Why does dental school tuition increase yearly?

[baby tooth]

I don't understand why there is a yearly increase in tuition of approximately 5% across the board. If one looks at how much tuition has increased over the past 5 or 10 years it's insane.

I know no one here can do anything about it but it seems like a bubble that is going to have to burst at some point.

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[sgv]

it probably will blow up...but you're talking about kids in high school and their early 20's who decide to go predent with no financial acumen whatsoever...their biased exposure to dentistry will be with older dentists who graduated decades before the bubble and are doing quite well...they need to start realizing their dental careers will likely be very different from their mentor's...

 

[Miley Cyrus.]

I don't understand why there is a yearly increase in tuition of approximately 5% across the board. If one looks at how much tuition has increased over the past 5 or 10 years it's insane.

I know no one here can do anything about it but it seems like a bubble that is going to have to burst at some point.

I think it goes to an increase in faculty salaries, that is what one dean at one school told us.

Either way, it is insane. We have no one to blame but our fed gov't who keeps handing out loan money like Santa Claus. The schools have absoultely no incentive to be efficient or keep tuition from rising, because the fed gov't doesn't mandate that they do. Until this changes, expect it to keep rising. Going into D-school right now is probably the worst time. Those before us didn't have such huge increases and those behind us may have the benefit of the education bubble bursting.

 

[ROFL A PIGGY]

Yeah the government definitely doesn't encourage cost efficiency..there is a certain city government that I know of that figured out a way to make a process much easier and cheaper, but it would also make 30 city employee's jobs obsolete. Instead of firing the 30 employees because they don't need them, and saving a couple million, they move them somewhere else so they can keep paying them..maybe they are scared of their budget being cut if they are able to lower their costs.

As far as dental school is concerned, my guess is they know people will have to pay whatever the school makes them in order to become a dentist..and they will still do it because in the long run it is still worth it.. they know that if they raise tuition by 10k a year that people still need to go to dental school despite the increase in cost.

 

[MatthewLeeDDS]

It's hard to wrap your brain around those numbers when you haven't had to deal with that order of magnitude before. Most dental students probably didn't amass $10,000 in cash before dental school and suddenly they are going to borrow 20-40 times that amount, pay a fee to do so (also known as "interest"), and do so over such an incomprehensible amount of time, often longer than the life they've previously lived, that it feels like it's infinitely in the future.

Our brains can't internalize those numbers and that amount of time. It's a financial sucker punch. Luckily dentists do make a killing in the end and if managed responsibly (which statistically very few do because finance is mostly behavior, not money) it can cause them to become very wealthy in the end.

Ultimately, the yearly tuition bump is caused by 1 major factor: dental schools always have more applicants than open seats

 

[DrJeff]

#1 - technology integration - most d-schools, even with close manufacturers ties, don't get all of their equipment for free and they keep upgrading equipment

#2 - staff salaries - not only via generally fixed contracts for profs and all the associated staff to operate a school keep going up every year, but the fees that most schools get reimbursed for procedures (very often medicaid based fees) rarely increase, so revenue might be roughly flat year to year vs. salaries and benefits packages keep going up

#3 - demand - there's still a huge demand to go to d-school, and as long as that demand is still strong, even with escalating tuition prices annually, you'll likely see things continue as they have

#4 - expectations of the students - this may not seem apparent to someone applying now/in school now/a recent grad, but if you take a look at the overal facilities and amenities that most students and prospective students have come to EXPECT out of the education system today vs. the much more spartan amenities that were offered in the past (and this isn't just a "well things have changed and improved over the years" rant ) you'll see that proportionately a modern school has way more "bells and whistles" for general student life than a school of the past (why do you think that so many past grads of d-schools , or even undergraduate programs are often amazed at seeing what there alma mater is like now vs. 20, 30, 40+ years ago when they go back for a reunion after being away for a long time?) all of these amenities that so many students consider "mandatory" now don't come for free and do get factored into the overall tuition costs

 

[Cold Front]

The college and grad schools tuition increases in general, is the #1 cause of why the education debt/loans in this country is soaring between $1.2-1.5 TRILLION right now.

If the debt was a nation, it would be the 15th largest economy in the world.

I was reading the Wall Street journal the other day. The numbers were, that current education debt is higher than credit card and auto loans combined. The default rate for credit card and mortgage loans is 1 in 100, but the education debt default rate is 1 in 10. That means about 10% of $1 trillion is $100 billon that is being defaulted every month. A $100 BILLION!

Ladies and gentlemen, the next generation, we won't recover from this if the bubble bursts!

 

[Destiny11]

Profit.

 

[dlilb]

There is not a whole lot you can do to change how much something costs. I'd love to see a dental student negotiating tuition costs with an admin.

There is something you can do today that could ease your debt. If you could consolidate your loans at a fixed 4.0% would limit the amount of interest your accrue. This won't be possible unless you tell your lawmakers to support the the Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act.

 

[Saddleshoes]

It's hard to wrap your brain around those numbers when you haven't had to deal with that order of magnitude before. Most dental students probably didn't amass $10,000 in cash before dental school and suddenly they are going to borrow 20-40 times that amount, pay a fee to do so (also known as "interest"), and do so over such an incomprehensible amount of time, often longer than the life they've previously lived, that it feels like it's infinitely in the future.

I would like to nominate this for the SDN Quote of the Week!

 

[Silent Cool]

The college and grad schools tuition increases in general, is the #1 cause of why the education debt/loans in this country is soaring between $1.2-1.5 TRILLION right now.

If the debt was a nation, it would be the 15th largest economy in the world.

I was reading the Wall Street journal the other day. The numbers were, that current education debt is higher than credit card and auto loans combined. The default rate for credit card and mortgage loans is 1 in 100, but the education debt default rate is 1 in 10. That means about 10% of $1 trillion is $100 billon that is being defaulted every month. A $100 BILLION!

Ladies and gentlemen, the next generation, we won't recover from this if the bubble bursts!

Or, as I like to say, if the housing bubble was bad....

 

[Cold Front]

Or, as I like to say, if the housing bubble was bad....

Apparently, "according to the government", the student loans are currently turning profit from the repayment interest rates, and have been removing middle agencies to reduce cost. But what happens when the default rates cuts into the profits and eventually becomes a net loss - that would the tipping point. Surely, the plan for the government is to raise interest rates in the long term, but that would just be buying more time and not an end solution.

I feel all the data points towards inevitable crisis, but at the same time, the system can only sustain itself if more people go to school and take out more loans. Either way, it will end bad for schools, students and the economy.

Law Schools are already going through this, its matter of time dentistry to fall into the same pothole.

 

[Silent Cool]

Apparently, "according to the government", the student loans are currently turning profit from the repayment interest rates, and have been removing middle agencies to reduce cost. But what happens when the default rates cuts into the profits and eventually becomes a net loss - that would the tipping point. Surely, the plan for the government is to raise interest rates in the long term, but that would just be buying more time and not an end solution.

I feel all the data points towards inevitable crisis, but at the same time, the system can only sustain itself if more people go to school and take out more loans. Either way, it will end bad for schools, students and the economy.

Law Schools are already going through this, its matter of time dentistry to fall into the same pothole.

Cold,
What do you think is the max debt one should have for a DDS? What about for specialty training?

 

[Cold Front]

Cold,
What do you think is the max debt one should have for a DDS? What about for specialty training?

There is no ceiling, but it would surely make things more difficult for new grads - to buy/startup a practice, or even buy a home with these huge debts.

Obama is suppose to make an executive decision tomorrow on student loans, which will allow grads who have private loans switch to federal loans. Not sure if this covers graduate programs or not. The growing education debt has reached a point where it's slowing the ability to buy homes, start businesses, or otherwise spend to spur the economy. However, this won't go to into effect until late next year, 2015.

Unfortunately, this bill will not change the big picture - the debt will continue to increase every year, for all students in this country.

 

[diasIItema]

Increase depends on the school. Some schools operate in the black and look for financial incentive. Other schools are deeply in debt (public and private) and simply cannot operate without increasing fees. It used to be almost impossible for OOS students to enroll in my school. Now they are literally 1/3 of the class b/c they pay almost double the tuition and fees and it's lucrative for the school. However, the state will suffer as probably about 1/2 of the dental students graduating in state will relocate. It's really a precarious situation.

 

[Cold Front]

Increase depends on the school. Some schools operate in the black and look for financial incentive. Other schools are deeply in debt (public and private) and simply cannot operate without increasing fees. It used to be almost impossible for OOS students to enroll in my school. Now they are literally 1/3 of the class b/c they pay almost double the tuition and fees and it's lucrative for the school. However, the state will suffer as probably about 1/2 of the dental students graduating in state will relocate. It's really a precarious situation.

Lets look at the demand for dental education in the last decade.

Dental school applications peaked in 2007 with almost 14,000 applicants, leading to 4,600 enrolled students. 1 in 3 was the chance to make it.

3 years later, 2010, applications went down to 12,000, and admitted students went up to 5,000. It became easier to get into dental school, a 2 in 5 chance.

Another 3 years later, 2013, applications plateaued at about 12,000, but admitted students went up 10% to 5,500 - at about 1 in 2 applicants getting in. This is mainly due to more schools opening.

We will see this trend continue with tuition increases; less applicants and more enrolled. The demand for dental education will gradually go down if this theory holds.

 

[Michael A. Blum]

There are lots of reason for increasing dental fees .The reasons may be for financial growth, demand of more colleges, faculty and stuffs salary increment, technology equipment cost & less cooperation of government.

 

[vedentis]

It's great conversation I agree with your views. The reasons for increasing dentist fees may be :-
1 - technology integration
2 - staff salaries
3 - demand
4 - expectations of the students -