Chris: I quite literally don't understand the
statistic--like, what it means. Explain, please?

I do know that my daughter-in-law pays no tuition
for her physiotherapy program but has taken out
student loans to help with her living expenses.

Check out
http://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/select.cfm?year_of_study=2009
for US med school tuitions. Note that the amounts are for one year.

Mark

At 07:27 PM 3/1/2009, you wrote:
><snip>
>One very striking thing about the British hospitals I was in was how
>different the relationship of doctors to the rest of staff and to patients.
>Of course there's a hierarchy, but it was far more democratic than anything
>I've ever seen in an American hospital. I'd suggest that that reflects the
>lower cost of medical education (essentially free), which in turn influences
>the class status of doctors, and that it has a positive influence on quality
>of care. [Mark]
><snip>
>
>I'm not sure where 'free' comes from. The UK now has a student loan system.
>The net present value of an average degree (ie the discounted value of
>lifetime future earnings net of all costs associated with acquiring that
>degree, as compared with discounted lifetime future earnings from non degree
>occupations) was estimated, not so long ago, at £2,500. This is by no means
>a princely sum. Clearly assumptions play a big part in that sort of
>calculation. Clearly medical degrees are not just average degrees. And
>clearly too students are unlikely to think in precisely that technical way.
>Nonetheless even medical students may have some vague perception along those
>lines. I doubt if it advances their sense of worth.
>
>CW
>_______________________________________________
>
>We're not paying for your crisis!
>(Italian Student Slogan)