2008 to 2020 Saw Increase in Cost of Medical School Attendance

MONDAY, Dec. 8, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- From 2008 to 2020, the cost of U.S. medical school attendance increased, with trainees increasingly relying on federal loans, according to a research letter published online Nov. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Tarun Ramesh, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined trends in federal loan use among medical students and those most affected by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which eliminated Graduate PLUS Loans, by analyzing 2008 to 2020 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study data. The sample included medical students (weighted, 383,754 students) across all years of medical school. The primary outcomes were having any Graduate PLUS Loans, having annual federal loans of more than $50,000 in the survey year, and having cumulative undergraduate and graduate federal loans of more than $200,000.The researchers found that the inflation-adjusted annual cost of medical school attendance increased from $51,400 to $71,000 between 2008 and 2020. The proportion of students using Graduate PLUS Loans increased from 13 percent in 2008 to 47 percent in 2020, while annual federal loans exceeded $50,000 for 7.7 and 40 percent, respectively; and lifetime federal loans exceeded $200,000 for 0.6 and 14 percent, respectively. Over the course of medical school, the proportion of students with lifetime federal loans exceeding $200,000 increased."The average cost of attending medical school has greatly increased in just over a decade," Ramesh said in a statement. "Federal loan restrictions could leave many medical students, especially those from low-income backgrounds, without affordable options to complete their training."Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required).Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

2008 to 2020 Saw Increase in Cost of Medical School Attendance

Related Stories