Should I ask old internship boss for information

Question

Context

This year I was studying Computer Science as a student, and today I got my first job offer. However the remuneration that the company offers me seems a bit low. Different friends that have just graduated the same degree as me had offers with higher salary too. I tried to bring this up to my interview but the boss said that he knew what the wage is.

Last year I did an internship in an other company. It went incredibly well and the boss of this company wanted to hire me but I declined because I wanted to continue my studies.

Question

Since I have no other professional reference, may I ask my old boss how much he would be ready to paid me (with my new degree)? If yes, how could I ask it?

EDIT 1

In response to the comment of Joe : I'm not open to a position with my old company because it's location is no longer suitable.

Answer 1

You would be smart to explore all of your options before accepting a job offer that you feel is too low. It would absolutely be a good idea to get in contact with your former boss and see if the position is still open. You could say something like:

Hi Former Boss

I regret that when you wanted to hire me previously I couldn't commit to staying on full time as I wanted to finish my studies. I am now close to finishing my degree, and if you are still open to it I would be interested in discussing what opportunities are available with your company.

You don't want to ask him how much he'd be willing to pay you initially, but see if there's still an opportunity and the discussion will progress naturally towards how much you will get paid. Edit: the reason you shouldn't jump directly to how much he'd pay you is that it's presumptive that he is going to jump at the chance to hire you and it may make him feel that you're just wanting to use him as leverage in contract negotiations with another company.

Answer 2

If you had a good relationship with your former boss, it's not unreasonable to ask.

Hi [boss],

Hope you're doing well. [some other pleasantries] I recently got a job offer from another company, but with a fairly low salary (around $x). I was wondering if you could give me an idea of what the current market salary is for someone with my skills?

Thanks,

Guillaume

Also consider before you write whether you're open to a job offer from your former company or not; I wouldn't ask for one in this letter, but it's possible your former boss will come back to you with one.