Two public universities are poised to ask the State University System governing board for permission to start a dental school, despite a recent health department report that questions whether there is a need for more dentists.
Last week, in preparation for a September board meeting, the University of Central Florida and Florida A&M University both submitted formal requests with the system’s board of governors to start new dental schools.
The requests are pitting several universities against each other in the quest to lure dental school students and research dollars.
They may not have an easy time gaining approval. The board has been studying the issue for months and recently took in a Department of Health study that said there are enough new Florida dentists entering the profession through 2050 to offset any attrition due to retiring dentists.
There is widespread agreement that more dentists are needed in rural Florida, but dentists are reluctant to locate there, in part because of low Medicaid reimbursement rates and the attraction of large, urban centers.
With Florida strapped for cash and reducing money to state universities, the University of Central Florida’s 212-page pitch starts with the promise that it won’t require any state funding.
“If I had to say one thing about this project it is that it will be developed, constructed and operated with no state money,” said UCF spokesman Grant Heston.
An anonymous donor has agreed to give the university $10 million for a dental school, with the rest of the cost paid for with a loan and, eventually, tuition and fees paid for by students.
UCF plans to charge $55,675 a year in tuition to its four-year dental program, the proposal says, and expects to open as soon as 2014, and graduate classes of nearly 100 students each year.
Florida A&M University’s proposal was not available Monday in electronic form.
Florida has two dental schools already.
The University of Florida runs a dental school, as does private school Nova Southeastern University. In addition, the Lake Erie College of Medicine also plans to open a dental school in fall 2012 in the Tampa area.
The University of Florida isn’t enthusiastic about the idea of more dental school competition.
In its own request to the board, UF has put forward a competing proposal. It wants the state to appropriate nearly $4 million to expand its dental school and offer more minority scholarships.
In its request, UF argued that adding new dental schools likely wouldn’t help solve the issue of the lack of dentists in rural areas, and at best would be an expensive remedy.
One reason universities are eager to open dental schools is that they are seen as moneymakers. For instance, the University of Central Florida projects that only four years into the program, it would net a profit.
By the 10th year, the university would make $11.2 million from its dental school, with none of the revenue coming from the state.
Some of that funding comes from tuition and fees, and some from the student clinic and research grants.
UF suggests that budget might be too optimistic.
The University of Florida said attracting those types of research dollars takes at least 10 years. The school also submitted its own operating budget as part of its proposal and without state funds it would operate at a loss.
There is also the question of whether Florida needs more dentists.
The state’s Department of Health found an estimated 3,054 new dentists will be added to Florida’s workforce every decade, in a report released this year.
The additions will more than offset any losses from dentists retiring or moving, and that doesn’t include data from the Lake Erie College of Medicine dental school.
The report does conclude, however, that dentists are needed in rural Florida. Most Florida dentists work in South Florida, leaving rural counties in the Panhandle and Central Florida underserved.
UCF argues it can help satisfy this demand for dentists in rural or underserved areas. Part of its pitch includes a promise to offer a dental clinic to low-income patients and a requirement that students volunteer their services in community clinics.