Bloomberg makes medical school tuition-free for students attending his alma mater
NEW YORK CITY AND BALTIMORE — A FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY IS MAKING IT POSSIBLE for most medical students at Johns Hopkins University to earn their degrees tuition-free, reports the Associated Press. Michael Bloomberg, a 1964 alumnus of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, announced on Monday, July 8, that starting this fall a $1 billion Bloomberg Philanthropies donation will cover full tuition for medical students from families earning less than $300,000, along with covering living expenses and fees for students from families whose annual earnings are under $175,000. According to Philanthropies, two-thirds of all students pursuing a doctor of medicine degree from Johns Hopkins qualify for financial aid, and 45% of the current class will also receive living expenses. The school estimates that graduates’ average total loans will decrease from $104,000 to $60,279 by 2029. The gift will also increase financial aid for students at the university’s schools of nursing, public health and other graduate schools.
Bloomberg, who earned a degree in electrical engineering and worked on Wall Street before being elected mayor in 2001, has donated significant sums to his alma mater before, including a 2018 major gift of $1.8 billion to allow Johns Hopkins to permanently accept and enroll students without regard to their ability to pay — the largest gift in the history of American higher education.
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