Opinion: Free tuition for aspiring doctors? Few medical schools could pull off that feat

The announcement that New York University is abolishing tuition for its medical students elicited surprise and joy from the incoming class of 2022 (and pangs of jealousy from students like us who had chosen to go elsewhere for medical school). Some pundits see this as the first of many tuition dominoes to fall. Given the financial investment that a school needs in order to forego tuition as a source of revenue, an analysis we performed suggests that many schools won’t be able to pull that off.

The rationale for making medical school free goes something like this: Tuition alone for four years of medical school is currently , for. Upon graduation, these students become medical doctors, and can put M.D. after their names. But they then must spend anywhere from three to 12 more years receiving specialized training at below-market compensation before they can begin earning “doctor’s salaries.”