Do You Get Paid for Clinicals?

Do you get paid for clinicals? Almost never. Clinical hours are part of your education, so you train under a preceptor’s supervision and earn academic credit instead of a paycheck. That’s true in NP, PA and RN programs alike.

It’s a fair question. Clinicals take up a big share of your week, so the answer affects how you plan your job and your budget. We’ll explain why clinical hours are unpaid, the paid programs and stipends that do exist, and how to manage the cost of unpaid time before your rotation starts.

TL;DR

• Required clinical hours are unpaid in NP, PA and RN programs, because they count toward your degree.
• Paid options include hospital programs for nursing students, your own RN job while you’re in school, and NP residencies after you graduate.
• Scholarships such as the National Health Service Corps and Nurse Corps pay tuition and a monthly stipend if you agree to work where clinicians are in short supply after you graduate.
• Plan your schedule and budget around unpaid hours before your rotation starts.
• Still need a preceptor? Preceptors on Clinical Match Me send you offers. Pay nothing until you accept an offer.

Do you get paid for clinicals as an NP, PA or RN student?

No. A clinical rotation is coursework that takes place in a clinic instead of a classroom. Your program sets the learning objectives, your preceptor supervises and evaluates you, and your school records the credit.

Your clinical hours count toward graduation and certification. The 2022 national standards for NP education set a minimum of 750 direct patient care hours, and ANCC and AANPCB certification require at least 500 faculty-supervised clinical hours. Our guide to nurse practitioner clinical hours requirements explains where each number comes from.

Why are clinical hours unpaid?

Clinical hours are unpaid because they’re part of your education, not a job. You see real patients under your preceptor’s supervision, and your program decides what you need to learn and how you’re evaluated.

Some programs put this in writing. United States University’s FNP clinical handbook, for example, says students “may not be paid by the clinical site and preceptor while completing clinical hours.” It also says clinical hours “must be separate from students’ normal job duties and hours.”

If you’re wondering how labor law applies, the Department of Labor’s fact sheet on internships is a useful reference. Courts use a “primary beneficiary” test to decide whether an intern or student at a for-profit employer is an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The test’s factors include how closely the internship ties to your formal education through coursework or academic credit, and whether your work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees. No single factor decides the outcome. Since the fact sheet is general guidance about internships, check your program’s clinical policies to see how your own hours work.

How do clinicals differ for RN, NP and PA students?

None of these programs pay you for required clinical hours. What changes is the paid work you can do alongside school or after it.

Do nursing students get paid for clinicals?

No. Clinicals in an RN program are unpaid, required parts of your nursing degree. Some hospitals run separate paid programs for nursing students, which work like a job you hold alongside school.

One example is the Cincinnati VA’s VA Student Trainee Experience Program (VA-STEP), which is open to BSN students who have finished their junior year and meet its GPA requirement. It pays students while they train with an RN preceptor. Ask your school whether hours from a program like this count toward your clinical requirements.

Do NP students get paid for clinical hours?

No. Your NP clinical hours are unpaid, the same as an RN student’s. Paid NP roles start after you graduate, and they include residencies for new nurse practitioners.

At the Kansas City VA, the 12-month nurse practitioner residency is for NPs who graduated within the last 12 months, and it lists an estimated stipend of more than $81,000.

Do PA students get paid for rotations?

No. PA rotations, which accreditation standards call supervised clinical practice experiences, are unpaid, required parts of your PA program.

ARC-PA, which accredits PA programs, sets rules for the student role in its accreditation standards. Each program must publish a policy that PA students “are not required to work for the program,” and another that they “do not substitute for or function as” instructional faculty or clinical or administrative staff.

Can you get paid during clinicals?

Not for the clinical hours themselves. But if you work as an RN, you can keep earning income while you’re in school, and some scholarships and traineeships pay you a stipend.

Do you get paid for clinicals if you already work as an RN?

Not for your clinical hours. Your RN job pays you for RN work, and your clinical hours stay unpaid, even at your own workplace. Your program decides whether you can do clinicals where you work. The University of Colorado Colorado Springs, for example, may allow clinical hours at your employer if they’re at a different location or unit, with approval from the program’s graduate clinical practicum coordinator.

Your employer may also help pay for school, so ask human resources about tuition assistance. IRS Publication 970 says you can exclude up to $5,250 a year of educational assistance benefits from your income when you receive them under your employer’s educational assistance program.

Which scholarships and traineeships pay a stipend?

Several federal programs pay a stipend while you’re in school. Here’s how each one works.

• National Health Service Corps Scholarship. The NHSC Scholarship pays your tuition and eligible fees for up to four school years. It also gives you an annual payment for other reasonable educational costs and a monthly stipend for living expenses. It’s open to students in nurse practitioner tracks in adult, family, geriatric, primary care pediatric, psychiatric mental health and women’s health, and to nurse midwife and physician assistant students. In return, you commit to two to four years of full-time service at an NHSC-approved site in a Health Professional Shortage Area.
• Nurse Corps Scholarship. If you’re in a nursing degree program, the Nurse Corps Scholarship pays your tuition, eligible fees and reasonable costs such as books, clinical supplies and uniforms, plus a monthly stipend. After you graduate, you work at an eligible health care facility with a critical shortage of nurses. The whole award is taxable.
• HRSA traineeships. Some schools receive federal Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) grants to run traineeship programs for primary care NP students. HRSA gives a funding preference to projects that benefit rural or underserved populations. At the University of Kansas School of Nursing, ANEW trainees can receive up to $25,000 for full-time study. Ask your program whether it offers a traineeship.

Who gets paid during your rotation?

Your preceptor may receive an honorarium, and some students pay a placement service to find a preceptor.

Do preceptors get paid?

Some do. Preceptors on Clinical Match Me earn $1,000+ per rotation, their compensation for teaching you, and we pay them when your rotation starts. If you’d like to teach NP students one day, read about preceptor pay and how to become a preceptor.

Do students pay for clinical placements?

Some do, through a preceptor placement service. Most preceptors on Clinical Match Me charge a flat rate of $1,995 for rotations up to 250 hours, and that price includes our fee and the preceptor’s honorarium. Our NP preceptor cost page explains how pricing works, including payment plans for up to 24 months.

How do you manage the cost of unpaid clinical hours?

Since the answer to “do you get paid for clinicals” is almost always no, plan for unpaid time before your rotation starts. Start with these steps:

1. Map your hours. Ask your program how many hours each rotation requires and over how many weeks, then put them on your calendar. Our guide to how long clinical rotations are for NP students explains rotation length and timing.
2. Talk to your employer early. Ask about fewer shifts, weekend shifts or a flexible schedule during your rotation terms.
3. Group your clinical days. When your site allows it, schedule your clinical days back to back so you keep full days free for paid work.
4. Budget for the rotation months. Include gas, parking, tolls, scrubs and any housing you’ll need for a distant site.
5. Ask your financial aid office about your cost of attendance. Under federal student aid rules, your school’s transportation allowance may include transportation costs your program requires. Your financial aid office can also adjust your cost of attendance case by case for special circumstances. Ask whether your clinical travel or housing qualifies.
6. Choose a nearby rotation when you can. A long commute adds unpaid travel time to unpaid clinical hours.
7. Log every hour correctly. Check what counts as clinical hours in your program before you log them, so you receive credit for every unpaid hour.

Our guide to planning your NP clinicals explains what to expect from your first rotation to graduation.

Still need a preceptor for your clinicals?

We can help, especially if your program expects you to arrange your own NP clinical placement. Unpaid hours are one pressure, and finding a preceptor to supervise them can be the bigger one.

Clinical Match Me is a preceptor placement service for NP and PA students in every clinical specialty. Our founder is a nurse practitioner who struggled to find a preceptor as a student, and since 2014 we’ve helped more than 10,000 students find preceptors.

Submit a placement request with your specialty and rotation dates. Choose the states you’re willing to travel to, or enter your zip code and how far you’re willing to travel. We’ll match you with preceptors in those areas. Preceptors review your placement request and send you offers, and you choose the best preceptor for your schedule and learning goals.

Free to join and no credit card required. Pay nothing until you accept an offer. Once you do, you’re protected by our Money Back Guarantee. If your school rejects your preceptor for any reason, or your preceptor cancels, you get a full refund or a replacement preceptor at no extra cost.

Although many students are placed within days, try to submit your placement requests as early as possible. The sooner you do, the sooner we can place you.

Sign up free and submit your first placement request today.

Clinical pay: frequently asked questions

How many hours a day are clinicals?

It depends on your program and your clinical site. Plan for your clinical days to follow your preceptor’s schedule, since you see patients when they do. Your weekly hours matter most for planning: at 16 hours a week, a 160-hour rotation takes 10 weeks, and at 24 hours a week, it takes about 7 weeks.

Can you work during clinicals?

Yes, and many NP students do. Plan your work shifts around your clinical days, not the other way around.