Through its Strategic Plan, PCOM has taken bold action to suppress rates of tuition increase and to expand need-based scholarship, grant programs and lender aid in order to reduce student indebtedness. For the past five years, osteopathic medical students have experienced a reduction in the percentage of tuition increases.
FOCUS UPON ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY
Medical student debt is threatening to become untenable for young physicians. According to a recent report published by the American Association of Medical Colleges, it is estimated that over 86 percent of graduates carry educational debt. Forty-one percent of students with educational debt report the principle in excess of $150,000; a minority report debts as high as $350,000.
“Of the many challenges we face today, none is more important than tuition increase suppression and relief,” says Matthew Schure, PhD, president and CEO. “We have set the focus of our Strategic Plan toward this cause, and for the past five years our osteopathic medical students have experienced a reduction in the percentage of tuition increases. It is paramount that our students retain the freedom to fulfill their professional aspirations rather than make career choices based on their debt levels.”
Need-based aid is at the highest level in the College’s history. Nearly 60 percent of PCOM medical students receive funding from College scholarships, supplemental scholarships and grants, graduate fellowships, and private lender programs, filling the shortfall between the amount of money students receive from federally funded programs and the cost of tuition. PCOM’s Board of Trustees has pledged its commitment to further student debt reduction by allocating the investment proceeds from the College’s recent land sale to need-based grants.
“We continue to pursue ways to make sure PCOM’s doors are open to students of talent and promise, whatever their financial means,” remarks Dr. Schure.
In addition, The Fund for PCOM, a reliable $1 million unrestricted annual fund, supports direct operational costs for enhanced programming. The Fund is supported by 19 percent of PCOM alumni, 51 percent of faculty and staff, 100 percent of trustees and 100 percent of the Alumni Association directors.
“The Fund for PCOM allows us to enhance our academic and administrative programming while preserving a minimal tuition increase each year,” states Florence Zeller, MPA, CFRE, vice president for alumni relations and development. The Fund is disbursed on a current-use basis to meet some of the College’s most vital initiatives: strengthening clinical and graduate medical education programs, sustaining groundbreaking research studies, adding faculty resources, acquiring advanced simulator training technologies and implementing a conversion to electronic medical records in the PCOM Healthcare Centers.
SCHOOL AS LENDER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
The PCOM Federal Stafford Loan Program, offered through KeystoneBest, generated funds for the School as Lender Scholarship for five years beginning in 2004-2005. The program presented benefits to both students and the institution, as it was designed to offer students the most affordable Federal Stafford Loans available in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At the same time, the loans provided substantial scholarship funds for the College. Recipients were selected based on institutional need and the availability of funds. In the academic year ending in June, 565 students received grants from the scholarship fund for a total of $2.379 million. While market conditions temporarily caused suspension of the program, the recently reauthorized Higher Education Act allows the program to continue.
50-YEAR REUNION CLASS CHALLENGE GRANT
Instituted by the Board of Trustees, this new challenge grant program requires the class as a group to raise a minimum of $10,000. Once this minimum is met, each additional dollar is matched by the Board, up to $100,000. When total funds raised reach $50,000, a scholarship, named in honor of the class, is established. The Class of 1958 was the first to meet the challenge grant, endowing a scholarship that currently totals $111,146.