Let’s be real, graduate school and anything past high school is expensive. People in the U.S. go into serious debt when it comes to education, especially medical school. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the median current debt of graduating med students is $192,000, but in a surprise announcement, one school is going against the system of debt and doing something huge. The New York University School of Medicine said that it will pay the tuition of all its students regardless of merit or financial need, becoming the first major American medical school to do so. NYU made the announcement at its annual White Coat Ceremony, where new students are presented with white lab coats to mark the start of their medical education.
In its announcement, NYU pointed to the fact that “overwhelming student debt” is reshaping the medical profession in ways that are bad for the healthcare system. Graduates pursue high-paying specialties rather than careers in family medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.
According to Forbes.com, the yearly tuition cost covered by the NYU scholarship is $55,018. It applies not only to incoming students but to those already enrolled, who will be refunded payments made for this year. NYU will also refund loans that students have taken out.
NYU’s statement quotes Dean Robert I. Grossman: “A population as diverse as ours is best served by doctors from all walks of life, we believe, and aspiring physicians and surgeons should not be prevented from pursuing a career in medicine because of the prospect of overwhelming financial debt.”
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve has paid full tuition and fees since 2008 but it has only 32 students. The NYU scholarship will go to more than 400.
UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine has a $100 million fund that pays the entire four-year cost of medical school, including room and board, but it is based on merit rather than need and only 20% of students receive it.
“Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our trustees, alumni, and friends, our hope—and expectation—is that by making medical school accessible to a broader range of applicants, we will be a catalyst for transforming medical education nationwide,”…