WASHINGTON, D.C., April 13, 1998 -- Doctorally prepared professors at nursing schools in the nation's universities and four-year colleges are earning an average of $64,398 in the current 1997-98 academic year, up 3.4 percent above a year ago, according to the latest salary survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

For nurse practitioners who are doctorally prepared professors and teach full-time in nurse practitioner (NP) programs, earnings averaged $63,222 this academic year. But that figure trails the higher average of $65,216 received by counterparts who do not hold doctorates. However, of especially keen concern to educators is the accelerated graying of the nation's nursing faculty. At 49.4, the average age of all full-time nursing faculty in the 1997-98 academic year surpasses the average in 1994-1995 by 1.3 years, AACN reports. The average age of doctorally prepared professors, associate professors, and assistant professors is 54.9, 52.1, and 48.5 years, respectively, this academic year.

"The news this year is at the same time welcome and deeply disturbing," explains AACN President Andrea R. Lindell, DNSc, RN. "Considering the enormous fiscal constraints already encroaching on higher education, the moderate salary increases across nearly all faculty ranks this year are particularly encouraging. Still, with so many of nursing's professorate now nearing or exceeding age 50, the potential for a troublesome shortage of nursing faculty -- coming on top of the already growing shortfall of RNs in key specialties -- is looming very large."

"Our ability to produce sufficient numbers of nursing clinicians, researchers, and administrators will be severely diminished unless nursing schools can recruit and foster a sizeable pool of students who view nursing education as an equally attractive career path," Dr. Lindell urges.

The survey, conducted in fall 1997, is AACN's 20th annual report of salaries for full-time nursing faculty and is based on responses from 521 (80 percent) of the nation's nursing schools with baccalaureate and graduate programs. The report provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date salary data available for full-time instructional and administrative faculty members. In addition, it is the first AACN survey to report salaries for nurse practitioners who are full-time faculty.

For all full-time faculty, salaries this academic year range from a low of $21,318 for an instructor without a doctoral degree in a public institution to a high of $140,556 for a doctorally prepared professor in a private secular school.

Almost all ranks of full-time nursing faculty saw salary gains this academic year. The highest increases were realized by nondoctorally prepared instructors, up 4.5 percent, to $36,777, followed by doctorally prepared instructors (up 3.9 percent, to $42,033), nondoctorally prepared assistant professors (up 3.5 percent, to $39,691), doctorally prepared assistant professors (up 3.0 percent, to $45,591), and nondoctorally prepared associate professors (up 2.1 percent, to $44,062). Professors without doctorates saw their earnings stay virtually unchanged, rising only .06 percent to $57,411.

Private Secular Schools Lead

Faculty who hold doctorates received their highest salary increases at private secular institutions in 1997-98, the AACN survey reports. Average salaries for doctorally prepared professors jumped 4.8 percent, to $69,968, at these institutions, compared to increases of 3.2 percent (to $65,117) at public institutions and 1.3 percent (to $56,526) at private religious schools. Likewise, associate professors with doctoral degrees realized their highest gains at private secular schools, up 4.1 percent to $54,767, compared to increases of 3.2 percent (to $53,256) at public institutions and 2.5 percent (to $49,577) at private religious schools.

Among instructional faculty with doctoral degrees, earnings this academic year range from $21,996 for an associate professor in a private religious institution to $131,600 for a professor in a private secular school. Doctorally prepared professors who teach full-time are earning an average of $62,598.

For nurse practitioners who teach full-time in schools with NP programs, salaries in 1997-98 range from a low of $22,425 for a nondoctorally prepared assistant professor to a high of $97,391 for a doctorally prepared professor, AACN reports.

Of full-time faculty at responding schools, 14.5 percent devote at least half of their time in administrative roles. Among these administrative faculty, doctorally prepared associate deans who also hold the rank of professor and associate professor, respectively, are earning an average of $73,548 and $64,994 this academic year. Doctorally prepared program coordinators are earning an average of $57,482 and $49,434 when also holding the rank of professor and associate professor, respectively.

Regional Differences Continue

Regionally, average earnings for all doctorally prepared professors range from $61,908 at Southern institutions to $70,540 at schools in North Atlantic states. Nondoctorally prepared professors, however, found their highest average salary in Western states ($63,277), and are realizing their lowest average earnings this year in Southern schools ($46,841). Instructors without doctoral degrees are faring best in Western institutions with an average salary of $42,161, and are finding their lowest average earnings ($35,218) in the Midwest.

A Demographic Profile

Sixty-five percent of all full-time faculty at schools responding to the AACN survey are based public institutions, followed by faculty in private religious schools (21.4 percent), private secular institutions (13.2 percent), and consortia (0.7 percent).

Of full-time faculty at responding institutions, 82.2 percent are working at universities, with 16.8 percent based at four-year colleges. Although more than half (54.7 percent) teach only in bachelor's-degree programs, 26.8 percent have teaching responsibilities at both the bachelor's- and graduate-degree levels, with 16.9 percent teaching exclusively in graduate-degree tracks.

Fifteen percent of schools responding to the AACN survey are part of an academic health center. Most full-time faculty at responding schools are assistant professors (39.8 percent), followed by associate professors (27.7 percent), instructors (15.4 percent), professors (10.6 percent), with 6.5 percent classified as "other," such as lecturers, visiting professors, and adjunct faculty. Though women comprise the vast majority (96.7 percent) of full-time nursing faculty, men account for 3.3 percent.

Copies of the AACN survey, 1997-1998 Salaries of Instructional and Administrative Nursing Faculty in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, are available for $45.00 (plus $3.00 postage), prepaid orders only, from AACN, Dept. 178, Washington, DC 20055-0178; (202) 463-6930, or by clicking here to order.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. Web site: http://www.aacn.nche.edu

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CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu

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