NYU Medical School Offers Free Tuition for All Medical Students

by Jason
(New York City)

Imagine this.

You've been accepted to a top ten medical school.

Your white coat ceremony is taking place.

All of your family and friends are in attendance as you walk across the stage to receive your white coat signifying your admission into the noble profession of medicine.

But there's a huge surprise waiting for you and your classmates.

There's an announcement.

Your medical school announces that they will be covering the cost of tuition for medical school. This is huge when you consider the cost of tuition at New York University is approximately $55,018 each year.

Talk about a huge savings for sure.

Why would NYU Medical School do this?

Becoming a doctor is not easy or cheap.

There is delayed earning potential because after undergraduate you have four years of medical school followed by 3 to 7 years of residency training before you're making any meaningful money as a doctor.

Plus, there is a significant shortage of physicians practicing primary care medicine.

The goal of covering tuition at NYU Medical School is to encourage students to enter primary care specialties because now they do not have to factor in the cost of their medical school debt in deciding what type of doctor to become.

If you aren't aware already many students may decide to choose to specialize because those specialties pay on average $294,000 per year while primary care only pays $211,000 so this because a huge factor if you're going to practice medicine for several decades.

Not that doctors aren't making a good salary already but debt will not just magically go away.

NYU Medical School is now giving students the freedom to choose medical specialties without having to be concerned about their student debt.

I'm all for this and it would be nice if my medical school would do something like this...however not likely.

Now students are still on the hook for their cost of living though but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of medical school tuition.

There are also some students who come from extremely wealthy families where paying for their medical school education is not a problem at all. I feel it would make sense for wealthy students to still pay tuition if financially feasible.

What do you think about NYU Medical School's decision to offer free tuition to all students? And will you factor in your medical school debt in deciding which medical specialty to pursue? Please share your thoughts in the comments.