New York University announced earlier this month that the school will now cover the cost of the yearly $55,018 tuition for all its current and future medical students.
NYU hopes the free tuition will help future doctors alleviate the stress of crippling student loans, while encourage diverse candidates and the best students to apply to the school, the Director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center Art Caplan told Boston Public Radio Thursday.
“It is a pretty amazing thing that we did,” said Caplan. “It is the right thing to do in terms of getting a diverse class and sending a message that we want you to serve the public because we are trying to make this easier for you to do.
NYU has raised $450 million of the $600 million they said would fund the free tuition indefinitely. The 443 enrolled medical students this year will still have to cover their room and board which the Washington Journalestimated costs $29,000 dollars.
Caplan believes removing the need to pay off student debt will also promote students to pursue the medical fields they are passionate about rather than basing their focus on how much money they could make.
“A lot of students leave medical school with hundreds of thousands in debt, and they are not going to take up specialties like family practice or being a pediatrician if they are really trying to dig themselves out of debt,” he said.
Caplan also thinks that the free tuition will help the reputation and standing of the school along with their students. “I think we will get any student we want because who wouldn’t want to come to a top medical school for nothing,” he said.
