Salaries for Accelerated Nursing Program Graduates (How Much Will You Get Paid ? )
Accelerated nursing programs offer students all kinds of advantages. Chief amongst those is the fact that you can finish a complete BSN program in potentially as little as a year. That's a fantastic opportunity, but it's also important to know what salary will be waiting for you on the other side so you can judge for yourself whether this is something you'd like to dive right into.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts salary and employment surveys all the time, and they are the official source for this information. The most recent information available for the nursing profession, and Registered Nurses in particular, is from 2009. At this time, RNs brought in a mean hourly wage of about $32, and a mean annual salary of about $66,500.
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Meanwhile, depending on your experience and your specific job, the earning potential is even higher than that. The top 10% of RNs in the workforce earn $93,500 or more each year. That isn't the kind of salary you can expect as soon as you graduate, but that's what you can shoot for as you get underway with your career and begin advancing.
The lowest 10% of RNs still earn respectable salaries. Their median is about $44,000 annually, and that's more than many individuals from other fields. Considering that's the low point, that isn't bad at all.
One factor that will cause your salary to differ or be higher or lower than the median is what kind of employment you end up having. Most nurses still work in hospitals, although about 40% now work elsewhere. Still, hospitals pay their nurses more than anywhere else, with the hourly wage increasing past $32.50. Meanwhile an environment like a physician's office will bring in a lower median wage of $28.50.
Don't forget that where you live and where you work geographically also impacts your earnings, as a result of competition in the field, living and business expenses, and more. The difference can be as drastic as earning $53,000 in South Dakota and over $85,000 in California! Although, as mentioned, living costs offset much of the true difference despite the alarming disparity at first glance.
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As with any other profession, the more experience you have, and the more education you have, the more money that you're going to make. Therefore, finishing an accelerated program to obtain your BSN is going to automatically bring you a higher paycheck, even if you already were an RN but went back to school. The higher up that educational ladder you move, the more room for salary growth you'll have.
Many people are surprised at the high salary levels that nurses can earn today. It's a very in-demand position, and nurses today have more responsibilities than ever before. All of this is reflected by those increasing wages, and when you obtain your accelerated nursing degree, you can start earning these salaries for yourself in as little as a year.
