Northstarmom

"In an unprecedented initiative to reduce debt levels for medical students, Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey S. Flier announced last week that the school will eliminate the family contribution starting next year for students whose parents earn less than $120,000 annually.

The move means that the Medical School, one of the largest of the elite medical schools, will have a more generous financial aid program than all but a few of the nation’s colleges. The annual cost of attending the Medical School is approximately $65,000, according to school officials.

The initiative represents a 40 percent, or $3 million, increase in Medical School’s aid budget, and will affect one third of the 700 MD students, according to a letter Flier sent to the Medical School community last week. "
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522721

hpa10

Wow, that school is so freakin rich (in a good way).

swimcatsmom

That is amazing. I hope a few other medical schools follow their lead!

Bigredmed

I guess that helps with the need based aid (in terms of grants and scholarships), but considering most schools don't require a family contribution anyways, I don't see the big deal. Everyone takes out loans regardless...seems more like a publicity move than anything that's particularly meaningful.


I'm not very familiar with EFC and so on because I went to a state undergrad and didn't need any aid. I mean, on a personal level, my parents wouldn't be exempt under the new policy, but they've yet to spend a dime on my medical school education. If I had gone to HMS does that mean the school would dictate the way in which we'd agreed to finance my education? As a independent adult, I don't see where that fits...

norcalguy

You are always free to decline loans. So, even if HMS calculates your EFC as 0, if your parents want to, they (and you) can always pay up front to lower the amount of loans you have to take out.

I agree with you that this makes a minimal difference. The article even said that this only affects 1/3 of HMS' students. My parents made a little under 120k and our EFC came out to around 10k. So, I guess under HMS' policy, that 10k would either be converted to grants or loans or both.

Bigredmed

Yeah but declining to pay an EFC of zero is different than declining to pay an EFC of $10,000.

bluedevilmike

At least at my school, whatever remains after EFC is usually split between grants and loans. So reducing an EFC by, say, $10K is only worth $5K in actual benefits. If this affects 1/3rd of the student body by half their EFC, that's good news, but hardly world-shattering.