A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal last month warns the soaring cost of tuition is deterring students from low-income families from attending medical school.

The study examined the impact of the deregulation of medical school tuition in Ontario and found the number of medical students in the province reporting family income of less than $40,000 dropped from almost 23 per cent in 1997 to 15 per cent in 2000.

The study also found "the large increases in tuition fees implemented by medical schools in Ontario are associated with changes in the medical student population. At Ontario medical schools, there are now fewer students from lower-income families and more students expecting to graduate with large debts."

Dr. William Easton, who heads the National Professional Association Coalition on Tuition, a group comprising the Canadian Medical Association and other professional associations, said the study shows that medical school fees are already unaffordable to most Canadians.

"Fees currently average nearly $13,000 per year in Ontario and will soon triple in B.C.," Easton said. "Also troublesome is the fact that law school tuition will soon hit the $22,000 mark, which may set a precedent for further increases.

"If we want all Canadians, regardless of family income, to have access to a professional education and not be deterred by the prospect of having a significant debt load upon graduation, then governments need to ensure universities have sufficient funding to help make tuition fees more reasonable."

"Medical students across the country are accumulating enormous and unprecedented debt loads, anticipated by many Ontario medical students to soon be at least $100,000," added Matthew Erskine, president of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students. "The physician shortage we already have in this country will be exacerbated because, as the study in Ontario demonstrates, these debt loads will influence students' choice of specialty and practice location."

CAUT president Vic Catano echoed the concerns raised in the study.

"It's time the governments of Ontario and British Columbia recognize tuition deregulation has been a disaster," Catano said. "If they don't reinstitute some controls over tuition fees, then it won't be too much longer before the only people who can afford to become doctors are the sons and daughters of doctors."

Source: CMAJ, April 16, 2002; 166 (8): 1023-8.