Nursing Educator Salary

allnurses Guide · Mar 23, 2015

The pay is lousy; sometimes looks good on paper but when you figure in all the hours you put in preparing lectures and grading papers, it isn't much. I make more at the bedside with my BSN than in the classroom with my MSN.

I love teaching, have done it as adjunct faculty, but I turned down several offers for full time as I couldn't afford the pay cut to go from partime in the ER to full time faculty.

Acutal amounts differ from place to place, they reflect local economy. With an MSN you would likely be at a community college, or doing only clinicals for a university where the majority of faculty have their PhDs.

Plus, I don't know how much experience you have, but time at the bedside or other practice really helps when it comes to teaching.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

elkpark · Mar 23, 2015

The pay, anywhere, will be a lot less than you can make practicing clinically. And, as JBudd noted, even if it doesn't look too bad on paper, when you factor in all the additional hours you spend, it is really pitiful.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 23, 2015

I used to be a teacher and I ALWAYS had work to bring home. The whole "teachers only work from 900-300" is a bunch of crap. I am making almost twice what I was making as a teacher with a Masters than as a bedside nurse with my ADN. Insane. I am looking to supplement as a clinical instructor, but I don't think I would want to do it all the time.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Mar 23, 2015

My experience is that if you teach full time, unless you are a full professor, which takes a long time to achieve, you will earn thousands less per year than you would earn as a bedside nurse. If you work part time, you will earn about one tenth what you'd earn as a full time instructor. It's fine if you want the experience, but won't pay bills. For me, what some schools paid would pretty much only pay for gas money to and from clinical sites.

AngelMama · Mar 23, 2015

I saw a job post for adjunct clinical faculty offering $65/hr

Our clinical rotations were 13-16 hours a week depending on the semester. Clinical rotations averaged 10 weeks per semester. So, even teaching clinical two semesters a year, if you get paid for 13hrs/week, it's only $16,900/ year.

Good supplemental income, but not enough to pay the bills.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2015

I saw a job post for adjunct clinical faculty offering $65/hr
Our clinical rotations were 13-16 hours a week depending on the semester. Clinical rotations averaged 10 weeks per semester. So, even teaching clinical two semesters a year, if you get paid for 13hrs/week, it's only $16,900/ year.
Good supplemental income, but not enough to pay the bills.

That is actually decent student loan payment money, and that's all it should be. I wouldn't consider doing clinical instruction full time tho. I would always keep my day job on the unit too.

elkpark · Mar 23, 2015

I saw a job post for adjunct clinical faculty offering $65/hr
Our clinical rotations were 13-16 hours a week depending on the semester. Clinical rotations averaged 10 weeks per semester. So, even teaching clinical two semesters a year, if you get paid for 13hrs/week, it's only $16,900/ year.
Good supplemental income, but not enough to pay the bills.

And keep in mind that that $65/hr figure is typically for the actual hours of the clinical days, and the instructor doesn't get paid anything for all the hours spent preparing for clinical, traveling, and grading clinical paperwork. When you recalculate, that brings the hourly rate down quite a bit.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Mar 23, 2015

I was offered, one semester, $1250, for the whole semester, teaching one clinical group 2 days per week, all day those days. That didn't include time I spent at home preparing things and grading papers and care plans, nor the hour drive one way...

Editorial Team / Admin · Mar 23, 2015

If I were to leave my current clinical job and take up a full time education position, I'm looking at a $20,000-$30,000 annual pay cut. Not worth it to me at this point in my career. Adjunct faculty position for supplemental income is my goal at this point with a long term goal of transitioning into education when I am no longer able to meet the physical demands of bedside nursing and have a decent nest egg set aside to help offset the income reduction.

BirkieGirl · Mar 24, 2015

isn't this sad? truly. you would think that the people preparing the next generation of nurses would able to afford to live on ONE wage, the one they likely spent tens of thousands of dollars to prepare for (MSN almost always required)...no wonder in my grad school 90% of all the students are FNP and only 3-4 out of 40 are education track!

fbhopern · Mar 24, 2015

Thank you guys for your input. this is really sad and depressing. I thought spending my money to get MSN, i would at least make the equal amount of money if not more. But I love teaching so maybe I will just do that part-time. Thank you everyone for your input. This really does helps, so I am not all surprised when I get my MSN, lol.