The Foreign Influx

From Drug Topics:
http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drugtopics/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=726723&pageID=1&sk=&date=

Indentured

Jim Plagakis

Longtime Drug Topics columnist Jim Plagakis, RPh, has pointed out that during years of high demand, pharmacy chains sponsored numerous foreign pharmacists for H1b visas to help fill the gap.

• Between 2001 and 2008, CVS applied to sponsor 3,590 H1b pharmacists. Only 15 applications were denied.
• Rite Aid applied for 3,448 visas, of which 33 were denied.
• Walgreens applied for 1,477 visas and received 13 denials.

Those foreign pharmacists are still here and presumably still working. And they're still coming. In 2011, pharmacy is No. 22 on the list of 50 top occupations for the H1b program, with 1,119 sponsorship applications offering an average salary of $107,442. No. 1 on the list is computer programmers, with 14,805 applications and an average salary of $62,986. No. 50 is occupational therapists, with 448 applications at an average salary of $73,464.   
"You've got thousands of foreign pharmacists brought here by chains, which sponsored them for visas, helped them study for their exams, and now have an indentured workforce that is in no position to complain about wages or working conditions," said California pharmacist Lowell McNichol, PharmD.

The Fleecing of the Pharmacy Student

The tuition for pharmacy schools in California has reached new heights. The opening of more schools has not fostered any competition it seems. There are just more of them to lure in more students. The loan amounts that I hear from some fourth level students leaves me shaking my head. The current job market and stagnant pay only worsens the situation. These are the yearly costs of the eight schools currently in operation. These of course are not the total cost of their education. If you factor in room and board, transportation, etc., these figures are even more horrendous.

UCSF:              $33,000+
UCSD:             $33,000+
USC:                $44,000+
Loma Linda:     $44,000+
Touro:              $38,000+
Western:          $44,000+
CA Northstate: $46,000+
UOP:               $41,000+ (3 yr program--averaged out over 4 years)

How are these students going to pay their loans once they graduate? That is with the assumption that they can find a full time job if they want it. I get numerous requests for employment and many of the newer graduates that are finding employment are not getting offered a full time position. At part time, how much of their paycheck would go to their loan payment? It is ridiculous! More graduates will only worsen this...