Universities are pushing up Healthcare Costs! (employment, wages, Pittsburgh, cost)

[g500]

Mods Idk where this thread belongs.

Just for fun, I was looking up how to become a dentist. In addition to a Bachelor's degree, you obviously must attend 4-year Dental School in addition to other requirements. I believe there are only 77? dental schools in the entire USA, and many states do not even have one school (South Dakota, Vermont, and Delaware.For example do not have a dental school). The in-state tuition in Pennsylvania (we have 3 dental schools, 1 in Pittsburgh and 2 in Philadelphia) is about $57,000+ per year, plus other costs including equipment rentals and many fees. The total cost (including room and board, but not including lost wages) would be over $400,000 just for dental school (add-on the undergraduate cost of $75,000-$125,000 plus)! You could easily sink a half million into a dental career before earning a single dollar from performing dental work. I think you would have to forgo employment as dental school seems like a full-time pursuit. This would represent opportunity cost.

We need more dentists and doctors! And I believe the exorbitant cost of obtaining medical degree and training is deterring applicants. Do other countries saddle dentists/doctors with such debt? Healthcare costs may be directly inflated due to universities!

Also: only about 3-5% of applications are accepted into dental school. Seems like dental school is for the elite and talented only.

Feel free to add any thoughts!