Rising educational costs and comparatively modest early-career wages have created a structural return-on-investment problem for the Doctor of Audiology (AuD) degree, with implications extending beyond individual finances to workforce sustainability and access to care. This article examines the economic burden of audiology training within the broader context of U.S....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
No actionable change for clinical practice; findings are most relevant to prospective students, program directors, and workforce policy advocates considering the return on investment of AuD training.
If student debt burdens make audiology an economically unattractive career, the profession faces a pipeline crisis that will reduce access to hearing healthcare services for patients.
- 01Rising AuD program costs combined with modest early-career wages create a poor return on investment.
- 02High student debt may deter qualified candidates from entering audiology.
- 03Workforce sustainability is threatened if the profession cannot attract and retain graduates.
- 04Findings have implications for AuD program pricing, scholarship funding, and reimbursement reform.
- 05Economic analysis connects individual financial burden to profession-wide recruitment challenges.
The return on investment for AuD degrees is poor due to high program costs and modest early-career wages.
studypartially supportedRising student debt in audiology threatens long-term workforce sustainability.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42840924
- DOI
- 10.1055/s-0046-1825789.
- Journal
- Seminars in Hearing
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Audiology doctoral (AuD) students and early-career audiologists in the U.S.
- Intervention
- Return-on-investment analysis of AuD program costs relative to entry-level audiology wages
Primary outcomes
Return on investment of AuD degree relative to program costs; Impact of student debt burden on workforce sustainability