Six years ago, when Kenneth and Elaine Langone generously donated $100 million so that students could attend NYU Medical School tuition-free, the philanthropists’ main goal was to encourage more graduating doctors to enter primary care fields.
Fast forward: In 2024, the number of NYU graduating medical students who went into primary care was about the same as it was in 2017. Furthermore, in the interim, the number of African-American students has declined – although the number of Latinos grew slightly. Additionally, at least in the first two years of the experiment, the percentage of incoming matriculants categorized as “financially disadvantaged” fell from 12% to 3%.
One thing that has improved is NYU’s rankings and reputation.
All of this begs the question: Is making medical school tuition-free the most effective way to increase the number of primary care practitioners and improve equity?
See this clearly-written Atlantic article by Rose Horowitch for a deeper dive into the query. She was also recently interviewed by Kai Ryssdal on NPR’s Marketplace .
