Walgreens pays for undergrad and schooling

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PikminOC

MD Attending Physician
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My patient wants to become a pharmacist because she says Walgreens will pay for her grad school.. I looked it up and they will pay 2500 per year and then you have to work for them.
What is the incentive for Walgreens to do this? Isn't there already a surplus of pharmacists?

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My patient wants to become a pharmacist because she says Walgreens will pay for her grad school.. I looked it up and they will pay 2500 per year and then you have to work for them.
What is the incentive for Walgreens to do this? Isn't there already a surplus of pharmacists?
I looked up cost of my alma mater earlier today, and if you count room and board (required for 3 years), insurance, tuition, etc, it's now $51k/year. $2500/year is appreciated but only a small dent unfortunately.
 
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Aren't there too many pharmacists already? Why do they do this still? Do they place you in an underserved area?
 
My patient wants to become a pharmacist because she says Walgreens will pay for her grad school.. I looked it up and they will pay 2500 per year and then you have to work for them.
What is the incentive for Walgreens to do this? Isn't there already a surplus of pharmacists?

They will offer a low wage like $45-50/hr which saves them 20-30k per year. Some naive pharmacy student hears they will pay for their tuition and gets suckered in. Walgreens laughs all the way to the bank.
 
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Student loans accrue interest during grad school. $2500 is unlikely to even cover the interest on tuition. Most student come out of pharm school owing 200k. A few I know owed over 400k.

A typical cost for tuition and board is 40-60k per year. At a few schools this cost is over 80k per year.
 
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Student loans accrue interest during grad school. $2500 is unlikely to even cover the interest on tuition. Most student come out of pharm school owing 200k. A few I know owed over 400k.

A typical cost for tuition and board is 40-60k per year. At a few schools this cost is over 80k per year.
I thought while you are in school the interest is deferred.
 
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I thought while you are in school the interest is deferred.
Your interest applies while in school which is why some loans end up ridiculously high (at least in my college it was so and believe majority of places is the same).
 
I thought while you are in school the interest is deferred.
There are different types of student loans. If I recall correctly Grad+ loans do accumulate interest while you are still in school.
 
I was in pharm school from 2010 to 2014, if I remember correctly subsidized loans of graduate programs have gone away, it’s all unsubsidized loans now, oh and ur patient is an idiot if they want to go to pharm school, the roi is no longer there and if they want to be a slave to their student loan for the rest of their life then let them, it’s like Darwinism but for personal finance
 
I was in pharm school from 2010 to 2014, if I remember correctly subsidized loans of graduate programs have gone away, it’s all unsubsidized loans now, oh and ur patient is an idiot if they want to go to pharm school, the roi is no longer there and if they want to be a slave to their student loan for the rest of their life then let them, it’s like Darwinism but for personal finance
They didn't advance in nursing school.
 
I remember when pharmacy was a backup for med school. Now its a backup for nursing school.

Other way around. Nursing is actually in demand.

 
Other way around. Nursing is actually in demand.

Yes thats what I meant. The folks that dont get into nursing school use pharmacy as a backup.
 
Other way around. Nursing is actually in demand.


My wife is currently doing a 13 week ER assignment, making 80+/hour. When did pharmacist ever make that much?
 
Yes thats what I meant. The folks that dont get into nursing school use pharmacy as a backup.

That's not what I meant... established pharmDs with years of work experience are considering going back to school to get their BSN.
 
That's not what I meant... established pharmDs with years of work experience are considering going back to school to get their BSN.
The profession is in real decline. The bright side is that pharmacists are paid what they are worth instead of the inflated wages of the early 2000s
 
The profession is in real decline. The bright side is that pharmacists are paid what they are worth instead of the inflated wages of the early 2000s
How do you decide what someone is worth? If we are worth $40 during a surplus why are we not worth $60 during a shortage? Surely the invisible hand of the market decides correctly our worth.
 
The profession is in real decline. The bright side is that pharmacists are paid what they are worth instead of the inflated wages of the early 2000s

How about the software engineers who work <30 hours per week for full time pay, cush work conditions, and a booming job market who take on minimal debt and get paid more than us to develop dating apps when we work in hellish conditions with a ton more liability? Would you say that they are paid what they are worth?

In comparison we are underpaid for the work conditions, liability, training, and student loan burden we carry.
 
How about the software engineers who work <30 hours per week for full time pay, cush work conditions, and a booming job market who take on minimal debt and get paid more than us to develop dating apps when we work in hellish conditions with a ton more liability? Would you say that they are paid what they are worth?

In comparison we are underpaid for the work conditions, liability, training, and student loan burden we carry.

The difference is software engineers create a product that people are willing to pay money for.

From a business perspective, pharmacists are overhead. They cannot charge for their time or services like physicians do. They cannot charge clients for their work like engineers do. They are no more than a business expense, just like a McDonald's employee but at 5x the cost.
 
How about the software engineers who work <30 hours per week for full time pay, cush work conditions, and a booming job market who take on minimal debt and get paid more than us to develop dating apps when we work in hellish conditions with a ton more liability? Would you say that they are paid what they are worth?

In comparison we are underpaid for the work conditions, liability, training, and student loan burden we carry.
Software engineer is harder to do and not everyone can be successful. Pharmacists really don't provide a tangible service if you think about it. That is why chains can get away with what they were doing.
 
The difference is software engineers create a product that people are willing to pay money for.

From a business perspective, pharmacists are overhead. They cannot charge for their time or services like physicians do. They cannot charge clients for their work like engineers do. They are no more than a business expense, just like a McDonald's employee but at 5x the cost.

The issue is that people are told by society that healthcare is a “right” and should be free, this people have a harder time paying for it. You’ll see people complain about a $10 copay yet has the latest model iPhone and a Tesla.

No one blames the high prices of Teslas and iPhones on the high salaries of engineers. That or the high salaries of Facebook, Twitter, etc. engineers paid for by the sale of your personal data.
 
The issue is that people are told by society that healthcare is a “right” and should be free, this people have a harder time paying for it. You’ll see people complain about a $10 copay yet has the latest model iPhone and a Tesla.

No one blames the high prices of Teslas and iPhones on the high salaries of engineers. That or the high salaries of Facebook, Twitter, etc. engineers paid for by the sale of your personal data.

Gotta love it when someone pulls up in the drive thru in a car worth 5x more than mine, with a Starbucks latte in their hand and a phone worth 5x more than I'd ever pay. The copay is like $3, "I can't afford it".
 
My patient wants to become a pharmacist because she says Walgreens will pay for her grad school.. I looked it up and they will pay 2500 per year and then you have to work for them.
What is the incentive for Walgreens to do this? Isn't there already a surplus of pharmacists?
This is nothing new
I graduated 10+ years ago and was offered the same deal.
They do it so they’ll have trained and ready to go pharmacists rather than ones that need to be trained (or just get thrown into the fire and combust)
 
Gotta love it when someone pulls up in the drive thru in a car worth 5x more than mine, with a Starbucks latte in their hand and a phone worth 5x more than I'd ever pay. The copay is like $3, "I can't afford it".
Happens in medicine. When it's time to pay the bill.
 
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