A $1 billion donation to Johns Hopkins University medical school from businessman and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg will cover tuition (estimated at $65,000 a year for four years) for students from households making less than $300,000 a year, according to Higher Ed Dive and The Washington Post. Living expenses for medical students will also be covered for students from families earning $175,000 or less annually. Almost two-thirds of current and incoming medical students will qualify for the tuition coverage this fall, and students will receive updated financial packages this summer. The gift will also increase financial aid for the School of Nursing, School of Public Health, and other graduate schools.
“It’s a full-ride scholarship,” Johns Hopkins President Ronald J. Daniels said, according to the Post. “We see that as a very significant move to ensure that medical education is available to the best and brightest across the country.”
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Lowering tuition costs
With the gift, Bloomberg hopes to help address shortages in primary care doctors and nurses. The costs associated with medical and nursing school deter prospective students, especially those from low-income families, from enrolling. “And those who graduate often choose to work in the most lucrative specialties in order to repay their debts, rather than in fields and communities that are most in need,” Bloomberg, a Johns Hopkins alumnus, wrote in an annual letter for Bloomberg Philanthropies, of which he is a founder.
Students in the Class of 2023 had an average medical school debt of over $200,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Growth in the cost of medical school at public and private medical institutions has outpaced inflation, resulting in an increase in medical students from high-income families and a decline in the enrollment of lower-income students, experts tell the Post.
“As the U.S. struggles to recover from a disturbing decline in life expectancy, our country faces a serious shortage of doctors, nurses, and public health professionals,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “By reducing the financial barriers to these essential fields, we can free more students to pursue careers they’re passionate about—and enable them to serve more of the families and communities who need them the most.”
This gift is one of several donations Bloomberg has given to Johns Hopkins. Including this recent donation, Bloomberg Philanthropies has gifted a total of $4.55 billion to the university, which it has used to lower tuition costs. In 2018, Bloomberg donated $1.8 billion to his alma mater, the largest private donation to a U.S. higher education institution, which the university used to permanently establish need-blind admission and eliminate loans from student aid packages. Since that gift, Johns Hopkins’ net cost of attendance, or the amount families actually pay to attend, fell 40%, and the percentage of students with the greatest financial need increased from 9% to 21%, according to Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Johns Hopkins is one of several medical schools using generous donations to reduce medical school tuition costs. In March, New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine announced it would provide free tuition for its students after receiving a $1 billion gift from Ruth L. Gottesman, the board chair at the medical school. In 2018, New York University Grossman College of Medicine began offering students a tuition-free medical education, and a $200 million donation from Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone and his wife Elaine established free tuition at the NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine.