From the 2026 Fall Journal of the Colorado Dental Association
By Becky O’Guin, CDA Director of Communications
Dental schools are looking hard at what they can do to make education more affordable while maintaining their high quality. According to a survey by the American Dental Education Association, “Cost and admission availability are now the top reasons for choosing a dental school.” 1
Becoming a dentist isn’t an easy path to take. And with the cost of dental school continuing to rise, it may make dental school unattainable for those who lack private funding.
For students, the decision to go to dental school is not taken lightly. The reduction in federal and state funding combined with the high cost of living — especially in high-priced metro areas where many state dental schools are located — as well as annual tuition increases, make dental school an expensive pursuit. School administrators are cognizant of the impact of rising tuition and funding availability on students.
“I get concerned … about our students and making sure that we have the most talented class. If we don’t get the talent because they can’t afford to go to school, we may struggle to build a strong dental workforce prepared to address oral health needs across Texas, particularly in rural and underserved communities” said Sarah Barron, Assistant Dean of Finance and Administration at Texas A&M University College of Dentistry.
Dr. Michael Reddy, dean of the University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry (UCSF), agrees; he said the school must be aware of who they are admitting and who is missing from the profession that should be represented.
Nonetheless, tuition at UCSF will continue to rise at 3% yearly under a five-year contract. Dr. Reddy said they are reliant on tuition to provide education services until they build additional streams of revenue.
Job Outlook and Dental School Enrollment Still Increasing
Despite the high cost of dental school, enrollment is not slowing down and the career outlook for dentists remains strong.
“Although the financial investment required for dental education is significant, we have not seen it negatively impact demand for admission,” said Dr. Eric Mediavilla, associate dean of Admissions, Student and Alumni Affairs at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Dental Medicine (CUSDM), in a written statement.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics records that overall employment for dentists is projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations.[1]
What Dental Schools Are Doing
Dental schools are aware of the problem and are working on solutions to keep dental tuition affordable. One complexity is running the dental school clinics efficiently; a challenge most dental practices can relate to. Providing dental services at a fee patients can afford, recruiting enough patients for students to learn from, and covering operating costs are ongoing challenges.
“It is just expensive to run a clinic, and our fees don’t cover the cost. We review our fees annually and make very few adjustments. If we don’t have patients, our students don’t learn. We don’t have a lot of control over those,” said Barron.
Dental schools are looking at ways to make the clinics pay for themselves so they can at least break even.
Barron said Texas A&M is looking at how they can operate more efficiently. She said looking at technology could be an important piece to making the dental clinics more affordable, offering digital dentistry as one example.
Keeping expenses in check and recruiting faculty remain a challenge as well and dental schools are getting creative. At Texas A&M, full-time faculty may participate in limited outside clinical practice up to one day per week. This policy helps the college remain competitive when recruiting and supports faculty retention by allowing them to stay current with clinical trends and techniques to bring back to the teaching environment.
At CU, faculty can follow a similar approach by practicing one day a week in the Dental Faculty Practice within the school. This sets an example for students to see faculty continuing their practice as a commitment to service and growth. “One of our goals is to instill a lifelong commitment to learning, leadership and teaching in our students. By fostering these values early in their careers, we hope to develop not only exceptional clinicians, but also future educators who will help shape and sustain the dental profession for generations to come,” Dr. Mediavilla stated in an email.
Dr. Reddy said that modeling the healthcare system approach would help create positions for faculty within the system and create profit to reinvest in the same system, leading to more faculty and students choosing to stay.
He said with specialists balancing the portfolio of faculty, the school can grow research and clinical practice so that the school is not as reliant on student tuition.
“In dentistry we like to talk about dental education debt, but not the cost of dentistry,” Dr. Reddy said. “The best concept is to grow the dental schools because they are too small.”
There is no single solution to keeping rising costs down, but dental schools continue to provide high-quality education and work to keep tuition down.
“While the cost of education is an important consideration, we believe dentistry will continue to attract talented individuals who recognize the significant personal, professional and societal value of a career in oral healthcare,” stated Dr. Mediavilla.
References
[1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dentists.htm Accessed Sept. 15, 2026.
