One of the biggest barriers for people hoping to access medical school is the sheer cost of it. Cornell University announced on Monday that it’s offering completely free education to all accepted Weill Cornell Medicine students who qualify for financial aid. And it’s more than just the cost of classes. Students who qualify won’t need to borrow additional funds for books, food, or housing, either.
This can be an enormous service to students who are low-income or otherwise economically disenfranchised and simply aren’t able to take on the often massive burden of medical school debt. For anyone, really, this isn’t chump change.
The estimated cost to attend Cornell’s medical school? A cool $90,000 per year. It’s probably not surprising that at an amount so high, more than one-half of medical students received some sort of need-based scholarship. But nothing has ever alleviated such a huge burden before.
Here’s how this will work: The program, which functions as a scholarship, will give a debt-free education to all medical students beginning this fall and every subsequent year. In order to qualify, students will need to show a “demonstrated financial need.”
Notably, students who are currently enrolled will receive scholarships to replace their loans for the upcoming year, and all the years until they graduate.
For students who are enrolled in dual M.D.-Ph.D degree programs, there’s a great opportunity, too. They will receive tuition remission and living expense stipends from Weill Cornell Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
“It’s still expensive to live in New York or to buy food in New York, which is something that’s terrific about the program, the financial aid program that was rolled out. It takes into account not just tuition, but also living, learning, all things that are associated with expenses of attending medical school,” Andrew Griswold, a fifth-year student in the M.D.-PhD program, told The Cornell Sun.
Where did all of this money come from? The medical school received about $160 million in donations. A “lead gift” came from The Starr Foundation, and other donations came in from Joan and Sanford I. Weill, the Weill Family Foundation, and beyond.
"This bold initiative to eliminate medical education student debt ensures that every student who wishes to become a doctor can do so — for their betterment and for the patients they serve," university president Martha E. Pollack said in the press release. "By investing in our medical students, we impart a lasting, positive effect on the healthcare landscape across the country."
In an interview with The New York Times, medical school dean Dr. Augustine M. K. Choi said the school needs about $50 million more to continue the program indefinitely.