Shocked at Ph.D. pay scale!

[MikeyJ, RN]

I am finishing up my BSN program, however, I have a desire to pursue my MSN and Ph.D. in nursing (i think anyways.. time will tell). Anyways, I was always under the impression that the pay scales in academics (especially starting out) is mediocre compared to what you could make as a clinical nurse.

That is until yesterday! I stumbled upon a resource on the Human Resources page at my university which happens to list every facutly and staff name employed by the university and their current pay. I decided to look up the pay information on my nursing instructors (both Ph.D. and MSN) and was absolutely shocked. I discovered that EVERY Ph.D. nursing instructor is making at least 100K a year, and every MSN instructor is making at lest 66K a year. Is that normal among most universities? I attend a public state funded university, thus I would think the pay would be mediocre compared to private schools.

[llg, PhD, RN]

No. It's not the norm, by a long shot. Perhaps you should look deeper into the data to discern the explanation.

For example ... are those PhD's really "instructors"? I doubt it. They are probably professors -- which requires both a PhD and several years of experience with the demonstration of a high level of academic achievement. The world of academia has a definite hierarchy (lecturer, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor) and you have to take that into consideration. For a new PhD grad assistant professor in the health professions (not just nursing) according to a recent study published within the Chronical of Higher Education is just under $57,000. The average salary for a full professor is just under $85,000. For master's-prepared instructors, the average salary is just over $48,000. Those figures are consistent with my personal experience in nursing (though nursing faculty salaries seem to rising a bit in some schools lately.)

I'll bet there is some explanation for those high salaries you saw. It may be that the figures you saw were for their "total compensation package" that includes the cost of such things as health insurance, retirement, worker's comp. insurance premiums, etc. In general, the costs of benefits for most full time jobs averages between 25% and 35% of a person's total benefits. For example, if you make $45,000 per year as a staff nurse, your benefits probably cost the hospital an additional $10,000 - $15,000 per year .... bringing your total compensation to up about $60,000 per year.

Another factor could be the location. Is this school located in one of the highest cost-of-living sections of the country? (e.g New York City or San Francisco?)

The figures you quoted are so much higher than average that I'll bet there is either some misunderstanding or some special explanation. I'd be interested in knowing a little more about the situation.

[elkpark]

(As usual,) I was thinking the same as llg. Those numbers are definitely not what I am accustomed to or would expect to see.

[MikeyJ, RN]

What is interesting though is that when I compare those salaries of nursing professors to all the other departments, nothing compares to those of nursing professors. Granted, many of these professors have been teaching for many years but there are a few that are fairly new to the school (but have taught for many years elsewhere).

The HR website refers to these salaries as "Base Salaries" which signifies to me that it does not include any type of benefits, vacation, etc.

Furthermore, I was speaking with a MSN student a year back and she was telling me that many schools with shortages of nursing professors offer extremely competitive packages compared to what a hospital would pay. Just thought that was interesting.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

What is interesting though is that when I compare those salaries of nursing professors to all the other departments, nothing compares to those of nursing professors.

Nothing compares to the salaries of nursing professors, with the exception of the earnings of professors of medicine. The professors who teach our medical students receive the highest earnings out of all of the university departments.

[MikeyJ, RN]

Nothing compares to the salaries of nursing professors, with the exception of the earnings of professors of medicine. The professors who teach our medical students receive the highest earnings out of all of the university departments.

I figured nursing professors would be paid more than professors of other departments in order to give nurses some incentive to pursue higher education -- however, I have always been under the impression that nursing professors would start out quite low compared to hospital nursing, but apparently that isn't always the truth.

I also discovered that our basketball coach makes more than some of the dean's -- haha.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Maybe there was some special program or funding provided by the state to help overcome the nursing faculty shortage. In most institutions, the nursing faculty are not particularly well paid.

I looked up the national averages for faculty salaries for 2005-2006 in The Chronical of Higher Education, a reliable source. Here is what I found as average salaries for all faculty members and average salaries for nursing faculty.

All disciplines................. Nursing

Professor 94.7 K ............ 77.6 K

Associate Prof 67.1 K ............ 63.7 K

Assistant Prof 56.3 K ............ 53.1 K

Instructor 40.1 K ............. 46.3 K

More information may be found at: http://cupahr.org but I didn't explore that link, so I'm not sure how much you can access for free.

Those numbers are consistent with my personal experience.

[Mission]

A lot of factors go into salary: private vs state, research vs non-research school, COL where the school is located, school size, etc. I am in the last year of my PhD and based on the experiences of friends of mine who graduated ahead of me mid-80s to mid-90s seems to be the standard range for a junior tenure track faculty position at research universities. I would expect in a non-research role one would get paid a lot less.

[TooterIA]

I figured nursing professors would be paid more than professors of other departments in order to give nurses some incentive to pursue higher education -- however, I have always been under the impression that nursing professors would start out quite low compared to hospital nursing, but apparently that isn't always the truth.

Granted I teach for a community college, but nursing instructors make the exact same as a biology, literature, psychology, etc instructor.

At my community college, full time MSN instructors start under $40,000/year.

[JBudd, MSN]

As Tooter said, at our community college, all instructors get the same pay, no matter what credentials you hold. An MSN is required for the nursing program (classroom).

I would take about a 40% pay cut to go full time faculty from my parttime hospital job. People at church just shake their heads when they hear I make more using my BSN than my MSN.

[kids]

$100k being a lot of money depends on the cost of living in the community.

IMHO it isn't diddly when compared with the education required. My husband makes more than that working in telecom without a degree in a medium cost of living area.

[DNP2b]

A lot of factors go into salary: private vs state, research vs non-research school, COL where the school is located, school size, etc. I am in the last year of my PhD and based on the experiences of friends of mine who graduated ahead of me mid-80s to mid-90s seems to be the standard range for a junior tenure track faculty position at research universities. I would expect in a non-research role one would get paid a lot less.

The salary seems great, but is this for a 9 month or 12 month contract?