nursing experience doesn't count either. We all start at $23.00. First raise is annual, just like all employees.

I was just happy to have a job at all. I get an annual raise, plus shift differential and extra for being charge nurse, precepting, ect...

Someone has to be the low man on the totem pole. Nurses with experience who have put in their dues by staying employees year after year, are worth more to the hospital and earned the higher pay. Because of their experience, they are much more valuable than a risky new grad.

Can you imagine how offensive it would be for a nurse with 20 years experience to learn a new grad makes the same as them? We all start at the bottom and work up.

Hospitals are so saturated with new grads desperate to get acute care experience that they can pay whatever they want and still have applicants.

Often other areas can pay new grads more- rehab, maybe LTC, ect... You can shop around. I took a pay cut from my precious job to work at the hospital I do now (as a new RN gead(.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

According to her profile, the OP is in NYC, a metro area with a staggering cost of living.

Nonetheless, NYC is inundated with too many new grads, so the local healthcare facilities can basically pay whatever they want. When the supply of new nurses is too high, the demand for new nurses plummets.

[FloridaBeagle]

Move to Minnesota, where a new grad can start at $31 with a good cost of living. It's where I ended up to get some experience under my belt. I wouldn't accept the peanuts most places want to pay new grads.

[jdruds]

Negotiating as a new grad?? There are plenty of fish in the sea these days. A BSN doesn't entitle anyone to be able to negotiate for more than the standard wage the hospital gives to associates versus bachelors nurses (usually a .50 or $1 difference). Florida had this at their hospitals. Oregon does not. New grads in Pensacola, FL start out a $21 while Portland, OR is $33 an hour. $79,000 is NOT accurate for s new grad. Stick with bedside nursing for 20 years and it is a possibility.

[Alii]

Is any nurse residency program for overseas nurses???

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

12 minutes ago, Alii said:

Is any nurse residency program for overseas nurses???

Traditionally, residencies are intended for brand new nurses with no nursing experience. If you are coming from another country as a new graduate, I don’t see why you couldn’t apply so long as you meet all the other requirements.

[Alii]

@Rose, send me your email kindly