following graduation of the first new or expanded class, it takes another 2 to 3 years for the job market to equilibrate, as it adjusts to a higher annual input of graduates. From that perspective, the net impact of academic growth is best measured when equilibrium is achieved—about 6 to 7 years after the initial increase in the number of students entering a PharmD program. Even if 2012 proves to be the last year of major academic expansion, the full impact will not be felt until 2018, at which time the job market will have to assimilate new pharmacists at a rate of about 15,000 per year. Contrast that rate with the 30-year period from 1974 to 2003, during which the annual number of pharmacy graduates ranged between 6,000 and 8,000.16 The number surpassed 8,000 for the first time in 2004. By 2008, it had risen to 10,000. It exceeded 12,000 in 2012 and is poised to exceed 14,000 by 2016.7
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3687123/
Well kiddies…. you had better get those credit cards paid off… that Lexus/BMW/Mercedes paid off… or don’t buy or lease a new one… and think twice before buying that McMansion… and don’t forget that six figure student loan… When your alma mater starts calling you for a donation… should you give them more money… when you still have that student loan payments???
Filed under: General Problems
Student loan debt is pharmacy’s next dirty little secret that everybody wants to shove under the rug. I have talked to some relatively recent grads ( like in the 90’s) and they have no clue how much a pharmacy degree costs now.
When a year or two of pharmacists graduate later in this decade and can’t find a job no matter how many residencies they have, it’s gonna hit the fan.
The bullseye will be on the pharmacy schools and it should be.
Steve:
My tuition – back in the olden days – at a private university ( Butler ) was a total – for 5 years – of about 50% of what my starting annual wage was.. I believe that today… the total for six years.. is somewhere in the 1.5 -2.0 years of starting wage… before they started falling… Is today’s Pharmacist’s education worth 3-4 times what mine was? IMO.. most of the new PharmD/RPH’s are not 3-4 times better than I am.. but I have 45 years of experience… is that equal to at least TWENTY residencies ?
Whoa, wait a minute… I have to pay back those student loans?
Uh oh…