Washington, D.C., March 10, 2005 - To help medical students better manage the current trends of escalating educational costs and debt, the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) today called for greater accountability, transparency, and predictability in the tuition and fee-setting processes of U.S. medical schools in a new report, "Medical Educational Costs and Student Debt."

The report is a follow-up to a recent AAMC study, "Medical School Tuition and Young Physicians' Indebtedness," featured in this week's edition of the journal, Health Affairs, and is the product of a working group convened by AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., in April 2004 in response to student concerns. Chaired by Deborah Powell, M.D., dean and assistant vice president for clinical sciences of the University of Minnesota Medical School, the working group included financial aid and student affairs officers, medical students, resident physicians, and a medical economist.

While noting that a career in medicine remains an excellent investment, the report cautions that unless significant changes are made, the future affordability of a U.S. medical education may be in jeopardy, particularly for applicants from low socio-economic groups, as well as racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in medicine.

In addition to greater accountability and transparency in the tuition and fee-setting process, the report also recommends a number of other "preventive measures" to counter recent trends of rapidly increasing student debt levels and relatively flat physician incomes:

• Greater predictability about the costs to students of a medical education
• Ongoing financial education of medical students
• More financial aid, with an emphasis on need-based scholarships and loan repayment and forgiveness programs in exchange for service in the military or to under-served populations
• Periodic reviews by medical schools of their costs of attendance.

The AAMC report also encourages medical schools to take a fresh look at the funding of medical education and develop innovative methods to generate financial support at the local, state and national level for financial aid programs that would address America's current health care needs.

"It's essential that we find more creative ways for students to pay off their educational debt by providing health care services to our uninsured and underserved citizens," said the AAMC's President, Jordan J. Cohen, M.D. "Such an approach will create a win-win situation by reducing the nation's health care disparities and re-emphasizing for tomorrow's doctors the importance of the social contract between the medical profession and society."

The association is working with its members to develop a plan to implement the panel's recommendations as soon as possible. A copy of the complete report, "Medical Educational Costs and Student Debt," can be found on the AAMC's Web site at: www.aamc.org/studentdebt

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 130 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 125,000 faculty members, 70,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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