Johns Hopkins offering free tuition for low-income earners

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At Johns Hopkins University, medical school will be free for students earning less than $300,000 a year due to a $1 billion donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The donation is also expected to increase financial aid for students at its schools of nursing, public health and other graduate schools.

The announcement was made in Michael R. Bloomberg's annual letter on philanthropy in the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2023-2024 Annual Report. Bloomberg is the founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

According to the letter, the high cost of medical and nursing school has kept many talented lower-income students from enrolling, graduating or working in the fields and communities most in need – exacerbating the decline in U.S. life expectancy that began before the COVID-19 pandemic and further deteriorated thereafter.

"As the U.S. struggles to recover from a disturbing decline in life expectancy, our country faces a serious shortage of doctors, nurses and public health professionals – and yet, the high cost of medical, nursing and graduate school too often bars students from enrolling," said Bloomberg. "By reducing the financial barriers to these essential fields, we can free more students to pursue careers they're passionate about – and enable them to serve more of the families and communities who need them the most."

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

Currently, nearly two-thirds of all students seeking an M.D. from Johns Hopkins qualify for financial aid, and future doctors graduate from Hopkins with an average total student loan debt of about $104,000.

Free tuition for those earning less than $300,000 annually – which is 95% of all Americans – will begin this fall. Johns Hopkins will also cover living expenses and fees on top of tuition for students from families who earn up to $175,000. This will bring the average student loan debt for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine down to $60,279 by 2029, while most students will pay nothing, the university said.

The donation will also increase financial aid for students at its School of Nursing and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, as well as students pursuing graduate degrees at Johns Hopkins' School of Education, Whiting School of Engineering, Carey School of Business, School of Advanced International Studies, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Peabody Institute and the upcoming School of Government and Policy.

THE LARGER TREND

In 2018, Bloomberg Philanthropies contributed $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins to ensure that undergraduate students are accepted regardless of their family's income, permanently establishing need-blind admissions. That gift lowered the net cost of attendance – the actual cost that most families pay – by 40%, and according to Bloomberg, had a transformative impact on the diversity of the Johns Hopkins student body.

Students with the greatest financial need now represent 21% of the Johns Hopkins student body, compared with 9% a decade ago – a higher percentage of high-need students than there is at Harvard, Princeton and MIT.

In 2021, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins University announced the launch of the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative, devoted to addressing historic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields – particularly in leadership roles across universities, government, and industry. The $150 million endowment creates additional pathways for students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions to pursue and receive PhDs in STEM fields at Johns Hopkins.

Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.