Student Debt Rising Amongst New Physicians
Newly-released data indicate that student debt is rising amongst new physicians in Canada. In 2010, 23 percent of medical residents reported having more than $120,000 in education-related debt upon completion of their residency training (as compared with just 17 percent in 2007).
(Note: across Canada, average tuition fees for medical students amount to just over $10,000 a year.)
This appears to have important implications for Canada’s health care system. Almost one-quarter of residents report that they plan to “select a specialty with a higher earning potential and 17% plan to select a short residency program to begin paying off their debts sooner.” What’s more, four percent of residents report “planning to practice in the U.S. to pay off their medical education debt.”
Nick Falvo is a Calgary-based research consultant with a PhD in Public Policy. He has academic affiliation at both Carleton University and Case Western Reserve University, and is Section Editor of the Canadian Review of Social Policy/Revue canadienne de politique sociale. You can check out his website here: https://nickfalvo.ca/.