Negotiating a raise. Help!

I've been working at this company as a software developer intern for the past year and I'm paid $15/hr. I hadn't really put much on salary till now. They're talking about hiring me as a part time employee granted they have the budget, and they said I would get a higher salary. I did some research and found out that some undergrad friends of mine get paid 18/hr for testing (and they're still working on their undergrad!) - and I'm a last semester Grad student only getting 15/hr for coding. I want to ask them for 25/hr at the next meeting when we're talking about my part time position. I also looked up on salary.com and it said that the median salary for a software developer I is $26.8/hr.

Do you think this is reasonable to ask for such a huge raise? Also, how would I go about asking this? I don't want to risk my current position. At the same time, I don't want to sell myself short anymore.

Most people get more money in a job because they sell themselves in the interview and demand a certain pay. It's time for you to do the same.

Send them an e-mail telling them you want to have a meeting to discuss the new position and your salary.

When you go into the meeting, be professional. You are not a kid anymore. Act polished. When they discuss the new position, ask what they have in mind for salary. If they give you a cheesy response, be assertive.

They will keep you as cheap as they can if you let them. They may not keep you if you don't reach a satisfactory salary, but if you stay there at $15.00 an hour - you will ALWAYS work at a lower rate your entire career.