If the higher education bubble bursts, what about medical school tuition?

[pancakesyrup]

Both college and medical school tuition seem to be rising at the same rate for the last 20-30 years, so I would hope so.

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[Avoidthetiger]

I have heard from second-hand sources (so need to verify) that the cost of medical school education is well above the cost of tuition... so even if the college bubble bursts, i doubt med school tuition will decrease

 

[shaggy alfresco]

Nope, it won't burst. Not until students stop being federally-backed-full-of-cash-pinatas that they can hit slightly harder every time they think of a new building or a nice little gadget to buy. Both of which are nice and impress the students on interview but if you priced it out on a per year tuition increase basis, most students wouldn't think the cost-benefit ratio would be worth it and they'd be just hunky dory without it.

As long as the federal government keeps giving students pretty much unlimited loans, it's not a problem that will be fixed. I said this before, but if the federal government set a ceiling - say $65,000 CoA per school (to increase by inflation every year) - and said if your COA is more than that, then your students are not eligible for federal loans - I bet they'd find the cuts.

 

[futuredoc15]

Nope, it won't burst. Not until students stop being federally-backed-full-of-cash-pinatas that they can hit slightly harder every time they think of a new building or a nice little gadget to buy. Both of which are nice and impress the students on interview but if you priced it out on a per year tuition increase basis, most students wouldn't think the cost-benefit ratio would be worth it and they'd be just hunky dory without it.

As long as the federal government keeps giving students pretty much unlimited loans, it's not a problem that will be fixed. I said this before, but if the federal government set a ceiling - say $65,000 CoA per school (to increase by inflation every year) - and said if your COA is more than that, then your students are not eligible for federal loans - I bet they'd find the cuts.

Very well stated.

I have heard from second-hand sources (so need to verify) that the cost of medical school education is well above the cost of tuition... so even if the college bubble bursts, i doubt med school tuition will decrease

The idea that medical education costs more than tuition is pure fiction.
Look at the financial statements:
Here is just one:
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2010/430/356/2010-430356250-06cef1ea-9.pdf

You can find the rest on the guidestar website except for RVU since it is not a "non-profit".

The entire 3rd and 4th year classes are sent off campus to different hospitals and offices at many schools yet the schools still charge the students 30K plus for tuition.

 

[LizzyM]

The entire 3rd and 4th year classes are sent off campus to different hospitals and offices at many schools yet the schools still charge the students 30K plus for tuition.

The students still require supervision and there needs to be someone back at the home institution to receive reports and intervene as necessary, someone needs to find, set up and nurture the relationships with the various hospitals including contractual agreements, malpractice coverage for students, monitoring and recording of student achievement (you are being graded and the registrar is recording those grades), services of the library (available off site through electronic means), career counseling, monitoring of academic progress (you'll get called before a board of facuty if you flunk a rotation or a shelf exam), and crisis intervention. In some schools, simulation labs are avaiable for students to learn skills before using them on real patients and those labs are available to M3 and M4 students.

 

[Avoidthetiger]

The idea that medical education costs more than tuition is pure fiction.
Look at the financial statements:
Here is just one:
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2010/430/356/2010-430356250-06cef1ea-9.pdf

Is all the money they earned from tuition? Or do they get outside funding - government medical education money, research grants, alumni givings, ect.?

here we go regarding med school financial statements:
"US medical schools have evolved into big businesses that derive most of their income by providing healthcare services and securing extramural research grants. In 2009, for example, 53% of medical school revenues came from clinical services and 29% from extramural grants. By comparison, less than 4% came from tuition."
(nature article regarding medical schools getting involved with pharmaceutical and medical device industry)

Here we go regarding how much med students spend per student:
How much does it cost to educate medical students?.
Franzini L, Low MD, Proll MA; International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care. Meeting.
Annu Meet Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Meet. 1997; 13: 137. University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center, Houston, TX, USA.
PURPOSE:Budgetary pressures from the state and federal government and the emergence of managed care in the US health care field have forced medical schools to reconsider the sources for financing medical education. It has become imperative to separately identify the cost of the educational component, the cost of the research component, and the cost of the clinical service component of medical schools. Becasue of a lack of consensus on the amount of research and service that should be included in the cost of educating medical students, this study assess the costs of medical education under several scenarios with different amounts of research and clinical service essential to the education of medical students. The study also evaluates the contribution to education of residents and volunteer faculty in each scenario. METHODS: A cost construction model was used to build up the economic cost to society of undergraduate medical education using information on student contact hours, enrollment, professional activity profiles, resident and faculty salaries, and supporting resource costs. Sensitivity analysis was used to vary the allocation of joint products, such as joint teaching and research/service, and to vary the level of research and service essential to the educational mission. Residents costs were included and the contribution of volunteer faculty was identified and imputed a value. RESULTS: With an enrollment of 200 students, we predicted an economic cost per student year ranging from $44,448 for pure instruction to $92,638 for providing an appropriate educational milieu. Omitting the cost of residents and the imputed value for the contribution by volunteer faculty lowered those costs by approximately 16%. CONCLUSIONS: This study discusses the economic issues of joint product allocation when assessing the costs of medical education. Because a single cost estimate could be misleading, it is suggested that a range of costs be reported in order to provide more relevant and useful information to decision makers.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Both college and medical school tuition seem to be rising at the same rate for the last 20-30 years, so I would hope so.

Sadly no. Med students will be tortured by high tuition as far as I can see.

 

[circulus vitios]

Medical school tuition will be the last bubble to burst simply because you can't say "think of the patients!!111111" with anything else (well, maybe nursing.)