Eddy Lu
Period 6
12/14/22
Modern Mythology 2023
Socio-Political Consciousness
Like many others, I was encouraged to go to college growing up. In general, colleges provide more significant opportunities to get a good job. In recent years, more and more people are going to college in the hopes of getting that dream job. Bachelor's degree is no longer highly regarded. Instead, many people are attending graduate schools and getting their master's. However, there is one major deciding factor for all of these. Cost!
To clarify, there are plenty of cheap schools that offer a great learning experience. However, I mainly talk about graduate schools, especially the medical industry. Unlike undergraduates, where there are plenty of opportunities to get scholarships, grants, and aid, graduate schools are expensive. For one, medicine is very competitive, and only those with high determination succeed. The problem is in the costs of those graduate schools. For instance, let us look at dental schools. Most people have an average dental debt of $300,000. Many aspiring dentists will think they can pay it off after becoming a dentist, but compound interest is a nightmare. Graduate school loan interest rates are substantially higher than for undergrad, with an average of seven percent plus the current inflation rate of seven percent. We would double the debt to 600,000 in around seven years. People would spend twenty years of their lives trying to pay off debt. It is more complex and harder for the lower and middle classes to afford to go to graduate schools. Many intelligent, capable people leave the pre-med track because of the cost. If anything, only the wealthy can pay these monstrous fees, and it shows; about one in every five medical students have parents who are physicians. In addition, because there are no government incentives to bring down such tuition costs, these schools can charge however much they want. It primarily affects the healthcare industry because it produces people focusing on paying off their debt and not doing their moral obligation to help patients.
I have thought about dentistry and felt a passion for it this year. I researched dentistry for months and realized the insane debt I would be in. I understand that I cannot change much as this is a vast industry, but I hope that more people can address this issue and limit universities' power to increase tuition prices without thought.
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