Cleveland Clinic's Medical School To Offer Tuition-Free Education

Shirley Wang:

The medical school run by the Cleveland Clinic will offer a tuition-free education, in the hope that a substantial reduction of post-graduation debt will encourage top students to enter academic medicine.

The medical profession has worried for years about how the high cost of a medical education -- newly minted doctors owe nearly $140,000 on average -- influences students' career choices. One-third of medical students surveyed by the nonprofit Association of American Medical Colleges say debt influences their choice of specialization.

The Cleveland Clinic:

Cleveland Clinic announced that the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University is providing all its students with full tuition scholarships, beginning with this July’s incoming class. The college, established nearly five years ago, is dedicated to the training of physician scientists so that they, in turn, can further medical research and bring the most advanced medical treatment to the patient bedside.

"The average debt for students graduating from private U.S. medical students, such as the Lerner College of Medicine, is more than $150,000, making many graduates less likely to pursue careers in academic medicine," said Delos M. "Toby" Cosgrove, MD, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic. "By providing full tuition support, we want to ensure that debt does not hinder the ability of our graduates to pursue academic careers as physician scientists."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 18, 2008 2:33 AM
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