Harvard Medical School to lower tuition
Reduction to help 1 out of 3 students
Harvard Medical School, in an effort to make it more affordable to become a doctor and increase the number of graduates choosing lower-paying specialties, announced yesterday that it will dramatically cut costs for nearly one-third of its students.
The plan, which follows tuition-reduction efforts for Harvard law students and undergraduates and at other top universities around the country, will reduce the cost of a four-year medical education by as much as $50,000 for families with an income of $120,000 or less.
"It is important that the school not be out of reach to a broad segment of undergraduate students," dean Jeffrey Flier wrote in a letter to colleagues and students. "It is equally imperative to avoid burdening families with a new round of debt shortly after a child has finished college."
School officials said the debt relief is needed as starting salaries in medicine lag and as more students are choosing to enter high-paying specialties such as plastic surgery and dermatology, rather than primary care.
"Minimizing debt is also essential for eliminating a potential barrier for students in making career choices," said Jules Dienstag, the school's dean of medical education. "This way students will not have to take debt into account or won't feel pressured to enter into higher-paying specialties after graduation. They can go into whatever field it is that inspired them to study medicine."
This week, 7.6 percent of about 15,000 medical school seniors were accepted for residencies in family medicine, slightly more than last year, but significantly down from a decade ago, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Thursday's results of the annual Match Day ceremonies for students applying to residency programs indicated that plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, dermatology, otolaryngology, diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, and general surgery "continue to be popular and competitive specialties," according to an association news release. The association did not break down the numbers.
This year, 44 percent of Harvard's graduating class chose to enter primary care, down from 57 percent in 1999.
"I hope this is the beginning of a trend for Harvard to expand this to more students and for other medical schools to follow suit," said Bruce Auerbach, president-elect of the Massachusetts Medical Society. "If it impacts a third of the student body, then it's a very significant step. It will open a medical education to a broader array of students, and if it reduces debt, it will likely affect the choice of more students to choose primary care."
Starting next academic year, Harvard will eliminate the required parental contribution for medical students from families with an income of $120,000 or less (and assets typical for those income levels). Most of these families now pay about $12,500 toward the tuition, fees, and living expenses that make up the $65,000 cost of a year at Harvard Medical School, so the total savings over four years will be about $50,000.
About 235 of the 700 students at the medical school will benefit from the new policy, which includes an additional $3 million in scholarship money, nearly 40 percent more than this year. These students will still have to take out loans of up to $24,500 a year.
The plan also eliminates from its determination of student financial need the income families set aside for retirement, extending financial aid to upper-middle-class families.
"I believe that it is important for our financial aid policies to avoid penalizing families who are working to save for their retirement," Flier wrote.
Steve Pomedli, a second-year medical student, expects to save about $25,000 as a result of the plan. But he will still have to pay $27,000 a year in tuition and living expenses, he said.
He said he doubts that reduced costs will dissuade students from choosing higher-paying fields. He said there will a remain a disproportionate financial benefit of choosing to enter such specialties.
"It's intimidating to come out of school and be saddled with such a debt burden," said Pomedli, who has yet to decide what field he wants to practice. "Any reduction is always welcome."
Earlier this week, Harvard Law School announced it will eliminate third-year tuition for students who commit to working in public service for five years after graduation. Last year, Harvard College said that students whose families earn $120,000 to $180,000 a year would be required to pay, on average, no more than 10 percent of their income. Harvard also eliminated loans in financial aid packages, replacing them with grants. Students from families with an income under $60,000 now can attend free.
In a statement, Harvard University president Drew Faust said the medical school's plan is part of a larger university effort to reduce student costs.
"We continue to pursue ways to make sure Harvard's doors are open to students of talent and promise, whatever their financial means, and to moderate students' debt levels so that financial worries don't constrain their choice of career," Faust said. "The long-term beneficiaries will include not only our future medical students, but the many people these future physicians will serve."
Globe correspondent Elizabeth Cooney contributed to this report. David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com. 