@“aunt bea” and @Thorn01
There are 2 programs will fund 100% of the cost of a medical education, but both are service for scholarship programs.
HPSP (Health Profession Scholarship Program) requires that scholarship recipients commission into a branch of military service, enter a military residency and repay their scholarship with 4-6 years of military service after the completion of residency. Specialty choices for HPSP students are dependent upon the needs of the military.
NHSC (National HealthService Corp) offers 2, 3 and 4 year scholarships. Scholarship recipients are required to enter a primary care specialty (FM, IM without sub-specialty, pediatrics or OB/GYN) and after completing residency repay their scholarship by working for 2-8 years in a federally designated medically underserved area.
There are also post-residency jobs that will pay off federal student loans/grad plus loans if you work for certain federal agencies–like the Indian Health Service or the VA.
Additionally many private or group practice jobs in less popular areas offer some form of student loan repayment as a signing perk. (Generally, though, these offers are much less generous than those offered by federal agencies and aren’t vested until the young physician has completed 5 years of employment with the practice.)
The hard part isn’t paying for med school. The hard part is getting into med school.