If you’re getting ready to seek out an audiology externship, you’re probably wondering what sort of salary to expect. You likely have bills to pay on top of looming student loan payments, so getting a decent-paying externship can be a valuable advantage as you move away from education and into a full-time career.
We have both good news and bad news for you. We’ll give you the good news upfront: Audiology is one of the rare fields where you can find decently paying externships. The bad news is that these opportunities are somewhat rare, and they seem to be getting even rarer as time goes by.
If you’ve been able to negotiate an externship salary, consider yourself extremely fortunate. Externships in the audiology world will rarely be flexible in terms of salary, and in some cases, demanding a specific salary could make you ineligible for the externship. Obviously, you’ll have a bit more leverage if the company considers you a strong candidate for hire once you complete the externship.
While a huge number of audiology externships are unpaid, there are some that pay a decent salary. We’ve seen reports that vary from minimum wage to about $42k per year. (For reference, the American Academy of Audiology strongly believes that a 12-month externship should be the final year of an audiology doctorate [AuD] program.)
Many people recommend seeking audiology externships at VA medical centers, as those tend to be far more likely to offer salaried positions rather than unpaid ones. Also, if you’re not finding paid externships in your state, consider looking at relocating to another state. We understand that this is going to be subjective, but states that, on average, are considered highly desirable places to live are less likely to offer paid externships than states that are generally considered less desirable.
Another factor to consider is taxes. It’s possible that you’ll be paid as a 1099 employee rather than a W-2 employee. W-2 employees will have taxes taken out of their paychecks, while 1099 employees are considered self-employed and will be required to pay taxes at the end of the year. When you’re filling out your tax paperwork – which is likely to be the one of the first things you’ll do when you begin a paid externship – look at what sort of form you’re filling out (whether it’s a W-2 form or a 1099-MISC form) and be prepared to keep some money on hand to pay your taxes the following year. It can be very frustrating to find out that you owe back taxes when you’re not prepared to pay them.
With all these factors in mind, we wish you the very best of luck in finding an audiology externship that works for you.
