Why is health care SCHOOLING so expensive??

[njohns24]

*

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Munchy]

supply and demand.

There are thousands of students out there who are willing to pay the price. So if you or I think it is too expensive then the schools will say "too bad for you, we got plenty"

 

[schen140]

Who determines/regulates the prices of dental/med/etc schools in the US? People are always wondering why CARE is so expensive, to which I think all of us understand and think reasonable the fact that we must provide care at high rates in order to compensate for the ridiculous amts of debt we incur right out of the gate of receiving our education. So to me, I think the question is not why care is so expensive, but why health EDUCATION is so darn expensive.

If our taxes are going towards the funding of these public state schools, why then are they able to charge so much? Is it the salary of the teachers that is out of wack, the simple fact that instruments/technology is expensive, or what? Are there government caps in place on how much they can charge, or is competition the only factor that drives prices 'down'? It seems to me, that these schools have a ridiculously lavish history, and it simply persists this way for no real reason. I hope I'm not confusing public with private but I feel this claim at least holds some accuracy regardless.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of achieving a very comfortable salary EVENTUALLY...after paying off all the debt involved and what not. I am simply curious where the absurd expenses actually/mainly originate from. Thanks and I'm curious to hear what yall have to say and be enlightened.

i think your logic is reversed, actually. i would guess that since dentists make alot of money, schools know they can get away with charging us with those skyhigh tuition rates

 

[herkulease]

they can charge whatever they want because they know people will pay it regardless.

I guarantee you if a school opened tomorrow and said it will blindly accept 100 students regardless of their scores but the tuition cost would be a million dollars after 4 years, there will be tons of people lined up. Hell I will be one of them.

 

[7 Iron]

Education across the board is becoming more and more expensive every year. I agree, it sucks. But it does cost a ton of money to educate a dentist. Professor salaries, support staff wages, cost of materials, cost to run the building, updating and maintaining technology and equipment. And if you think about it, since patients in the dental clinics pay very low prices for their treatments, we essentially function at a loss and therefore our tuition probably also subsidizes treatment for those patients!

 

[dentalWorks]

Who determines/regulates the prices of dental/med/etc schools in the US? People are always wondering why CARE is so expensive, to which I think all of us understand and think reasonable the fact that we must provide care at high rates in order to compensate for the ridiculous amts of debt we incur right out of the gate of receiving our education. So to me, I think the question is not why care is so expensive, but why health EDUCATION is so darn expensive.

If our taxes are going towards the funding of these public state schools, why then are they able to charge so much? Is it the salary of the teachers that is out of wack, the simple fact that instruments/technology is expensive, or what? Are there government caps in place on how much they can charge, or is competition the only factor that drives prices 'down'? It seems to me, that these schools have a ridiculously lavish history, and it simply persists this way for no real reason. I hope I'm not confusing public with private but I feel this claim at least holds some accuracy regardless.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of achieving a very comfortable salary EVENTUALLY...after paying off all the debt involved and what not. I am simply curious where the absurd expenses actually/mainly originate from. Thanks and I'm curious to hear what yall have to say and be enlightened.

There is not a single answer for this. It could be multiple reasons, and none of them are actually proven to be correct, they are just assumptions people make. Here are a few I can think of

1) Someone said supply and demand, thats sorta correct. 12,000 people are applying to dental schools each year, but only 4500 are getting in. Yep lets push that tuition a little higher, students will still want to get in.

2) By nature, a healthcare degree (say dentistry) is more expensive for the school to give out than say... an engineering degree. Okay fine, you need money to run the labs, the pre-labs, the anatomy labs, the actual clinic, etc etc. A dental education will run you between 100k to 250k, whereas an engineering degree would cost you about, 50k (give/take). So, in this model, it makes sense why a dental degree is expensive..... Of course I am not taking into account the living expense.

3) Another model, and this is PURELY MY THEORY, and I said it in a previous thread, I'll just copy paste it:
On the other hand, if you increase the dental tuition high enough, I mean REALLY high, so high that working as an associate making 120k a year is no longer enough to cover repayment plan in an acceptable timely manner.... then you'll see more young graduates going into undeserved areas and spending at least 6 years (thats the magic number, 6 years = 100% tuition forgiveness) in there with these special programs like the HRSA.

4) Dentists, by nature, have a high earning potential. So... to some, it feels "fair" to start taxing us early, and by that I mean, hitting us with heavy tuition rates before we even graduate lol.

Honestly guys, the tuition is not the problem alone. Between 25k to 55k per year isn't THAT bad by itself. The issue is the living expense. You will sit for 4 years not being able to work, and on top of that, you are borrowing about 25k per year just so you can survive. There is interest, so tuition + living expensive = disaster when you have 8% APR piling up.

 

[lnngu]

All of these are good points, especially Schen140's. It is also my opinion that we're looking at an "education cost bubble", with tuition everywhere rising at an expected rate. Tuition at some private colleges for undergrad easily top 200k, these days, having doubled at some schools over the last decade. Even factoring inflation, this is curious, since neither the cost nor the reward of a liberal arts education have changed that much in the same span.

Btw, related to that topic: how is it that school loans carry an interest rate of 8%, when the Fed's rate has been almost 0 for the last few years? If you had equity, wouldn't you be much better off taking out a second mortgage on your house than getting financial aid?

 

[K Niner]

0? You mean 6.8% for the stafford? Of course its not 0, they would lose money

 

[UBDent19]

12,000 people are applying to dental schools each year, but only 4500 are getting in.

Dentalworks, just out of curiosity, where did you get this statistic?

 

[lnngu]

0? You mean 6.8% for the stafford? Of course its not 0, they would lose money

Uh..no. Actually, I was referencing the rate set by the Federal Reserve (Federal Funds Rate), which dictate how much it costs the banks to borrow money, and influences just about every other interest rate out there. The fact that it is at historic lows is the reason why you're seeing low mortgage rates and non existant savings rates. My point was that student loans, in general stayed high despite the trend.

 

[herkulease]

Dentalworks, just out of curiosity, where did you get this statistic?

you can get exact figures from the ADEA guide. assuming the school provides all information.

I'm looking at my copy now for fall 2009
t
here were 11632 applicants, and 4067 enrolled students. that works out to be about 35% From the looks of it they included the canadian schools but even if you exclude them the percentage isn't all the different.

 

[dentalWorks]

Dentalworks, just out of curiosity, where did you get this statistic?

I think it was ADEA book, can't remember exactly, but Im pretty sure the 12,000 figure is correct for last year's cycle