10 Medical Schools That Lead to Most Debt
There are ways to make the cost of medical school affordable--or even free. But for many students, medical education translates to an immense financial burden that will loom over them throughout the beginning of their new career.
Among more than 140 medical schools surveyed annually by U.S. News, 121 reported the average indebtedness of graduating students in 2009, the most recent figures available. Overall, medical students graduated with an average of $141,132 in debt, though at the schools with the most heavily debt-laden students, graduates shouldered an average burden more than $50,000 higher.
[Explore the U.S. News Paying for Medical School guide.]
At the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2009 graduates carried $213,441 of debt, on average, a reported figure higher than that at any other medical school in the country. Conversely, at the Mayo Medical School, students graduated with an average of $69,908 outstanding, the second-lowest debt statistic reported. (One school, the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Heath Sciences, is a statistical outlier. It's a military medical training facility that charges no tuition or fees--and consequently reports its students leave with $0 in debt.)
Medical students can defer student loans throughout their residency training, but that doesn't mean the loans will be easy to pay off when they are finally due. Saving during residency can be difficult, given that in the first year of a residency or fellowship, medical school graduates earn an average stipend of $48,460, according to a 2010 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Therefore, most medical school graduates will likely have to rely on their income as full-fledged physicians to offset their student loan debt.
[Get some money tips for young doctors.]
Nearly every school in the top 10 for most indebted students is categorized by U.S. News as Rank Not Published (RNP) in either the medical school research or primary care rankings, and several have this designation in both rankings. (RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one fourth of all medical and osteopathic schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.) Institutions designated as Unranked by U.S. News were not considered for this list.
These 10 schools graduated students with the heaviest average debt loads in 2009, based on school-reported data to U.S. News:
Medical School | Annual Tuition and Fees | Average Indebtedness | U.S. News Research Rank | U.S. News Primary Care Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$45,480 | $213,441 | RNP | 80 | |
Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific | $45,425 | $210,230 | RNP | RNP |
$48,284 | $206,426 | 82 | 67 | |
$46,800 | $205,502 | 91 | RNP | |
$20,150 (I) $50,150 (O) | $197,751 | RNP | 90 | |
$52,992 | $193,698 | 51 | 41 | |
A.T. Still University of Health Sciences Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine | $42,575 | $190,232 | RNP | RNP |
$28,671 (I) $61,499 (O) | $188,873 | 87 | 37 | |
$34,406 (I) $73,799 (O) | $188,653 | RNP | 14 | |
$36,105 | $187,880 | RNP | RNP | |
I: In-state; O: Out-of-state |
For graduate debt loads at every school, as well as in-depth cost information, residency statistics, and much more, access the U.S. News Medical School Compass.
U.S. News surveyed more than 140 medical schools for our 2010 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of school facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Medical Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.
