A $1 billion donation from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Bloomberg Philanthropies will allow many medical students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to no longer have to pay tuition.
The donation aims to address two problems: the decline of the health sector and the decline of education. That’s why financial aid will also increase for students in the schools of nursing, public health and other graduate schools, Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP, said in a statement.
“By reducing financial barriers to these essential fields, we can enable more students to pursue careers they care about most, and empower them to serve the families and communities that need them most,” the document says.
Bloomberg graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1964.
Which students will stop paying tuition fees?
Beginning this fall, the donation will cover tuition for all medical students whose families earn less than $300,000 per year.
In addition, personal expenses and tuition fees will be covered for students whose families earn up to $175,000, the university said.
“Nearly two-thirds of current and incoming medical students at Johns Hopkins will be able to immediately apply for free tuition or free tuition plus living expenses,” the statement said.
Additionally, the university announced that incoming and returning medical students this summer will receive updated financial aid packages that reflect the impact of the gift.
This is not the first donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies. In 2018, he donated $1.8 billion to the same university to ensure undergraduate admissions regardless of their family income.
Additionally, Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, gave $3 billion to charity in 2023, making him one of the most generous donors, according to research by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
“The new Hopkins donation reinforces Bloomberg’s commitment to addressing complex health care challenges by removing the economic barriers that stand between America’s promising students from middle- and lower-income families and their dreams of saving lives and making an impact in their communities,” the university said in a statement.
Other donations help medical students
There have been only a few donations of this size to universities in the United States, and most of them have been in the past few years.
The college explained in a statement that thanks to this generous donation, tuition fees will be refunded for all current fourth-year students for the spring semester of 2024, and starting in August of this year, all students who decide to do so will receive free education.
While in 2022, businessman John Doerr and his wife Anne donated $1.1 billion to Stanford University to establish a school specializing in the study of climate change.
McPherson University in Kansas has received another major gift, receiving two donations since 2022 from an anonymous donor totaling $1 billion. The art school has about 800 students enrolled.
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