Medical
Education Fact Sheet
The financial challenges facing medical students today are different from the
past.
- Over the two decades since 1980,
medical school tuition costs have almost tripled.
- Nearly three times as fast
as students’ expected future earnings.
- For the last several years, provincial
funding to universities has been significantly reduced and universities
have been challenged to maintain the quality of education.
- In December 1997, the Ontario
government announced the deregulation of tuition fees for specific
undergraduate professional programs including medicine.
- Tuition fees have soared. The
average tuition for students entering first year medical school in September
2003 is $14,651 a 194% increase over the 1997 average fee
of $4,977.
| School |
2003-2004
Tuition
|
| University of Ottawa |
$14,539
|
| Queen’s University |
$13,500
|
| McMaster University |
$14,445
|
| University of Western Ontario |
$14,566
|
| University of Toronto |
$16,207
|
- Over the course of four years,
an undergraduate medical student is likely to spend approximately $110,000
in tuition, academic and living expenses.1
There is a large discrepancy between the cost of a medical education and the financial assistance available to fund it. Good programs of financial support for students are an important means of keeping medical programs accessible to qualified students.
- Medical students must complete
three years of undergraduate university education before entering medical
school. As a result, many start their medical education with debt loads of
$21,000 - $28,000.
- OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance
Program) recognizes - and evaluates loan eligibility based on - a maximum
tuition of $4,500, despite the fact that medical school tuition will be as
high as $16,207 in 2003.
- OSAP has not changed in
over a decade and the maximum OSAP loan continues to be $11,000 for an eight-month
program.
- In addition to taking out the
maximum OSAP loan, many students are resorting to market-rate bank loans
to cover the additional shortfall. The interest on these loans must be paid
throughout a student's medical education.
- Debt loads are now so high
that even banks are worried. The CIBC says that rising medical education
costs have resulted in debt loads growing much faster than medical students'
potential income. The CIBC sets limits on the amount of debt that they feel
students can repay in the years following their training. Unfortunately, medical
students are now reaching these limits - which are in the $100,000 - $130,000
range.2
- Graduating medical students must
work as residents for two to seven years before becoming full-fledged physicians
-- first-year residents in Ontario earn $40,000. The cost to service a $100,000
debt is approximately $14,000/year - which works out to half of their take
home pay.
These trends raise serious concerns that access to medical education will be restricted solely on the basis of personal financial resources. High debt loads may discourage capable and qualified students - particularly those from modest financial backgrounds - from applying to medical school at all. We need individuals from different socio-economic, cultural, rural and urban backgrounds to serve an equally diverse population of patients.
- A recent survey at the University
of Western Ontario revealed that since tuition was deregulated:
- The average family income
of incoming students jumped from approximately $80,000 to $140,000;
- The percentage of students coming
from families with an income less than $60,000 has decreased from
35% to 15%, and
- The average expected debt
of individuals who have to rely on loans because they lack family support
has risen in excess of over $70,000.3
- Students’ decisions about what
specialty to practise and where to practise may be constrained
and restricted by the need to pay off debt:
- Longer training programs, often
in disciplines already under-serviced, may be passed over in favour of specialties
which facilitate quicker entry to practice and hence quicker loan repayment.
- Physician supply is already
severely constrained in rural and northern practice. High debt loads may
discourage graduating students from seeking the additional training needed
for rural practice.
1"Budgeting Guide
for Medical Students: 1999-2000," University of Western Ontario, Faculty
of Medicine, Admissions/Student and Equity Affairs.
2 "Banks no longer banking on earning potential of medical students",
Canadian Medical Association Journal (June 12, 2001: 164;12)
3"Report of the 2001 Survey of Medical Students," Department
of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Western
Ontario.