(175) Minority Student Perceptions of the Impact of Financial Cost of Pharmacy School and Career Choice

Objective : One of the barriers that might prevent an underrepresented minority (URM) individual from pursuing a professional career in the United States is wealth. The high disproportionate burden of student debt among URM students further perpetuates the racial wealth gap. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate the extent to which URM students’ personal finance perceptions, and current and projected student loan indebtedness, affect post-graduation career intentions.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from 4 cohorts of pharmacy students using a survey from July 1, 2022 to February 1, 2023. The financial perception survey included subscales namely personal finance self-efficacy, debt influence and pressure, and risk mitigation and retirement. Descriptive statistics, simple logistic regression, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Results: There were 93 students who completed the survey and had a mean age of 28.04 ± 5.33 years. Approximately, 66 (71%) of the sample were female, and 63 (67.7%) had completed a 4-year bachelor's degree. There was a significant association between age and the intention to pursue postgraduate training (OR = 1.15; 95% CI = 1.01-1.30, p = 0.032), as well as a significant association between risk and retirement perceptions and intention to pursue postgraduate training (OR = 2.32; 95% CI = 1.16-4.64, p = 0.017) after adjusting for other factors.

Conclusions: Amongst students who are largely minority those who are older and have more confidence to invest their money towards retirement and have a retirement plan are more likely to pursue post-graduate training opportunities.