Ram, I'm thinking that the $40k tuition is for all 4 years.
It's about the same with the Medical College of Georgia dental school -- about $9k/year. Graduates from MCG's dental school usually have around 50k in debt from tuition. Of course, dental school is 4 years long, so that's more that has to be spent on living expenses...but I'd be willing to bet that the total debt is close to what an AA graduates with.
Of course, socialized medicine would screw the party for everyone!