ChiroCongress Pushes More Student Loan Debt - while claiming to build a “sustainable” future
Originally published: 2025-06-28
Inbox Shock: CCA Repackages Cartel Talking Points
This week the Colorado Chiropractic Association (CCA) blasted members with a “suite of advocacy resources” straight from ChiroCongress and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC). Stating:
“Our association recently received a suite of advocacy resources from ChiroCongress and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC), and we wanted to pass them along.”
The attachments read like a policy wish-list for the Chiropractic Cartel: defend unlimited Grad PLUS borrowing, oppose new lifetime loan caps, and keep every tuition dollar flowing—no matter how crushing the debt.
“Our association recently received a suite of advocacy resources from ChiroCongress and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC), and we wanted to pass them along” stated the email.
“Grad PLUS loans are a critical financing tool… eliminating the program would pose existential challenges.”
ChiroCongress: From ‘Strategic Plan’ to Strategic Debt
ChiroCongress’ glossy vision document promises to “empower state associations” and “foster financial sustainability.” Yet its action alert does the opposite: it tells future chiropractors to lobby for more debt and higher tuition—exactly the outcome its own strategy claims to fight. The hypocrisy reveals ChiroCongress for what it has become under President Brian Stenzler: a messaging arm for the secret Summit-Group cartel that enforces CCE-only accreditation, NBCE exam mandates, and now eye-watering loan totals.
ACC Doctrine: $300 K or Bust
We already exposed the ACC’s May 30 letter insisting a chiropractic degree “costs $200,000–$300,000” and warning that a $150 K cap would make programs “financially unsustainable.” The new Senate packet doubles down, asking chiropractors to push senators for a $200 K aggregate limit—still more than double the median DC salary.
“Borrowing limits may not reflect education costs… pushing students into the private loan market.”
Tax-Reform Smoke Screen
The email also bundles a “One Big Beautiful Bill” SALT-deduction brief that paints chiropractors as victims of double taxation. But that talking-point cloud neatly diverts attention from the real crisis: tuition inflation driven by cartel monopolies. If practitioner cash flow is tight, maybe the answer isn’t a bigger tax break—it’s a smaller tuition bill.
Cartel Echo Chamber
ACC sets and blesses six-figure price tags.
CCE locks out competing accreditors.
NBCE mandates pricey exams.
FCLB ensures states go along.
Chiropractic Summit spreads the “secret” moves.
ChiroCongress and ACA affiliates amplify the script to every state.
The CCA email shows the system working exactly as designed: state associations are fed canned letters, members become lobbyists for their own indebtedness, and the cycle of tuition-loan-exam fees spins on.
“We see nothing wrong with what exists. It works.” —Palmer testimony, 2019 (still the cartel’s motto)
Where Real Advocacy Starts
Reject boiler-plate pleas for bigger loans; demand lower tuition instead.
Call for open accreditation so innovative, lower-cost programs can compete.
Push state boards to drop NBCE’s monopoly exams.
Ask ChiroCongress why its “strategic plan” omits any plan to slash student debt.
Until our associations champion affordability—not just access to ever-larger loans—they remain mouthpieces for a cartel that treats students like revenue streams. Colorado DCs should send a different letter to Washington and to the Colorado Chiropractic Association: Stop propping up $300 K degrees.
