Are D.O. school more expensive than M.D. schools?

[cuwhenucme]

Just curious, in general, is the tuition in D.O. schools higher than M.D. schools?

Thanks!

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[Back 5]

In general, private schools are more expensive than public schools.

 

[AlteredScale]

Since most DO schools are private schools, tuition is usually more expensive than your public MD (and DO) institutions.

Exceptions would be if you are OOS applying to a DO school, MSUCOM's OOS tuition is 80K a year a I believe.

 

[0ncogene]

Just curious, in general, is the tuition in D.O. schools higher than M.D. schools?

Thanks!

Yes most DO schools are more expensive. The only cheap DO school I can think of is LECOM in Florida, something like 30K a year

 

[user3]

.

 

[Mehd School]

Yes most DO schools are more expensive. The only cheap DO school I can think of is LECOM in Florida, something like 30K a year

It's not degree dependent, it is school dependent.

In general, private schools are more expensive than public schools.

This is the correct answer. CCOM is more expensive than MSUCOM just like Tulane is more expensive than LSU.

 

[Goro]

Tufts is a gawd-awful expensive!

 

[AlteredScale]

Tufts is a gawd-awful expensive!

Would you say that beyond the status of being private, is DO tuition higher because they receive less in the form of philanthropic donations? I feel like a lot MD schools receive millions upon millions in donated money to build a new building.

 

[Goro]

Yes. Our endowment is a collection of books in our Library.

Would you say that beyond the status of being private, is DO tuition higher because they receive less in the form of philanthropic donations? I feel like a lot MD schools receive millions upon millions in donated money to build a new building.

 

[group_theory]

Yes. Our endowment is a collection of books in our Library.

That's how one university, located near Boston, got started. Had the university named after him for his generous library donation.

One of the benefits of attending some of the older more establish DO schools ... larger alumni base which means larger fundraising base (so more likely to have chair/professorship endowments, more scholarship endowments, etc) - at least in theory.

The top 10 most expensive US medical schools (according to US News, 2014 edition) were all US MD schools (and private). Top of the list was Columbia at $57k (for tuition and fees), followed by Tufts ($56k), Dartmouth ($55k), Case Western Reserve ($55k), and USC ($54k)
http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...vate-medical-schools-with-the-highest-tuition

Yet the medical schools where students had the most debt (according to US News, 2014 edition) had a fair representation of DO schools (although a good number of MD schools were represented as well). Western/COMP leads the pack at $239k, followed by WVSOM ($236k), UNECOM ($236k), NSU ($224k), Georgetown ($224k), and RVU ($222k).
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankings...ate-schools/top-medical-schools/debt-rankings


But just like the sticker price for colleges/undergrad is different than the actual cost of attendance, the same can be said of medical schools.
As an example, while Columbia leads the pack with highest tuition/fees, in 2013 its students average debt on graduation was only $132k, which is in the middle of the pack when you compare MD and DO school debts. LECOM-Erie, despite its low tuition of $31k, the students average debt was $176k.

Why the differences? How many nontraditional students are attending DO schools vs MD schools (who have to take additional loans to support family, or mortgage, etc). How many scholarships are available to students and are they significant scholarships or small scholarships? How many NIH-supported MD/PhD scholarships are available? How many students are on military HPSP scholarships? Cost of living is also important - cost of living in an area near Western University or Manhattan may be higher than Kirksville so students may have to borrow more. Also something to consider is how many students are paying tuition without loans (ie parental involvement)? These will have an impact on "average" debt. Really wish there was a site that reported the median student debt instead of averages since it will be more insightful.


So the most expensive medical schools (sticker price) in the country are private MD schools. However, a lot of DO schools hold the distinction of having their graduates with the highest average debt upon graduation (which is what matters the most).

 

[Goro]

Double whammy for private medical school in big city!

So, thinking about Pitt or Vandy might go over better than, say, USC or Mt Sinai?

That's how one university, located near Boston, got started. Had the university named after him for his generous library donation.

One of the benefits of attending some of the older more establish DO schools ... larger alumni base which means larger fundraising base (so more likely to have chair/professorship endowments, more scholarship endowments, etc) - at least in theory.

The top 10 most expensive US medical schools (according to US News, 2014 edition) were all US MD schools (and private). Top of the list was Columbia at $57k (for tuition and fees), followed by Tufts ($56k), Dartmouth ($55k), Case Western Reserve ($55k), and USC ($54k)
http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...vate-medical-schools-with-the-highest-tuition

Yet the medical schools where students had the most debt (according to US News, 2014 edition) had a fair representation of DO schools (although a good number of MD schools were represented as well). Western/COMP leads the pack at $239k, followed by WVSOM ($236k), UNECOM ($236k), NSU ($224k), Georgetown ($224k), and RVU ($222k).
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankings...ate-schools/top-medical-schools/debt-rankings


But just like the sticker price for colleges/undergrad is different than the actual cost of attendance, the same can be said of medical schools.
As an example, while Columbia leads the pack with highest tuition/fees, in 2013 its students average debt on graduation was only $132k, which is in the middle of the pack when you compare MD and DO school debts. LECOM-Erie, despite its low tuition of $31k, the students average debt was $176k.

Why the differences? How many nontraditional students are attending DO schools vs MD schools (who have to take additional loans to support family, or mortgage, etc). How many scholarships are available to students and are they significant scholarships or small scholarships? How many NIH-supported MD/PhD scholarships are available? How many students are on military HPSP scholarships? Cost of living is also important - cost of living in an area near Western University or Manhattan may be higher than Kirksville so students may have to borrow more. Also something to consider is how many students are paying tuition without loans (ie parental involvement)? These will have an impact on "average" debt. Really wish there was a site that reported the median student debt instead of averages since it will be more insightful.


So the most expensive medical schools (sticker price) in the country are private MD schools. However, a lot of DO schools hold the distinction of having their graduates with the highest average debt upon graduation (which is what matters the most).

 

[ortnakas]

Private schools tend to be more expensive than in-state public schools. Out-of-state public schools can depend on the state (looking at you, MSUCOM).

For what it's worth, my tuition at LECOM is about the same as my in-state tuition had I gone to the MD program there.

 

[hallowmann]

Private schools tend to be more expensive than in-state public schools. Out-of-state public schools can depend on the state (looking at you, MSUCOM).

For what it's worth, my tuition at LECOM is about the same as my in-state tuition had I gone to the MD program there.

Its also the least expensive medical school in the state of Pennsylvania (IS or OOS).

Also, for stats, we were told that from 2014 grads, mean debt of all of those that took out debt (~89% or something) was in the realm of $187k. Its going up probably because of the loss of subsidized loans in 2012.

 

[Mad Jack]

DO schools tend to have less revenue streams, tend to be private, and often have a much higher tuition-to-budget ratio than MD schools. So yeah, they tend to be more expensive, with the exception of LECOM.

 

[kp11]

Average indebtedness for AZCOM- 277K

 

[Promethean]

The MD schools I was considering were between 45-60k/yr.

The DO schools I was considering were between 30-50k/yr.

I guess it depends on what your in state options are.

 

[moonwake]

My wife is a native of Nevada and I called UNR admissions and they said that qualifies me for in-state. Oh... okay. Get my interview and buy my plane ticket since over 50% of their IS applicants get accepted and it's 20k~ a year tuition (basically no debt). Only to find out that it was for acceptance purposes only. I still pay OOS tuition. Bumping my magical 80k tuition to 240k+ tuition. Let's just say I didn't go to the interview.

 

[s5260205]

My wife is a native of Nevada and I called UNR admissions and they said that qualifies me for in-state. Oh... okay. Get my interview and buy my plane ticket since over 50% of their IS applicants get accepted and it's 20k~ a year tuition (basically no debt). Only to find out that it was for acceptance purposes only. I still pay OOS tuition. Bumping my magical 80k tuition to 240k+ tuition. Let's just say I didn't go to the interview.

Didn't you ask them if you could receive IS tuition after first year? Some schools allow OOS students to receive IS tuition after they establish residency in the state.

 

[moonwake]

Didn't you ask them if you could receive IS tuition after first year? Some schools allow OOS students to receive IS tuition after they establish residency in the state.

Yeah it's not changeable I went through the whole appeal process for becoming a resident. They make you sign a contract stating that you acknowledge that you pay OOS for 4 years no matter what.

 

[s5260205]

Yeah it's not changeable I went through the whole appeal process for becoming a resident. They make you sign a contract stating that you acknowledge that you pay OOS for 4 years no matter what.

More and more public schools are starting to do this I find. RowanSOM changed their policy a few years ago as well. At least the OOS tuition is not 80k/year as for MSUCOM I guess.

 

[moonwake]

More and more public schools are starting to do this I find. RowanSOM changed their policy a few years ago as well. At least the OOS tuition is not 80k/year as for MSUCOM I guess.

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You have to look into it. Some schools break the 300k barrier tuition wise. I did the math and it doesn't look pretty for when you're done with residency. Assuming 20k a year cost of living (for my family its 25k~) you'll need 400k to get through medical school and then that will almost double by the time you are done with your residency. With current interest rates it's around 700k oh and it grows $50,000 a year with a 7% interest rate average so you'd have to pay 70k back in loans to pay it off in 20+ years. That's a big cut.