Study: One-fourth of new doctors graduate with $200K+ in debt

Well, we knew things were bad financially for graduating physicians, but here's some recent, and scary, statistics. Almost one-fourth of U.S. med students now graduate from medical school with $200,000 or more in debt, a number that, not too surprisingly, is discouraging students from entering the profession, according a new study from the New England Journal of Medicine.

Once all fees are included, one year of medical school is now $62,243 at private schools and $44,390 for state residents at public schools. But aside from one or two rare exceptions [1], few schools can afford to offer lower-income students a break on tuition, according to to the Journal. Most of the $2.5 billion in financial assistance that's available to med student isn't subsidized, which means that students have to make costly interest payments while they're still in school.

To learn more about this study:
- read this piece [2] from The New York Times

Related Articles:
Repaying student loans helps MA health centers get staff [3]
Tuition-free medical school deluged with applicants [4]
Harvard Med offers tuition discount [1]
PA bill would forgive med school loans [5]