The NBCE’s Financial Shell Game, Inflation and Deception
How the Elders of Chiropractic’s Licensing Cartel Are Gaslighting a Generation of Students Already Drowning in Debt
A New Low in an Already Broken System
In its June 2025 webinar, the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) didn’t just announce a change in exam delivery—they revealed a stunning level of audacity in how they spin the financial impact of that change. With a straight face, senior NBCE officials claimed that not raising exam fees during inflation counts as a “discount” and that centralizing Part IV in Greeley, Colorado is “cost-effective” for students.
Let’s be clear: this is false advertising, wrapped in economic jargon, and peddled by those who already know the truth—that students are paying too much for a degree with far too little return, and that NBCE is one of the main gatekeepers keeping them trapped in that cycle.
“Holding fees steady while costs rise has actually functioned as a fee decrease.”
—Melissa Stockberger, NBCE CFO
That one sentence tells you everything you need to know about how out of touch NBCE’s leadership has become.
The Big Lie: “We Didn’t Raise Fees, So You’re Saving Money”
NBCE's Chief Financial Officer Melissa Stockberger claimed during the webinar that by holding exam fees steady since 2021, the organization has actually given students a discount—once inflation is accounted for.
That’s financial gaslighting. A fee that remains flat while travel, food, housing, and tuition skyrocket is not a discount. It’s deliberate neglect of context, especially when NBCE simultaneously:
Forces all students to travel to Greeley, Colorado
Estimates average travel expenses at $427, a gross underestimation
Offloads all logistical and financial burden onto the students
Keeps its own internal costs down by 6%, then asks for applause
This isn’t responsible budgeting. It’s a cost-shifting scam, and the students footing the bill are the ones who will be burdened by it for decades.
False Choices, Fabricated Costs, and Financial Blackmail
NBCE claims that if they hadn’t centralized Part IV, they would have had to raise exam fees to $2,600 to implement the new format on campuses.
Let that sink in: they invented a worst-case scenario, then claimed the alternative—centralization—was the bargain.
This is a classic false dichotomy: pay an absurd, hypothetical price or accept our centralized plan as the only rational choice. No third option. No hybrid solution. No competitive bids. Just one outcome—one that conveniently funnels every licensure candidate in the world through their shiny new facility next door to their headquarters.
And here’s the kicker: NBCE is sitting on more than $40 million in reserves. They could fund local upgrades, subsidize travel, or drop Part IV altogether since its unnecessary. Instead, they built a fortress in Colorado and called it progress.
“The NBCE saves 6%, students pay 100% more—and they have the gall to brand that as affordability.”
A Profession That Lied to Its Own Children
This isn’t just about misleading pricing—it’s about the institutional betrayal of a generation.
Students take on enormous debt to become chiropractors. They do so based on inflated promises about salaries, job prospects, and professional autonomy—the same kinds of promises that have fueled Borrower Defense to Repayment claims across higher education.
Now those same students, many of whom are already struggling to pay for a degree that doesn’t yield what was advertised, are being told by the elders of the profession—those who run NBCE—that:
A flat fee is a price cut
Travel expenses are “manageable”
Simulations are better than real clinical evaluations
$1,500 in unrefunded travel costs is worth it for a standardized test that schools already cover
This is not just wrong—it’s shameful.
“The NBCE’s elders didn’t just sell out the next generation—they’re billing them for the betrayal.”
The Real Inflation: Cost vs. Value
Let’s talk about real inflation—not the Consumer Price Index, but the value-collapse of a chiropractic education.
In today’s reality:
Many DC grads report incomes under $60,000/year
Student loan debt often exceeds $200,000
Chiropractic school clinics already assess clinical competency
NBCE’s Part IV exam has no proven correlation with patient safety or professional success
Yet students are forced to pay for, travel to, and pass this extra exam—just to get licensed. And now that it’s centralized in Colorado, they’ll pay even more for the privilege.
That’s not professional rigor. It’s structural exploitation.
What Needs to Happen Next
Enough. This has gone on long enough. State boards must reassess the legal foundation for Part IV, especially given that no public comment, rulemaking, or administrative review has been conducted on this centralization. Schools must not require NBCE exams for graduation. And the profession as a whole must start asking serious questions about the economic abuse embedded in the licensing pipeline.
The NBCE’s leadership is failing the profession. They are burning the bridge behind them, hoarding reserves, and calling it service. It's time to stop confusing longevity with legitimacy.
“The only thing that’s gone up more than inflation is the audacity of the NBCE.”
Call to Action
If you’re a student, demand transparency and fee disclosures from your administration and NBCE.
If you’re a faculty member, press your school to question the CCE’s NBCE mandates.
If you’re a regulator, open public comment and review procedures before recognizing this centralized model.
If you’re a chiropractor, speak out—this is your legacy too.
Because if this is how we treat the next generation of chiropractors—then the problem isn’t just inflation. It’s integrity.
