Can You Afford Medical School Tuition?
It is a valid question. Medical school is expensive. Really expensive. Unless you come from a wealthy family, student loans will be an absolute must. The average cost for four years of medical school is well into six figures at this point. Future doctors will be paying off loans well into middle age, possibly longer depending on their level of career success. Who cares? Future doctors can afford it. Well, everybody should care, because these costs trickle down along the entire system.
Why is tuition still high? Because medical schools do not operate for the good of society. They are actually (in most cases) tremendous profit centers for universities. Nobody is arguing that it is cheap to teach medicine to future doctor, but the margins are well in the schools’ (especially those with reputable names) favor at this juncture. When we take into account that medicine is something everybody in American society will need at some point, it seems odd for tax payers to fund a system that is going to cost them in the long run.
Does this system make sense? As a society, most people understand that medical costs are rising at a completely unsustainable rate. It is a popular (and occasionally justified) opinion to often blame doctors for reckless profiteering. But can anyone really blame them when most young doctors are deep in debt themselves? Doctors are merely passing their own costs down the system (to a degree). Another problem is the culture that is being created. When you enter medical school, from day one (or at least the day of your first bill) you are indoctrinated into a system of paying what the market will bear. Goodwill is a store for the less privileged – this is a profit-based industry that will not stop until demand is outpaced with supply. Since demand is near infinite due to a population preferring to staying alive, there is no end in sight.
What are your other options? First, you can simply refuse to pay it and do something else with your life. If your dream is to become a doctor, that is not particularly appealing. Another option is to step outside of the United States. International medical schools (such as the American University of Antigua in the Caribbean) are often much less expensive and may even run off a US curriculum. These schools offer the possibility of receiving a legitimate education at a rate that will not break the bank (along with some of the other advantages that study abroad experiences can bring a student). The downside is that some are more reputable than others and not all translate well to a future career in the United States. If you do not want to be paying off loans for half your life, this may be an option to look at – but make sure to do your homework before selecting a specific institution.
I have meandered across a few different points in this article – from asking why tuition is so high to pointing out the negative effects on overall society that high tuition poses to presenting other options for individuals who cannot afford these costs. This wandering is not unlike the cluster mess of the healthcare system currently in place.
by Felix Chesterfield
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