Brown v. Board turns 67, The cost of Education
19th July 2021 · 0 Comments
PART III
In summer 2020, cries for more nurses and doctors reached a fever pitch as the death rate spiraled out of control and temporary hospitals were erected around the U.S. to serve the overflow of COVID-19 patients.
The need for medical personnel got so bad that states, like New York, begged for nurses and doctors from less affected areas to come to the Big Apple and lend a hand. Retired medical personnel was also activated.
COVID-19 cases are rising again, and the shortage of nurses and doctors in the U.S. might be one reason we lost so many citizens during the pandemic. Thus far, 607,393 people in the U.S. have died from this deadly pandemic – 10,000 in Louisiana.
It’s not surprising that only 36 percent of Louisiana residents opted for the vaccination in this red state. Last April, an LSU Survey found that 1 in 3 Louisiana adults refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine; that figure included 43 percent of Republicans who do not intend to receive the vaccine.
The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) last week reported 1,503 new cases and 13 deaths. The cases and deaths occurred during what the LDH is calling a viral surge among the unvaccinated. If the number of patients increases, doctors, nurses and other essential workers must save the lives of anti-vaxxers, who could have avoided hospitalization by simply taking the vaccine.
The defiance of anti-vaxxers comes at a time when there is a worldwide nursing and doctor shortage.
In 2020, the first State of the World’s Nursing (SOWN) report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), revealed a global shortfall of 5.9 million nurses.
The Association of American Medical Colleges projected a shortage of up to 139,000 physicians – many in primary care – by 2033. It cited the aging American population, and the large number of doctors reaching retirement age, as two significant factors, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Louisiana is not immune from the shortfall. According to the Louisiana Hospital Association, 13,000 nursing and allied health job openings are available every year in Louisiana. Meanwhile, nursing schools reject about 1,400 qualified applicants every year, WWL-TV reported.
Dr. Demetrius Porche, LSU Health New Orleans’s Dean of Nursing, says the biggest problem is not enough qualified faculty to teach. Part of the reason is that there’s not enough money to pay them. Porche is expecting a shortage of 2,000 nurses here by 2005.
Why is there a shortage of practitioners in professions that pay exceptionally well? A doctor can earn a minimum of $208,0000, and a nurse can make between $60,000-$110,000 or more.
What’s the problem? Why can’t we create more doctors and nurses?
There is a 500-pound gorilla in the room. As higher education costs escalate, how can low- and moderate-income Americans pay the tuition, fees and living expenses that come with a collegiate career?
If you’re not born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you’re up Schitt’s Creek without a paddle.
The experts are not saying that the average American can’t afford to pay the educational costs for an M.D. or R.N. degree or any other education requirement for the country’s top profession. The only option is to jump into higher education, knowing you’ll struggle with student debt for decades.
The median cost of four years of medical school attendance in 2019-2020 was $250,222 at public institutions and $330,180 at private colleges, according to a fall 2020 report issued by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Class of 2020 graduates left medical school with an average education debt load of around $207,000 per AAMC.
The cost of graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Delgado Community College’s Charity School of Nursing is among the least expensive programs available. At $21,000, a nursing degree is an absolute bargain, except students must pay an estimated $7,069 after federal aid, and that’s where the student loans begin.
Physician Assistants in Louisiana earn between $81-130K; but paying for the education needed to enter that profession may require a combination of financial aid, student loans, and, if you’re a great student, maybe a scholarship, too. Xavier University’s Physician Assistant Program tuition and fees cost $98,178. The tuition costs do not include textbooks or any additional costs associated with this program.
Suppose you want to be a computer engineer or software engineer, also highly paid professions. In that case, the 2021 tuition and fees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are $53,450, and its 2021 graduate school tuition and fees are $56,719.
No wonder only 24 percent of Louisianans 25 and over have bachelor’s degrees or higher. With a state legislature that clings to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and major cities like New Orleans run off a tourism economy with low-wage workers, our low education attainment rates are no mystery.
Not only that, but when a state like Louisiana is only obligated to provide a minimum education foundation – Louisiana spends $11,452 per pupil – one wonders if the state’s high school graduates are ready for college academics.
We can only hope that Governor John Bel Edwards’ 2020-2021 budget, which includes increased education expenditures, will bring Louisiana up from the bottom of the national education rankings. At $3.8 billion for the Minimum Foundation Program, raises for teachers, increase funds for Child Care and pre-schools, we have to wonder, will monies be appropriately spent. This state owes our children more than a minimum education.
We agree with Senator Bernie Sanders that higher education should be free for all Americans. Sanders had advocated for free education since 2017 when he first introduced The College for All Act and re-introduced it in April 2021.
“In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a higher education should be a right for all, not a privilege for the few,” Sen. Sanders said.
“If we are going to have the kind of standard of living that the American people deserve, we need to have the best-educated workforce in the world. It is absolutely unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of bright young Americans do not get a higher education each year, not because they are unqualified, but because their family does not have enough money. In the 21st century, a free public education system that goes from kindergarten through high school is no longer good enough. The time is long overdue to make public colleges and universities tuition-free and debt-free for working families.”
Sanders’ College for All legislation is in the Committee of Finance. It will die in committee if Republicans have their way.
The Republicans indeed won’t vote for Sanders’ bill. They cry socialism whenever Biden and Sanders speak about his bill, the For the People Act, or any other legislation designed to help everyday people.
Right now, higher education at the top universities is for wealthy or high-achieving students. Hell, even the community colleges and state universities are too costly for many.
Congress should want to provide education to all Americans. If higher education were free, we’d have a more educated workforce, and we could compete with other nations in many sectors of the economy.
High school graduates who want to attend college might consider packing their bags and taking advantage of the free education or low-cost tuition offered by several countries, including Germany, France, and Finland.
This article originally published in the July 19, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
