I was appalled to read that the cost of attending the University of New England medical school is between $300,000 and $370,000 (“How Trump’s big bill will reshape the affordability of Maine higher education,” July 9). I received my medical degree in 1975 from Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri, a top medical school. My total debt was $19,000. Even with inflation that would be only $113,000.
These extreme costs drive students into more lucrative specialties to pay off their debt, usually a surgical subspecialty. What often gets short shrift are the “cognitive,” not “procedural” specialties like pediatrics, and my own, psychiatry.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the current administration will do anything to ameliorate this trend.
Mark Stitham, MD
Cape Elizabeth
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