New York University’s medical school is offering to cover the tuition of the medical students. How are they managing to do that? Government subsidies? Nope, good old-fashioned donations.
NYU is going to be the first top-ranked university in the United States to offer free tuition to their students. Anyone accepted to the program does still have to cover all other expenses such as the $29,000 annual cost for room and board.
The university is able to do this after starting a donation pool which got massive contributions from donors like Home Depot founder Kenneth Langone, who donated $100 million along with his wife.
The university projected that they would need to raise $600 million for this project. They currently have raised $450 million of the total $600 million that they were aiming for, but the number is still growing.
“We really believe that medical student debt is among the biggest issues our country faces in terms of providing excellent physicians to serve our health care needs,” said NYU Medical School Dean Robert Grossman who has been working toward this goal his entire 12 year tenure.
According to the American Medical Student Association, “41% of students with educational debt report principle in excess of $150,000 and a significant minority reports debt as high as $350,000.”
Student debt, particularly for medical students, is a huge hindrance on job flexibility after graduation. Medical schools like the one at UCLA boast that they cover all costs for up to 20% of students which separates them from other medical schools.
Other universities have offered full tuition coverage for their students. The University of Houston College of Medicine received a $3 million donation that they used to offer some of their students full tuition coverage, but it didn’t cover the entire entering class.