10 Most Expensive Public Medical Schools for In-State Students

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With widespread reports of doctor shortages, some experts suggest that medical schools offer incentives to in-state students. According to a recent report from the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the state's public school, University of Wisconsin—Madison School of Medicine, retains about 43 percent of its alumni­—meaning they practice medicine within the state—"significantly lower" than the national public medical school retention average of nearly 47 percent.

According to the report, Wisconsin residents who go to medical school in-state are more likely (56 percent) to practice medicine in Wisconsin than the state's nonresident students (38 percent). But even if states like Wisconsin try to increase the percentages of their in-state medical students, those students aren't necessarily finding their M.D.'s to be inexpensive.

In-state students at University of Wisconsin pay $25,075 each year in tuition and fees, which is about $1,500 less than the national average cost of public medical school for in-state students. Of the 83 public medical programs that U.S. News surveys annually, 70 reported annual in-state tuition and fees data for the 2010-2011 academic year. At those 70 schools, in-state students paid an average of $26,418 in tuition and fees.

[Explore the 10 most expensive public medical schools for out-of-state students.]

Oregon Health and Science University topped the list of the top 10 priciest public medical schools for in-state students, charging more than $40,000 in tuition and fees for these students. The school was also the highest ranked institution on the top 10 list for primary care (it ranked third in the nation). University of Pittsburgh, which costs in-state students more than $39,500 in tuition and fees, was the top ranked school on the list for research (it ranked 14 in that category).

Schools that were designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from the data. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for Unranked programs because the program did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires to be numerically ranked.

Below is a table of the 10 most expensive public medical schools for first year, in-state students, based on tuition and required fees. The cost does not include room and board, books, and other miscellaneous costs:

(*RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one fourth of all medical and osteopathic schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.)

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Medical School Compass to find tuition data, residency statistics, and much more.

U.S. News surveyed more than 140 medical schools for our 2010 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists have no influence over U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.