Compensation for Nurse Educators: Findings from the NLN/Carnegie National Survey with Implications for Recruitment and Retention

HEADLINES FROM THE NLN IN THE MAY/JUNE 2007 ISSUE OF NURSING EDUCATION PERSPECTIVES OFFERED A GENERAL PREVIEW OF THE NLN-CARNEGIE STUDY FINDINGS. This column takes a closer look at the key topic of salary. Here we examine both the normative rate of compensation among nurse educators and how that compensation compares to the earnings of faculty in other academic specialties. We also look at pay among graduate-prepared RNs working in nonacademic fields. Finally, we discuss the ramifications of prevailing wage rates for recruitment and retention of nurse faculty in the context of the looming nurse faculty shortage. * This article specifically examines the salaries of full-time faculty and excludes those whose position title was department, program, or administrative chair at the time of the survey. Six different types of income data were collected: 1) basic salary from the respondent's primary academic institution (PAI), that is, where that person had the majority of teaching, advisement, and leadership responsibilities during the Z003-Z006 academic year in a prelicensure RN or graduate-level nursing program; 2) additional wages from the PAI; 3 ) income from other educational institutions; 4) income from consulting; 3) income from other jobs; and 6) nonsalary income. What Respondents Earned In 2005-2006, respondents earned on average $55,499 in basic salary and $5,453 in additional wages from their primary academic institution. As indicated by Figure 1, while respondents garnered on average more than three quarters (78 percent) of their personal earnings from their PAI, nurse educators also had significant earnings from external employment. On average, respondents earned an additional 7 percent in income from nonacademic employers, an additional 5 percent in earnings from secondary academic jobs, and 3 percent from consulting work. Combined, these additional jobs augment nurse educator salaries by 23 percent, or an average of $11,534 annually. While overall averages provide a glimpse of the "big picture" of nurse faculty compensation, examining salary differences among educators employed at different ranks, across diverse program types, and in a variety of institutional settings provides a more nuanced view of the earnings landscape. Faculty who teach exclusively in prelicensure programs earn average basic salaries that are 5 percent below the overall mean for full-time nurse educators. Inversely, those teaching in a mix of graduate and prelicensure settings see a significant salary benefit, with additional average earnings of $10,000 per year over their prelicensure counterparts. And those who teach exclusively at the graduate level see a dramatic earnings benefit, with basic compensation rates rising 27 percent over average levels. (See Figure 2.) As Figure 3 illustrates, base salaries at private and public institutions follow two distinct patterns. At public institutions, nurse faculty salaries are highly correlated with the preponderance of graduate degrees awarded by the institution. At 5 percent below the national average, two-year colleges (as defined by the Carnegie classification scheme; see www.carnegiefoundation.org for details) offer the lowest base salaries. With each incremental increase in Carnegie classification level, nurse educator salaries at public institutions rise on average 5 percent. Thus, colleges offering a master's degree pay on average 4 percent above average salary rates, and institutions offering a doctorate pay almost 10 percent more than the national mean. By contrast, base salaries at private institutions cluster into two broad-based categories. Private undergraduate institutions - with little distinction between associate degree and baccalaureate colleges - offer annual base salaries that are close to the US average. Private graduate colleges, whether master's or doctoralgranting, offer a sizable salary premium of about 13 percent over the national mean pay rate. …