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Dr. Joseph Sirven: The Price Of Medical Education

“So how much do you make, Dr. Sirven?” my patient asked.

“Oh, I do not discuss that!”

He ended with, “You guys are raking it in. It must be nice.” I responded with, “I wish.”

My patient’s assumptions are just plain wrong. Yes, I‘m paid a good salary. However, I, like many doctors, did not grow up in a family with means.

Rather I started with a scholarship to college and took out loans for medical school. I’m thankful for those loans that made it possible for me to pursue a medical career even though it took my wife and I 20 years to pay them off.

So you can imagine my reaction upon learning that NYU School of Medicine would be going tuition-free for all medical students! Wow! The concept is that free tuition will influence more students to choose primary care specialties where there is a huge need.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges — medical school debt is huge and growing, with 75 percent of all medical students carrying some form of education debt. A recent study of medical school debt showed that 58 percent of graduating family medicine residents — that’s a primary care doctor — has more than $150,000 of educational debt.

Does this debt influence medical students to choose specialty careers?

According to surveys, medical students with more debt definitely weigh their income potential more heavily when making career plans. In a study of almost 136,000 physicians, those who had graduated from public schools with more than $100,000 in educational debt in 2010 were less likely to practice in primary care.

However, there are creative ways to pay off medical school debt.

For instance, there are military repayment programs, where the military pays off your tuition debt in exchange for military medical service commitments on a year-to-year basis. Or there are also national loan forgiveness programs if you practice in a rural or under-served area — your debt can be halved.

As for myself, I’m delighted with the path I chose even with my loans. Frankly, I’m not even sure the NYU experiment will work.

At the end of the day, the cost of Arizona in-state medical school tuition: $33,000. The costs of having a patient hug you because you saved their life: priceless.