Medical Students to be eased of High Fees at Harvard

Harvard Medical School is planning to reduce debt levels for medical students whose annual family incomes are less than $120,000. School Dean Jeffrey S. Flier revealed that the school will eliminate the family financial contribution for about one-third of its 700 students. The plan will come into action when the 2008-2009 academic session begins.

This will result into average savings of $50,000 over four years for the students’ families. Also, the school will award an additional $3 million in scholarships, a nearly 40 percent increase.

"It is important that the School not be out of reach to a broad segment of undergraduate students and their families," said Flier in an e-mail message to the staff. "Reducing indebtedness for our medical students is also essential in light of the recent trend that starting salaries in medicine are lagging increases in educational debt. If borrowing continues to grow, medical students will feel rising pressure to choose more lucrative specialties."

According to school officials, the annual cost of attending the Medical School is approximately $65,000, which includes tuition fees and living expenses.

This annual amount is traditionally paid by the family, student loans, and institutional scholarships. In addition to the $50,000 family contribution, the typical student who qualifies for financial aid now graduates with a load of having to pay back loans of $98,000. The dean said that the school is considering a reduction in this loan amount as well and may replace it with scholarships.

Also, the money that families are saving for retirement could be excluded from the school fees, wrote the dean.

"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," Harvard President Drew Faust said in a statement.

"This initiative by the Medical School is a strong step forward down that path, and the long-term beneficiaries will include not only our future medical students but the many people these future physicians will serve."