Financial implications of increasing medical school class size: does tuition cover cost?

Abstract

In 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) issued a recommendation that medical schools increase the supply of physicians by 30% to meet the patient needs of the new millennium.Objective: To provide financial analysis of the cost of increasing class size. To determine the financial consequences of increasing medical student enrollment and in the absence of nationally published cost data for medical schools, adjusted secondary revenue data was analyzed using AAMC and Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) financial data from 2009. Linear regression analysis was used to determine average fixed costs and variable cost per student in USD. In USD, $62,877 represents the best point estimate of the annual variable cost of educating a medical student. Comparing this cost to current tuitions and fees of LCME-accredited medical schools suggests that revenues other than tuition are needed to cover increases in class size. Tuition and fees revenue from increasing enrollment will not increase overall revenue to medical schools.