The hot trend for billionaire donors: paying for medical school tuition
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- Billionaire philanthropists are increasingly cutting checks for future doctors.
- Some have cited medical professional shortages amid sky-high tuition costs.
- Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged $600 million to four historically black med schools Tuesday.
Giving future doctors a free ride to medical school is shaping up to be a trend across the billionaire donor circuit.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged $600 million to four historically black medical schools to address "health disparities and underrepresentation in the medical field," founder Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.
Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine will receive $175 million each, while the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science will get $75 million.
Bloomberg has previously spoken about "a disturbing decline in life expectancy" and national doctor and nurse shortages amid steep medical school bills.
Just last month, Bloomberg Philanthropies gifted $1 billion to cover Johns Hopkins tuition for roughly two-thirds of current and incoming medical students.
In 2020, the organization donated $100 million to the same four historically black med schools to help "reduce the student debt of nearly 1,000 future Black doctors," it said.
Bloomberg isn't alone.
In February, a widow and former pediatrics professor gifted $1 billion — which she'd inherited from her late husband in Berkshire Hathaway stock — to a Bronx medical school, covering tuition in perpetuity in hopes of attracting a more diverse applicant pool.
Despite the recent big bucks going to future doctor's tuitions, the practice is a philanthropic approach dating back years.
In 2018, Kenneth Langone — the Home Depot cofounder — and his wife, Elaine, gave $100 million to cover tuition at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the AP reported. In 2023, they gave another $200 million to a different NYU med school.
And the record executive David Geffen — for whom UCLA's School of Medicine is named — has contributed $146 million towards merit scholarships, the outlet reported.