19 July 2023

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Average dental education debt drops to $286K

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The average amount of dental school debt has declined in recent years to $286,200, according to data from the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). This news was first reported on July 12 by Becker's Dental + DSO Review.  

Each year, ADEA collects data on topics of particular interest to dental school deans, program directors, faculty, students, residents and fellows. 

In its latest issue of Trends in Dental Education, the association provided details on dental school debt, revenue sources and expenditures for U.S. dental schools, top 5 reasons for choosing a dental school, dental enrollment numbers, diversity among predoctoral dental students and more. 

The organization received responses from 2,376 survey participants expecting to graduate with dental school debt in 2022. This compares with 4,097 respondents expecting to graduate with dental school debt in 2017. 

The dental school debt figure of $286,200 is slightly less than the average amount of education debt, which was $293,900.

Some 65% of respondents said loans were the top funding source for dental doctoral education, followed by financial support from parents, relatives and friends (20%), grants and scholarships (10%), savings (4%) and part-time employment (1%). 

Learn more and see additional data on the ADEA website: https://www.adea.org/DentEdTrends/