$157,607: That's the average debt owed by graduating medical students in 2008, according the American Medical Association (AMA). That's enough for roughly 300 flights to the Caribbean, a small apartment in the Boston suburbs or one very nice car.
But here's the catch: Though most aspiring doctors have to take on a significant amount of personal loans, when they finally begin earning a professional salary after years of studying they are generally able to pay off their debts as well as afford flights to the Caribbean, an apartment in Boston or a really nice ride.
It's not the overall cost of medical school that is worrisome — undergraduates and graduate students in other fields also pay a lot of money for their education. What is concerning is that the debt owed by medical school graduates is constantly rising, as is the overall cost of attending medical school. Just last year, the debt owed by medical school graduates increased by 11 percent, according to the AMA. This mirrors the rising cost of tuition at medical schools. At Tufts University Medical School, tuition has increased by four percent annually for the past several years. The school is now the most expensive medical school in the nation, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Tuition and Student Fees Reports, with a price tag of $54,244 in tuition and fees for the 2009-10 academic year — a figure that doesn't take into account the cost of living or spending on items like textbooks.
Skyrocketing tuition would be problematic for any student, but in the case of medical schools, it threatens to exacerbate one of our nation's most pressing problems: the health care system. A recent national survey conducted for the AAMC by a national polling organization, Public Opinion Strategies, found that "cost was a major deterrent for all students, and it was the number-one deterrent for black, Hispanic, and Native American students."
Education costs threaten not only to limit the number of physicians in the United States but may drive many medical school students to pursue professions in more lucrative medical fields — they'll specialize, becoming surgeons or allergists or dermatologists instead of primary care doctors. According to the American Medical Group Association, an orthopedic surgeon earned an average of $476,083 annually in 2009. By contrast, a doctor practicing family medicine earned $197,655. Obviously, it's easier to pay off debt as a well-paid specialist.
But while specializing makes sound financial sense for the individual medical student, it may lead to a shortage of primary care physicians, thus straining the already ailing American health care system and burdening the American public.
In an interview with the Daily, a Tufts Medical School student indicated that he felt that the debt born by medical students should be addressed at a national level. The Daily believes that relying on the government to address the rising costs of medical school tuition, especially at private universities like Tufts, is a step in the wrong direction. While it seems clear that the rising cost of medical school tuition will negatively impact our health care system, we must first look to academic institutions for a way to mitigate increasing costs.
Perhaps the price of Tufts Medical School, the most expensive in the country, is merited. The school is already in debt. But a steady four percent annual increase raises questions. Why does the school need to continually raise tuition? When, if ever, will the increases stop? This leads back to a question all students ask at some point in their college career: Just where does my tuition go? Universities should take a long, hard look at how much they charge and decide how profit-motivated they truly desire to be. Unless things change, the cost of medical school may be a debt we all have to pay.
