A $1 billion donation from Michael Bloomberg to Johns Hopkins College will make medical college free for almost all college students at his alma mater.
The donation, which Bloomberg Philanthropies introduced Monday, will cowl 100% of tuition for medical college students whose households earn lower than $300,000. The present may even cowl residing bills and costs for college students whose households earn as much as $175,000.
The present additionally will increase monetary assist for college students at its faculties of nursing, public well being and different graduate faculties, based on a press launch.
Bloomberg, the billionaire philanthropist and politician, mentioned he hopes the present will assist deal with the decline in U.S. life expectancy – which has not seen the identical return to pre-pandemic ranges as different international locations have.
“Because the U.S. struggles to get better from a disturbing decline in life expectancy, our nation faces a critical scarcity of docs, nurses, and public well being professionals – and but, the excessive value of medical, nursing, and graduate college too typically bars college students from enrolling,” Bloomberg mentioned in a press launch.
“By decreasing the monetary boundaries to those important fields, we will free extra college students to pursue careers they’re obsessed with – and allow them to serve extra of the households and communities who want them essentially the most,” he added.
Johns Hopkins mentioned two-thirds of present or incoming medical college students might be eligible at no cost tuition. They are going to obtain up to date monetary assist packages quickly.
The announcement follows a handful of different medical faculties taking an analogous method. A $1 billion donation to the Albert Einstein Faculty of Medication from Ruth Gottesman, a longtime professor there, made medical college free there earlier this 12 months. Kenneth and Elaine Langone’s $200 million present final 12 months to NYU Grossman Lengthy Island College of Medication made medical college tuition free final 12 months.
Bloomberg in 2018 made a $1.8 billion donation to Johns Hopkins to make undergraduate admissions need-blind – so household’s revenue can’t issue into admissions choices.
