Lower Medical Bills

Harvard Medical School joined the recent parade of good news on the topic of financial aid, announcing a plan to expand aid grants in order to eliminate any expected “family contribution” toward its $65,000 tuition for students whose families have annual incomes under $120,000.

According to the medical school, the change will benefit a third of currently enrolled students. While eligible individuals will still be on the hook for $24,500 of the school’s tuition in the form of loans, the initiative represents an admirable step toward ensuring that cost need not dissuade talented students from pursuing careers in medicine, regardless of those students’ means or background.

The decision to expand aid was largely motivated by hopes that reducing indebtedness might lessen the burden on recent graduates to select “more lucrative specialties”—such as plastic surgery—after graduation. The medical school sees higher debts as the impetus behind a trend that has seen a decrease in the proportion of the school’s graduates who enter primary care. This number has declined from 57 percent in 1999 to 44 percent this year.

The move seems to present an early indication that the strategic planning initiative of medical school Dean Jeff Flier is on the right track. University President Drew Faust’s statements that she will prioritize financial aid in future fundraising efforts provide further cause for optimism.

Of course, whether future graduates—still on the hook for the debts that result from four years of loans and the low pay of residency—will really alter their career choice remains to be seen. The skeptical may take heart in Flier’s statement that the loan component of HMS’s aid packages will be the next to come under review.

Nonetheless, it is difficult to complain about a 40 percent increase in financial aid. If the recent move serves merely to ease the burdens placed on students of modest means seeking to pursue a career in medicine, this is reason enough to celebrate.