The financial aspects of graduate dental education

This paper is one of a series of ten discussion papers being developed by the American Association of Dental Schools in an effort to elucidate the major issues in graduate dental education. The purposes of this paper are to discuss financial aspects of graduate education and to present specific recommendations for future action. As far as is possible, this paper will present a detailed picture of the past, present, and future costs of, and funding for, graduate dental education. It will compare the financial aspects of graduate dental education with those of predoctoral dental education. Further, it will attempt to analyze the major environmental factors affecting the fiscal survival of graduate programs in dentistry. The implications of the analysis of these factors for the future of graduate dental education in its various forms will be discussed and strategies will be proposed to maximize opportunity and minimize risk as conditions change.