MONDAY, Aug. 20, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The NYU School of Medicine has announced that it is offering full-tuition scholarships to all current and future students in its M.D. degree program, regardless of need or merit.
The scholarship is intended to address the many impacts of the rising cost of medical education. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, three-quarters of all doctors who graduated in 2017 had debt, with a median current debt of $202,000 per graduating student. This overwhelming student debt is driving graduates into higher-paying specialties and away from fields like primary care, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. Further, known financial barriers are discouraging some students from pursuing a career in medicine completely.
The scholarship will cover the yearly tuition costs of $55,018. The initiative was made possible by more than 2,500 supporters, including trustees, alumni, and friends.
“We believe that with our tuition-free initiative, we have taken a necessary, rational step that addresses a critical need to train the most talented physicians, unencumbered by crushing debt,” Robert I. Grossman, M.D., the Saul J. Farber Dean of NYU School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Langone Health, said in a statement. “We hope that many other academic medical centers will soon choose to join us on this path.”
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