(1094) Estimating Affordability of Pharmacy School for Pharmacy Technicians; Evaluation of Trends in Tuition and Fees Compared to Trends in Pharmacy Technician Wages

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate affordability of pharmacy school tuition and fees over time as related to annual trends in pharmacy technician wages. Previous survey of certified pharmacy technicians, conducted by Desselle SP and colleagues, reports two of the greatest factors of a technician’s intention to leave their current employer as poor salary and no opportunity for advancement. One identified barrier to the advancement opportunity of completing a doctor of pharmacy program is the affordability of the associated tuition and fees through wages acquired as a pharmacy technician. Presently, there are not any published analyses of pharmacy technician wage trends as compared to tuition trends for doctor of pharmacy programs in the United States of America.

Methods: An observational study was conducted to evaluate the trends of pharmacy technician wages compared to pharmacy school tuition and fees as reported for the first professional year. National and state pharmacy technician wage information was collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) program for years 2004 to 2022. Disposable income was calculated by use of a flat tax rate determined by tax bracket per federal individual income tax rates history report published by Tax Foundation.

Pharmacy school tuition and fees for the first professional year (P1) were collected from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) PharmD Tuition Trends Database. Annual in-state tuition, out-of-state tuition, and mandatory fees reports for P1 year from academic years 2004-2005 to 2022-2023 were collected for all colleges of pharmacy in the United States of America. Cumulative sum of tuition and mandatory fees for P1 year at each pharmacy school was calculated for each year collected. Our primary outcome was the tuition affordability ratio of median disposable income to median total tuition and fees for P1 year.

Results: Nationally, pharmacy technician median disposable annual income increased from $20,103 to $33,255 from 2004 to 2022. Over the same time period, national median annual tuition and fees for the first year of pharmacy school increased from $13,223 to $36,183. The median tuition affordability ratio for the 2004-05 academic year was 1.52, reducing to 0.919 for the 2022-23 academic year. Thus, affordability of first year pharmacy school tuition and fees reduced by approximately 40% for prospective students employed as pharmacy technicians from 2004 to 2022.

In calculating tuition affordability ratios for the institution in each state with the lowest annual tuition and fees, the median ratio for the 2004-05 academic year was 2.09 (minimum 0.81, maximum 5.61), reducing to 1.26 (minimum 0.58, maximum 4.58) for the 2022-23 academic year. Following analysis of the most affordable institution for each state, only two states, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island demonstrated an increase in affordability ratio (1.35% and 9.95% respectively) while all other states experienced a negative percent change in affordability ratio between 2004 and 2022.

Conclusions: The affordability of first year pharmacy school tuition and fees utilizing wages earned as a pharmacy technician has decreased on a national scale by 40%, determined by a reduction in tuition affordability ratio from 1.52 to 0.919 between 2004 and 2022. Diminishing affordability of advancement for a pharmacy technician through enrollment in pharmacy school may influence the retention of the pharmacy technician workforce, thus impacting the possibilities of delivering high quality care in pharmacy settings.