Weill Cornell had a scholarship endowment of $150 million before it announced a new $160 million gift on Monday. “While medical education remains an excellent investment for students, philanthropic support for medical schools’ financial aid programs can help recruit students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds who are more likely to practice in underserved communities,” said Matthew Shick, senior director of government relations for the Association of American Medical Colleges. Some 113 rural hospitals have closed since 2010, according to the National Rural Health Association. Doctors have become scarce in many rural areas, where they often have trouble earning enough to pay off their debts. “It’s really difficult to make it work in the city on one income, and to have multiple children,” he said.įinancial concerns may deter doctors from practicing in communities where many patients are on Medicaid. Kelly, 32, said his wife was expecting the couple’s second child.

“It gives you that ability, moving forward, to not have to worry about the money playing a role in your specialty,” he said. Neil Kelly, also in his second year, said medical students who were less preoccupied by financial stresses can focus more on caring for patients. “I feel like I can focus on what I’m learning in the present and on becoming the best physician I can.” “I will be able to take care of my parents years faster than if this wasn’t offered, and that is such a burden off my mind,” she said. Han, who is beginning her second year, said her father is a postal worker and her mother is a hospital technician. And I feel so light now because it’s really life-changing.” “I feel like the pressure that students know was bearing down on me, and it just started to lift off. “I immediately burst into tears,” Catherine Han, 24, said of sitting in the audience and learning that her remaining three years would not cost her anything. “In this case, these concerns are surely amplified by reports of a coming shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas.” “Against a larger backdrop of growing concern about inequality, more donors are giving for scholarships and financial assistance - as opposed to more high-profile things like new buildings and cutting-edge research,” he said. “The rising cost of higher education has become a major concern for donors committed to expanding access to elite institutions for low-income and first-generation students,” said David Callahan, the author of “The Givers: Money, Power and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age” and the editor of the website Inside Philanthropy. In August 2018, the New York University School of Medicine said it would cover tuition for all its current and future students. The David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, offers full rides to about 20 percent of its entering classes, though the awards are based on merit, not need. In 2017, Columbia University announced a new endowment that it said would eliminate the need for medical students to take out loans for tuition the neediest would also have living expenses covered.

Still, the announcement on Monday added Weill-Cornell to a growing list of prominent medical schools that have recently rolled out generous financial aid programs to ease the way for future doctors. Those who enter the most lucrative specializations, especially, stand a good chance of being able to pay off their student debts with less difficulty than most other Americans, even though they borrow so much. They are more likely to be in the top 1 percent of the nation’s earners than members of any other profession. ”ĭoctors as a group are hardly economically disadvantaged. “It’s the right time to offer debt-free medical education. Choi, the dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and provost for medical affairs at Cornell University.

“Student debt has been in the national discussion for a long time, and we have been planning, strategizing and raising money,” said Dr. Its medical school, Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, announced that all students who qualify for financial aid will get a full ride: All costs will be covered by scholarships, including tuition, room and board, books and other educational expenses. On Monday, Cornell University went even further. The average medical student who graduates with debt owes $200,000, with several years of modest pay ahead as a resident or fellow, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.Ĭoncerned that young doctors were being driven by financial pressures to become specialists rather than practice pediatrics or family medicine, some prominent universities have begun using major gifts from donors to relieve students from having to borrow to pay tuition. Doctors can be among the highest-earning professionals in the country, but they are also among those saddled with the most student loans.

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