Johns Hopkins medical school will be free for most students starting this fall, thanks to a $1 billion donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Tuition will be completely free for medical students whose families earn less than $300,000, with the gift also covering living expenses and fees for students from families earning up to $175,000. Previously, tuition was roughly $65,000 a year for four years.
The gift aims to improve declining life expectancy in the U.S. by making medical and nursing school more accessible to lower-income students and diversifying the medical and public health fields.
"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 — and yet, the high cost of medical, nursing and graduate school too often bars students from enrolling," said Michael R.
Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP in a statement Monday. "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." Currently, future doctors graduate from Hopkins with an average total student loan debt of approximately $104,000, while the median debt from all medical schools 2023 graduates was $200,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges .
Bloomberg's gift will lower the average student.