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I just read the president's column in the Jan issue of AOA news. It basically talks about how the AOA can do nothing and will do nothing to stop the opening of new schools or limit the number of new graduates due to antitrusts laws. It goes on to say that as long as schools can fill the seats and make a profit, expect more schools to open. Their advice to current optometrists is to encourage MORE students to go into optometry to make sure there are qualified applicants for fill these seats. The final blow is where they say that the AOA will not make any effort to reduce competition among practicing optometrists and they "encourage their members to avoid focuing any discussion on that idea." Like if we ignore it, the problem will go away.... There are going to be soo many optometrists in the future that we are going to be lucky to get a job period regardless of the income. With so many ODs fighting for jobs, your know that the salaries are going to go down, yet tuition will continue to rise. I just cannot believe that the organization that is suppose to be the voice and muscle of our profession has no say when it come to an issue as large as opening more schools flooding an already flooded market!
