Starting pay for a New Grad?

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Jul 24, 2008

I'm a new grad in the ICU and I make $18.65/hr plus differentials. HTH. I think my pay is typical for new grads here.

NICUplease · Jul 25, 2008

geez, that's really low... NO OFFENSE!

How much would a nurse get WITH experience?

I know CA and OK are two completely different places but I didnt think the difference in pay would be that significant. In SF, starting pay for a new grad is $40+.

I wonder how much the big hospitals like MArcy, OU, and Integris pay NGs?

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Jul 25, 2008

geez, that's really low... NO OFFENSE!
How much would a nurse get WITH experience?
I know CA and OK are two completely different places but I didnt think the difference in pay would be that significant. In SF, starting pay for a new grad is $40+.
I wonder how much the big hospitals like MArcy, OU, and Integris pay NGs?

I take no offense :)

I do work for OU Med Center and their starting pay is $18.65/hr for new grads. My friend who is a new grad at Mercy makes slightly less than I do, Integris pays about the same. The VA (which is down at OUMed) pays more and has significant sign on bonuses.

I have lived in California (San Diego and SF) and you honestly can't compare it with OK....our cost of living is very very low. My pay is actually quite good here--I make more than most people I know. I have a husband and 2 kids and we do quite well. You can buy a brand new home here for $120K. My friend just had built a 2400 sq ft home with all her own specs for $130K.

I can also get all the overtime I want, and I know that OU has special incentive bonuses and also contracts which can significantly increase your pay...I have a friend working in adult ICU who makes $50/hr, he signed a 13 week contract and just keeps resigning it every 13 weeks and has been doing that for 2-3 years now. So yes you CAN make "good" money.

HTH :)

NICUplease · Jul 26, 2008

What brought you to OK? Trust, I would not be here if it wasnt for my husbands obligations as an active duty navy "person" (???)

I am definately moving back to SF in a couple of years, but like you said, the cost of living is outrageous over there. We thought about buying a home here, just briefly, but SF is home, regardless of their minimum $600k 2 bdrm rundown homes built in the 20's!

I hear OU also gives you like a sign on bonus that could go towards student loans. It's too bad they dont have a scholarship programs for student in school, or do they? I think they only offer it to employees.

I am getting really excited about this volunteer interview. This will be my first UNPAID position I will be interviewing for but I dont think I've ever been so nervous about at interview in my life!

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Jul 26, 2008

We came here through the Navy as well. My dad was a Navy Commander and he ended up retiring here and we have just stayed and I've since gotten married, had kids, etc. We lived in San Fran a couple of years while in the Navy. My mom was born and raised in San Diego and we love it out there...but doubt we will ever move back just because of how expensive it has become for a family (it didn't used to be that way! Kinda makes me sad actually). My mom was a police officer out there while I was little. I do think about moving back to Washington (lived in Bremerton for a few years) or Oregon later on maybe. It's hard to be away from "home" though I know. At least when your done with nursing school you will have a job you can take with you anywhere.

Yes, as an employee (even as a nurse partner) they will give you $4000 for 2 years or $2000 for 1 year.

Good luck with your interview!!

topgungirl27 · Aug 2, 2008

Wow, I'm still amazed how ppl think living in smaller places and away from the cities might be a bad thing. I'm from Oklahoma and now live outside of Atlanta and nurses here start at $23-24 and hour and the cost of living is also highere here as well. Don't discredit living in a new place and getting to see new things...at least in OK people have time to say hi and ask how you're doing...SF is nice and so is NYC, but just don't have the same, friendly appeal as OK does! $18-19 and hour is quite well for OK, in fact, it's very high pay...you can go a long way with those kind of wages too! Can you tell I miss OK? lol

NICUplease · Aug 2, 2008

Hon, I never said OK was a bad place to live nor did I say SF or any other bigger city was BETTER than OK. I was just amazed of the difference in pay, THANK YOU:eek:

topgungirl27 · Aug 3, 2008

I'm not offended and did not intend to offend anyone...I have lived many places too, thanks to my dad being in the Navy...I moved to OK from Hawaii of all places...I've run into a lot of ppl from CA and NY here in GA who think this place is so cheap...of course, me moving here, anything I was employed with was an automatic pay raise compared to Oklahoma. Every place has it's appeal and I was just trying to say pay is not always one of them for some people. How do you guys like living in OK?

NeysaGirl1 · Oct 22, 2008

Are you guys kidding me? Nurses in Oklahoma are not adequately compensated. Do you realize you could have gone to welding school, acquired less debt, went to school for about six months and made just as much money? And lets see...after taxes, a carpayment and a house payment, how much money do you have left every month to pay utilities, buy clothes and pay for gasoline? Oklahoma nurses need to demand more money and stop accepting the first jobs that are offered!!

scubadude · Dec 30, 2008

Are you guys kidding me? Nurses in Oklahoma are not adequately compensated. Do you realize you could have gone to welding school, acquired less debt, went to school for about six months and made just as much money? And lets see...after taxes, a carpayment and a house payment, how much money do you have left every month to pay utilities, buy clothes and pay for gasoline? Oklahoma nurses need to demand more money and stop accepting the first jobs that are offered!!

I agree. I am so sick of hearing "well the cost of living is so much cheaper here!" Does anyone even stop to think about that before they blurt it out? My car payment, cel phone, cable, internet and groceries are the same here as any other place in the country. I am a single adult and like many, simply can not and do not wish to purchase a house at this time. So, that leaves me renting. I can get a nice one bedroom in OKC for about $600/mo. I can get a similar one in Dallas for about the same. I can get a similar one in Southern California for $1,000/mo. My car insurance is cheaper by $35/mo than when I lived on the west coast. So all things being similar without purchasing a house, my COL is $435/mo cheaper here than in SoCal. That is $109 a week.

So as a new grad here without differentials is 18 and change, I'll just round it up to 19. Southern Cali or DFW or NOLA or a huge amount of other metro areas start at 24-25. Lets say 24. So in OKC I would gross 684/wk at 36 hours and I would gross 864 a week at the 24/hr. How does $180 a week less make the $109 a cheaper COL? That is 71/wk x52 weeks=3692/yr! Factor in a little overtime and that number gets MUCH larger.

That to me, is the difference between spending a vacation at home renting movies or in a condo in Hawaii. It's the difference between driving a Sentra and a nicer luxury car. It is the difference between retiring at 55 or at 65.

Please everyone stop saying that it is so much cheaper here because it isn't. I love it here and would not want to live back on the west coast for anything but let's keep the facts straight.

Also please start standing up for your pay and demanding what you are worth. Do you think that medicare pays less to the LTC's because they don't sit on a million dollar acreage like in LA? How can they pay Cali/Az LTC nurses so much more and still make money with the SAME income per resident?

DeadHeadRN, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2008

You can buy a brand new home here for $120K. My friend just had built a 2400 sq ft home with all her own specs for $130K.

HOLY COW!!! :bugeyes: $130K?!! That's insane!!! I live in NY. Long Island actually, just outside NYC and the average homes here start at about 350-400K (for a run down shack that needs tons of work!!) and that's with the housing market as it is now. New grads start at about $35-36/hour. I guess NY is NY, but the ratio of salary to cost of living doesn't seem proportional.