What is the average student loan debt for medical school graduates?

In the U.S. we are facing a crisis in healthcare funding. Medicare is anticipating cutting back on physician reimbursements over the next five years. While doctors are paid less, the average medical student is graduating with increasing student loans. The average medical student owes more than $100,000 in student loans for a public medical school and over $135,000 in student loans for a private medical school.

According to the American Medical Student Association:

"Medical education debt in the United States is staggering. Over 80% of graduates carry educational debt. The median debt burden for indebted graduates of public medical schools now exceeds $100,000, and the median debt for graduates of private schools is $135,000. According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, medical education debt is 4.5 times as high in 2003 as it was in 1984, far outpacing the consumer price index. Moreover, 25% of students have debt exceeding $150,000, and some new physicians have debt over $350,000.

Medical educational debt and the current loan-oriented system of financing undergraduate medical education adversely affect the entire American health care system. Our nation is struggling to increase racial diversity in health care and reduce health disparities, and the rising debt burden is canceling out the modest gains we have made. Even though African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans make up approximately 25% of the U.S. population, they account for only 11% of medical students. At the same time, more and more of the country's medical students are coming from wealthy families - in 2002 more than 60% of incoming medical students were from families in the top 20% of annual income. " [link]

Future doctors will need expertise in medicine, business, accounting, and debt management in order to be successful and survive.