Jump to content

PA to DO bridge is in trouble. NYU free tuition


Recommended Posts

Med schools especially prestigious or nationally well-known ones have started to offer free tuition.  

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/16/health/nyu-free-tuition-medical-school/index.html

As a PA that wants to go to med school, I would try to ACE the MCAT and go to one of these top schools. NYU is now offering free tuition.

Soon, many MD programs would be free and only poor MD and DO programs would charge.  MD>>>>> DO gap will even be greater. Only those who could not get into free MD programs have to PAY to go to DO schools. So PA to DO bridge is not looking good. It won't help improve status. Also, PA independence is not looking good if more MD schools offer free tuition and  more MD's go to primary care. DAMMMNN

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good lord...I had no plans for PA--->doc (MD or DO), but if the tuition is free that changes the ball game drastically!  While I would never look forward to the process of medical school and residency (not the learning, but the competitiveness and grueling hours), one of the major constraints for me choosing PA over medical school was the debt.  That has also been one the biggest reasons I've never considered going back - forfeiting ~$500,000 of income while incurring ~$150,000+ debt...takes a long time to recover financially.  But, if the financial investment is only the lost income that changes the ballgame.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Case Western has a branch of their medical school that has been free for a couple years now. However, it is extremely based on research and dedicating yourself to research. Which is not all medical students. Im interested to hear the caveats to this, because it seems too good to be true. Not to mention COL expenses, especially in NY, you could potentially go to your state institution for cheaper. 

 

@EMfuturePA Crush the MCAT, get your ECs together and you'll be able to get into medical school whether its an MD/DO or "free tuition" NYU. I too plan to apply to medical school( 2020 cycle) feel free to reach out for encouragement!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not had time to research this (not for my personal interest of course, but out of curiosity about the concept), how are these schools are funded? Once, as when I went to school, tuition only covered a small part of attending college (I came out of school debt free because the tuition cost were so low). However, in the face of losing public funding, from what I understand, tuition covers most of the cost of college education. So, how do these schools cover their operating costs? Endowments? Funded research?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not had time to research this (not for my personal interest of course, but out of curiosity about the concept), how are these schools are funded? Once, as when I went to school, tuition only covered a small part of attending college (I came out of school debt free because the tuition cost were so low). However, in the face of losing public funding, from what I understand, tuition covers most of the cost of college education. So, how do these schools cover their operating costs? Endowments? Funded research?  


$6/credit hr, or very close to it as I recall.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, EMfuturePA said:

Med schools especially prestigious or nationally well-known ones have started to offer free tuition.  

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/16/health/nyu-free-tuition-medical-school/index.html

As a PA that wants to go to med school, I would try to ACE the MCAT and go to one of these top schools. NYU is now offering free tuition.

Soon, many MD programs would be free and only poor MD and DO programs would charge.  MD>>>>> DO gap will even be greater. Only those who could not get into free MD programs have to PAY to go to DO schools. So PA to DO bridge is not looking good. It won't help improve status. Also, PA independence is not looking good if more MD schools offer free tuition and  more MD's go to primary care. DAMMMNN

Free tuition may cause more physicians to go into primary care but that’s not going to make a huge difference.  There aren’t enough residency spots to fill the primary. care shortage.    It’s not easy to create a residency program.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest HanSolo

3 yr free MD? Intriguing. Overnight they became the most competitive medical school in the world. Apparently the yearly COL is still around 20-30k in that neck of the woods.

If I was a shoe-in, I'd honestly consider it, but I think I would have better odds with lottery tickets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most competitive in the country but you have to rememer that most of the Ivy League schools usually offer a very substantial financial aid package. The graduating debt for students of those schools are usually much lower than lower tier schools.  

This makes them more competive for sure.  But places like Cleveland Clinic medical school have been free for a long time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see this taking off in terms of a bunch  of programs doing this free tuition deal.

NYU was able to do this only because they have a rich big pharma alumnus who ponied up 250 million large to fund the tuition instead of funding a big hospital with his name on it.  How many med schools have someone willing to pay that kind  of money without a building attached?  Very few.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Gordon, PA-C said:

I don't see this taking off in terms of a bunch  of programs doing this free tuition deal.

NYU was able to do this only because they have a rich big pharma alumnus who ponied up 250 million large to fund the tuition instead of funding a big hospital with his name on it.  How many med schools have someone willing to pay that kind  of money without a building attached?  Very few.

 

As I understand it from hearing/reading material over the years, many of these philanthropic gestures have a behind the scenes insurance policy payout funded by the receiving organization that would return some funds to the designated survivor(s).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎8‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 8:32 AM, EMEDPA said:

I'm guessing for these free programs you probably need 4.0 gpa, research, and near perfect MCATs. mortals need not apply, only trust fund babies with tutors who attended Ivy league schools.

Not so sure...NYU is a top 10 medical school so obviously highly competitive anyway, however the article states they raised $450 mil towards a $600 mil endowment that will perpetually allow ALL med students there to attend tuition free.  This might push other top tier med schools to do the same. If this becomes more common at other schools the second and third order effects would be interesting to see...i.e. more difficult for military to recruit docs as more free/low cost schools become available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎8‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 8:39 PM, Gordon, PA-C said:

I don't see this taking off in terms of a bunch  of programs doing this free tuition deal.

NYU was able to do this only because they have a rich big pharma alumnus who ponied up 250 million large to fund the tuition instead of funding a big hospital with his name on it.  How many med schools have someone willing to pay that kind  of money without a building attached?  Very few.

 

Some of the larger ones definitely COULD....Harvard has like a 6 billion or so endowment last I looked, they could move some of that to cover med school tuition if they wanted. I think you are more likely to see it from top 10 or top 20 med schools who already have large endowments will consider it or at least lower tuition to compete for the best students.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Add another 100K for cost of living.

Imagine 300K debit and doing primary care...

Primary care docs where I work get on average 350k I just found out. In fact one of our least performing FM docs makes about 350k. Our highest performing gets almost 500k. We just hired a new doc fresh out of residency (in fact he's taking boards this week) who is making 280k without bonuses right now!

 

As a Primary Care PA I make as much if not more (according to recent conversations with colleagues and friends and the AAPA Salary report) than some of my EM and Surgical PA colleagues. And I work 4 days a week (32 hr weeks) if I worked 40h I would make another 40k per year but love my schedule.

 

So Primary Care does not necessarily suck as everyone makes it sound.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to the Physician Assistant Forum! This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn More