Abstract
This article details requests from the nation's 23 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) for class-size increases and the establishment of new COMs and branch campuses. Basic data on COM applicants and applications, matriculants, and graduates are also provided. Tuition, revenues, and expenditures at COMs are outlined.
Medical schools in the United States—whether osteopathic or allopathic—are facing similar challenges, including increasing the number of medical graduates to meet shifting demographic demands and improving the racial and ethnic diversity of the medical profession.
1,2 The nation's 23 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) and their branch campuses have been successful in meeting both challenges while also maintaining high entrance standards for applicants (see appendix, pages 126-128).
2
The data presented in this article have been adapted from the results of a joint survey produced by the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the
AACOM/AOA Annual Osteopathic Medical School Questionnaire: Academic Year 2005-06.
3 In addition, AACOM's 2006-2007 Tuition Survey, as reported in that association's
Annual Statistical Report on Osteopathic Medical Education, 2006, was also used.
4 Finally, a draft of AACOM's
Annual Statistical Report on Osteopathic Medical Education, 2004, and its historical database (SPSS 15.0 for Windows; SPSS Inc, Chicago, Ill) compiled from previous years' tuition surveys were used to prepare this article. As noted, the data reported are received mainly from AACOM. That association researches and updates its data regularly, providing corrected numbers on an annual basis in the AACOM
Annual Statistical Report on Osteopathic Medical Education. Therefore, the data as reported in
JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association are to be considered incomplete, though this data will be corrected annually as AACOM makes its data available. All data is current as of publication. Readers are encouraged to contact AACOM directly for any subsequent updates to the data presented.
For the 2006-2007 academic year, tuition averaged $20,276 for in-state residents in public COMs and $34,113 in private COMs. For out-of-state residents, tuition averaged $38,840 in public schools and $34,893 in private schools.
There is a nearly even split between COMs that have a higher percentage of out-of-state residents vs state residents matriculating in the 2005-2006 academic year (
Table 3).
Table 3
Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine in the United States: State Residency Status of First-Year Students by College *
| 2004-2005
| | | 2005-2006
| | |
---|
COM
| n
| Residents
| Nonresidents
| n
| Residents
| Nonresidents
|
---|
▪ ATSU COM-Mesa† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ ATSU-KCOM | 178 | 37 (20.8) | 141 (79.2) | 175 | 25 (14.3) | 150 (85.7) |
▪ DMU-COM | 230 | 56 (24.4) | 174 (75.7) | 219 | 59 (26.9) | 160 (73.1) |
▪ KCUMB-COM | 239 | 36 (15.1) | 203 (84.9) | 251 | 200 (79.7) | 51 (20.3) |
▪ LECOM | 230 | 76 (33.0) | 154 (66.0) | 231 | 73 (31.6) | 158 (68.4) |
□ LECOM-Bradenton‡ | 163 | 56 (34.4) | 107 (65.6) | 166 | 58 (34.9) | 108 (65.1) |
▪ LMU-DCOM† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ MSUCOM | 148 | 132 (89.2) | 16 (10.8) | 205 | 185 (90.2) | 20 (9.8) |
▪ MWU/AZCOM | 148 | 43 (29.1) | 105 (70.9) | 166 | 39 (23.5) | 127 (76.5) |
▪ MWU/CCOM | 175 | 99 (56.6) | 76 (43.4) | 182 | 74 (40.7) | 108 (59.3) |
▪ NSU-COM | 222 | 98 (44.1) | 124 (55.9) | 246 | 129 (52.4) | 117 (47.6) |
▪ NYCOM/NYIT§ | 315 | 204 (64.8) | 111 (35.2) | 321 | 230 (71.7) | 91 (28.3) |
▪ OSU-COM | 89 | 78 (87.6) | 11 (12.4) | 93 | 80 (86.0) | 13 (14.0) |
▪ OU-COM | 116 | 101 (87.1) | 15 (12.9) | 115 | 113 (98.3) | 2 (1.7) |
▪ PCOM | 274 | 138 (50.4) | 136 (49.6) | 275 | 164 (59.6) | 111 (40.4) |
□ GA-PCOM† | NA | NA | NA | 83 | 35 (42.2) | 48 (57.8) |
▪ PCSOM | 79 | 37 (46.8) | 42 (53.2) | 80 | 26 (32.5) | 54 (67.5) |
▪ RVUCOM† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ TCOM | 135 | 132 (97.8) | 3 (2.2) | 140 | 126 (90.0) | 14 (10) |
▪ TOUROCOM† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ TUCOM-CA | 136 | 72 (52.9) | 64 (47.1) | 135 | 83 (61.5) | 52 (38.5) |
□ TUNCOM‡ | 78 | 9 (11.5) | 69 (88.5) | 108 | 9 (8.3) | 99 (91.7) |
▪ UMDNJ-SOM | 96 | 93 (96.9) | 3 (3.1) | 102 | 100 (98.0) | 2 (2.0) |
▪ UNECOM | 124 | 30 (24.2) | 94 (60.3) | 125 | 27 (21.6) | 98 (78.4) |
▪ VCOM | 156 | 53 (34.0) | 103 (66.0) | 160 | 70 (43.8) | 90 (56.3) |
▪ WesternU/COMP | 207 | 196 (94.7) | 11 (5.3) | 219 | 135 (61.6) | 84 (38.4) |
▪ WVSOM | 108
| 54 (50.0)
| 54 (50.0)
| 111
| 50 (45.0)
| 61 (55.0)
|
Total | 3646 | 1830 (50.2) | 1816 (49.8) | 3908 | 2090 (53.5) | 1818 (46.5) |
Table 3
Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine in the United States: State Residency Status of First-Year Students by College *
| 2004-2005
| | | 2005-2006
| | |
---|
COM
| n
| Residents
| Nonresidents
| n
| Residents
| Nonresidents
|
---|
▪ ATSU COM-Mesa† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ ATSU-KCOM | 178 | 37 (20.8) | 141 (79.2) | 175 | 25 (14.3) | 150 (85.7) |
▪ DMU-COM | 230 | 56 (24.4) | 174 (75.7) | 219 | 59 (26.9) | 160 (73.1) |
▪ KCUMB-COM | 239 | 36 (15.1) | 203 (84.9) | 251 | 200 (79.7) | 51 (20.3) |
▪ LECOM | 230 | 76 (33.0) | 154 (66.0) | 231 | 73 (31.6) | 158 (68.4) |
□ LECOM-Bradenton‡ | 163 | 56 (34.4) | 107 (65.6) | 166 | 58 (34.9) | 108 (65.1) |
▪ LMU-DCOM† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ MSUCOM | 148 | 132 (89.2) | 16 (10.8) | 205 | 185 (90.2) | 20 (9.8) |
▪ MWU/AZCOM | 148 | 43 (29.1) | 105 (70.9) | 166 | 39 (23.5) | 127 (76.5) |
▪ MWU/CCOM | 175 | 99 (56.6) | 76 (43.4) | 182 | 74 (40.7) | 108 (59.3) |
▪ NSU-COM | 222 | 98 (44.1) | 124 (55.9) | 246 | 129 (52.4) | 117 (47.6) |
▪ NYCOM/NYIT§ | 315 | 204 (64.8) | 111 (35.2) | 321 | 230 (71.7) | 91 (28.3) |
▪ OSU-COM | 89 | 78 (87.6) | 11 (12.4) | 93 | 80 (86.0) | 13 (14.0) |
▪ OU-COM | 116 | 101 (87.1) | 15 (12.9) | 115 | 113 (98.3) | 2 (1.7) |
▪ PCOM | 274 | 138 (50.4) | 136 (49.6) | 275 | 164 (59.6) | 111 (40.4) |
□ GA-PCOM† | NA | NA | NA | 83 | 35 (42.2) | 48 (57.8) |
▪ PCSOM | 79 | 37 (46.8) | 42 (53.2) | 80 | 26 (32.5) | 54 (67.5) |
▪ RVUCOM† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ TCOM | 135 | 132 (97.8) | 3 (2.2) | 140 | 126 (90.0) | 14 (10) |
▪ TOUROCOM† | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
▪ TUCOM-CA | 136 | 72 (52.9) | 64 (47.1) | 135 | 83 (61.5) | 52 (38.5) |
□ TUNCOM‡ | 78 | 9 (11.5) | 69 (88.5) | 108 | 9 (8.3) | 99 (91.7) |
▪ UMDNJ-SOM | 96 | 93 (96.9) | 3 (3.1) | 102 | 100 (98.0) | 2 (2.0) |
▪ UNECOM | 124 | 30 (24.2) | 94 (60.3) | 125 | 27 (21.6) | 98 (78.4) |
▪ VCOM | 156 | 53 (34.0) | 103 (66.0) | 160 | 70 (43.8) | 90 (56.3) |
▪ WesternU/COMP | 207 | 196 (94.7) | 11 (5.3) | 219 | 135 (61.6) | 84 (38.4) |
▪ WVSOM | 108
| 54 (50.0)
| 54 (50.0)
| 111
| 50 (45.0)
| 61 (55.0)
|
Total | 3646 | 1830 (50.2) | 1816 (49.8) | 3908 | 2090 (53.5) | 1818 (46.5) |
×
Many students benefit from government funding, which continues to play an important role in the fiscal health of osteopathic medical education. The US Armed Forces, through the US Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program,
14-16 also continues to be an important source of funds for osteopathic medical students and schools.
4 Accessibility to such scholarship programs and financial aid allows osteopathic medical education to be within reach for many individuals who would otherwise be unable to attend medical school.