Reducing medical student debt: 12 practical tips for innovative service commitment awards.

Michelle Schmude,Roxanne Seymour,Roxanne Seymore,Suzanne Mcnamara

doi:10.15694/mep.2019.000167.2

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. At Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM), we are developing strategies to reduce the rising debt of our medical students. During a collaborative and iterative process that involved a surprisingly wide group of stakeholders, we developed an innovative service commitment award for medical students: the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program. Beginning in spring 2019, GCSOM selected 10 current medical students for the program, and an additional 10 medical students from the class of 2023 will receive the award beginning in fall 2019. With 20 students enrolled in the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, student debt for these students will be decreased by approximately $3.9 million. The potential of this program to significantly reduce medical student debt while mitigating the physician shortage in the primary service areas of Geisinger is tremendous. As the loan debt of medical students continues to rise, medical schools around the country should strategically think about innovative ways to reduce this burden while remaining true to the mission of their institution.

Highlights

The road to medical school, residency, and practice as a physician is a long and arduous one, but increasing numbers of college graduates are applying to medical school (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2018)
According to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), this year’s residency match was the largest recorded in history with 32,194 first-year (PGY-1) positions (The National Resident Matching Program, 2019)
These 32,194 medical school graduates are on their way to becoming practicing physicians, many are faced with an overwhelming amount of medical school debt

Summary

Introduction

The road to medical school, residency, and practice as a physician is a long and arduous one, but increasing numbers of college graduates are applying to medical school (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2018). Medical schools are expanding gift aid programs (scholarships and awards that do not have to be repaid) and service commitment awards (postgraduate practice in the catchment area of the degree-awarding university in exchange for debt forgiveness) that reduce the costs of education for future physicians. We report specific steps that we have taken at our medical school to mitigate student debt and to help meet local health care needs via a novel service commitment award.

Results

Conclusion