In 1999, most deans of nursing schools that belonged to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that they did not have a faculty shortage. By 2005, however, 75 percent of U.S. nursing schools cited faculty shortages as the major reason for denying admission to qualified students. The average age of nurse educators holding PhDs is almost fifty-four; the average age at which nursing faculty members retire is sixty-two and a half. In addition, the small numbers of graduates from nursing doctoral programs (just over four hundred annually), and the fact that only about three fourths of them say they will seek a faculty position, make it clear that the nation will face a major shortage of nursing faculty for many years. This article asserts the only solution to this dilemma is increasing the number of nurses who complete a doctoral degree to ensure the future of nursing education. To encourage doctorally prepared nurses to choose a career in higher education, they must be provided with salaries equivalent to those paid to nurses in clinical and administrative positions. The article concludes that while teaching future nurses is incredibly satisfying and a privilege, the financial reward for leaving the clinical setting to embrace the academic life must be adequate.