ST. LOUIS (AP) - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is adding $100 million to its scholarship fund over the next decade as part of an effort to attract a more diverse student body.
The university said this past week that as many as half of the 120 incoming first-year medical students this fall will receive full tuition scholarships of more than $64,000 per year.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the average student debt for recent Washington U. medical school graduates is around $100,000.
Free tuition for inaugural classes is a recent trend among newly opened medical schools.
Washington University leaders say medical school classes are typically more than 80 percent white or Asian-American. The school hopes to attract students from more diverse backgrounds by reducing some of the financial worries.
Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com
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