05/02/2024    Paul Kesselman, DPM

Are you in favor of a 6-year college/podiatry school option? (Rich Hofacker, DPM)

Recently, I met a young intern doing his PGY-1
prior to starting his five- year residency in
general surgery. He is faced with almost $400K in
debt from medical school and more from
undergraduate school. Between the two he can
easily amass $600K or more in debt. A neighbor
graduating from high school will amass $500K in
debt from his undergraduate degree and then more
from his anticipated pursuit of a legal degree.

It is no wonder that more and more young students
are moving away from traditional degrees in
healthcare and moving to shorter degree paths with
an easier career paths. PA and NP are far shorter
than MD/DO and DPM degrees with much less stress,
easier lifestyles, and nice salaries. Nurse
anesthestists command $150+ salaries after a four
year BSN and a year or two of work, then a year or
so of training to become certified.

Can you imagine being saddled with $500K in debt
and then have that hanging over your head while
making less than $100K as a resident all the while
paying rent on an apt and paying for all the
necessities of life. This in particular while most
residents are in their mid to upper twenties or
early thirties and want to raise a family.

The financial pressures are just way too high.
Unless DPM degrees and more medical schools can
become tuition free as are NYU and others, I fear
that many of our brightest students will pass on
medical school. I hear this especially from my
MD/DO colleagues who most often do not encourage
their offspring to pursue medical training.

Thus, this issue is not endemic to only podiatry.
6 year programs in medical school has been a
success at some institutions. Why saddle young
students with additional two years of tuition
during which time most are taking easy courses
just to bloat their GPA? How does that help them
and help society?

There are plenty of examples in the Western world
outside of the USA and Canada which produce
excellent trained physicians with 2 less years of
college. It's time we started emulating that
process.

Paul Kesselman, DPM, Oceanside, NY

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