Last year, the "April" package didnt arrive till June.
They have a lot more on their plate than expected.
Such as 1st year's talent show. I think that's their priority.
Come to show ur class of 2009 support =)
In the future package, there is a slip for ASDA(American Student Dental Association)/CDA membership.
It is very important that you sign up. If you havent already known, our profession got hit with amalgam issue, fluoridation, even plastic surgury. Without a strong and solid voice, we can convince people to be on our side. So far, ADA has about 70% membership from all dentist. That's a very good number. So far, as long as you are a dental student, you are a member of CDA(but they still charge like 10 bucks for their reasoning, but u get 50K life insurance every year when you sign up)
Why should you get involved with ASDA or ADA? Dentistry doesnt limit to your office. There are ways too many things affecting how we will practice. or even how we pass our state license. Right now, the critical issue is the CA board. By the time we graduated, we probably can take a PGY-1(GPR or AEGD) to exempt from taking the state licensure. then there are other talks about using the western regional(which covers 30 some states) So, how do they come up with these plans? ASDA, CDA share the same voice and work together with different organization to improve our current system.
Another issue is loan consolidation. Interest rate is still in the range of historic lows right now. Many people have consolidated their loans. (hey, if u havent done so already, consolidate ur undergrad loans before coming here)
There are basically two issues for consolidation. 1. There is a single holder rule. So if you borrow ur student loan from 1 bank, you could only consolidate within that one bank. Our logic is that our mortgage refinancing could be done with different banks, so why our student loans couldnt? In another word, they could charge whatever interest they want. Not good, right? So ASDA is working to resolve that.
So this is another plan. CDA is setting up a bank of their own to deal with consolidation. So later on, we dont have to deal with just 1 bank but with other options.
Another issue is whether the fixed rate will still be effective. Right now, our govt has to pass the difference between that fixed rate and market rate. So think about it when n years later the interest rate climbs to 5 percent(now about 2.7%), the govt have to pay a lot more. So besides cut in education in CA, the federal govt is throwing another punch to tell us professional students to pay for ourselves.
These issues have been debated since 2003 and will be re-evaluated in September 2005. So why do you think they didnt rule out the fixed rate consolidation? The main reason is that the banks have a really really strong lobbying group and a strong voice to influence our politicans. I hope that now you understand why we should have a strong and united voice on dental issues.
Well, this is the scratch on the surface that I learned from the ASDA regional meeting. I wish I could share with you other things too. At UCLA, our ASDA has 12 branches range from legislature, community service, 3-on-3 basketball, fundraising, newsletter, predental, mentorship(with local dentists), lunch and learn etc. I encourage you to get involved. There are many opportunities for you there. And you should start by joining and be a member of ASDA.
O, one more thing. When we graduate, our ADA/CDA/local dental society membership fee is a lot. If you are an ASDA member, you dont pay the first year, only pay 25% the second year, 50% the 3rd year, 75% the 4th year. So it definitely worths your 65 bucks.
jk5177 said:
I haven't received anything from them.
