I agree with what you're saying but cost of living is a REAL cost. I'm in med so prices are 20-30% cheaper here but there are still some expensive schools. For example, even if NYU has free tuition, the COL alone can easily surpass the TOTAL COA at most texas med schools or even most state schools that offer generous scholarships.
We all have to eat, live, and breathe, and where I'm at $1300/mo gets me an amazing solo apartment 5 min from campus, eat like a king (chicken, steak & shrimp (1x a week), going out 1-2x a week) whereas it might cost $2700/mo in NYC to SPLIT a tiny apartment with 2-3 people + food, etc. It's the same food and the same air, just with different prices. Also, at LECOM dental you can get away with $800/mo for rent + food + car (if cheap econo box)
In the NRMP charts (residency matching) some 15-25% of medical students have a master's degree (MPH, SMP, etc) and as medical schools admissions is becoming more competitive, students are often spending 1-3 gap years doing a masters, working, etc which can all be considered additional debt (SMPs can range $30-$130k) or "lost income" as in working a low-paying job to please admisisons. In my SMP about half of the class was pre-dental.
My friend at USC dental which costs about $155k/year (let's not forget GRAD plus loans charge ~5% just to TAKE OUT the loan). That's ~600k+ including interest by year 4. If you specialize in anything other than OMFS then expect another $130-$150k x 2 years. So let's call it an even $1 million if you don't have parental funding - let's face it - many dental students choosing to specialize have rich parents and most have doctor/dentist parents to begin with,
It's obvious when some (medical) schools publish "average debt" as $200k but you look at their COA and it's $350k but that only applies to the poor students who don't have scholarships/parental funding. At least at my med school you need a 4.0/518+ MCAT to receive any merit scholarships which poor/first-gen students tend not to qualify for. Nonetheless I'm very happy with my school and my region pays physicians VERY well ($300k starting even for FM/IM) but dentistry is on a whole nother level of debt - which IMO is criminal
As the above comment says - you do sound like a boomer. Sorry we are not all perfect like you/your little Jimbo who may have had attended a $50k/year private school starting from kindergarten and attended every SAT/ACT Prep course available then "earned a full ride" to college. Sorry if you think the inner-city kid who grew up around drugs, then somehow made it into college, struggled to graduate but made it out with $60k in loans, then did a $60k SMP somehow is "lazy" and "less deserving" to attend med/dental school. And "they shouldn't have went into debt"
