I’m probably in the minority on this, but I’m not a fan of the NYU School of Medicine free tuition program. Now I’m all for debt relief for medical students who start their careers with a mortgage. I was one of them. After 13 years, I’m still one of them! I’m also for any initiative that drives more medical students to career paths like primary care, where massive debt makes higher paying subspecialties more desirable. As a practicing primary care internist, and a former academic physician that worked with medical students, this is a cause I’m passionate about. But while NYU continues to be lauded from all directions for this incredible investment and commitment, I suspect the program will not achieve its purported goals.
Let’s start off by respecting the fact that NYU is one of the best medical schools in the country. As a former residency program director at an excellent academic institution, we were always thrilled to recruit students from NYU. NYU med themselves recruit the best and brightest undergraduate students across the country. But the current reality of medical education is this. Whether it’s medical school or in residency, the best students often pursue the highest paying and most competitive fields. There are many reasons for this and education debt is certainly one of them.
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