Investing in the next generation of leaders in medicine and research
A new $1 billion gift from Johns Hopkins alumnus Michael R. Bloomberg will secure graduate financial aid at Johns Hopkins in perpetuity.
The gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies will allow most medical students to attend Hopkins for free and receive support for living expenses as well as provide financial aid for nursing, public health, and other graduate programs to help ensure access for top talent from middle-class and low-income families.
Removing the economic barriers that stand between America’s most promising students from low-income and middle-class families and their dreams of saving lives and making an impact on their communities furthers Bloomberg’s commitment to addressing complex American health challenges and builds on the transformative impact of Bloomberg’s 2018 gift for undergraduate aid at Johns Hopkins University.
Students work through a simulated medical emergency, a group of students writes notes on a whiteboard, a researcher checks test tubes in a lab, researchers review microscopic images on a computer, School of Medicine students celebrate Match Day, a student takes notes on a video about medical equipment.
Who Qualifies?
Beginning in the fall of 2024, Hopkins will offer free tuition for students pursuing an M.D. who come from families earning under $300,000 – representing 95 percent of all Americans.
Hopkins will now cover living expenses on top of tuition and fees for medical students from families who earn up to $175,000 – a threshold inclusive of nearly 85 percent of families in the U.S.
Nearly two-thirds of the students currently seeking an M.D. from Johns Hopkins and matriculating this fall will immediately qualify for either free tuition or free tuition plus living expenses.
Eligible new and returning medical students will receive updated financial aid packages this summer that reflect the gift’s impact.
Thanks to new $1 billion financial aid gift, most medical students will now attend Johns Hopkins tuition-free and many will receive additional support to cover living expenses. Financial aid for nursing, public health, and other graduate programs will ensure access for top talent from middle-class and low-income backgrounds.
“Removing financial barriers to individual opportunity fuels excellence, innovation, and discoveries that redound to the benefit of society.”
The Bloomberg Philanthropies gift also boosts financial aid for nurses and public health experts, and will open doors to graduate school for students pursuing graduate degrees in the Johns Hopkins Schools of Education, Engineering, Business, Arts and Sciences, Advanced International Studies, Peabody Institute, and the upcoming School of Government and Policy through expanded need-based scholarships and fully funded PhD fellowships. The gift also will support the development of a program to send more impact-focused, interdisciplinary leaders into the worlds of research, industry and government through innovations in PhD education and training.
This new $1 billion gift from Johns Hopkins alumnus Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P., will secure graduate financial aid at Johns Hopkins in perpetuity.
As a result of the gift our School of Medicine will be free for most medical school students. The school will provide medical education tuition-free for students from families that earn up to $300k in annual income and a full-ride (inclusive of living expenses) for those from families earning up to $175k in annual income.
Additionally, the gift boosts financial aid for nurses and public health experts, and will open doors to graduate school for students pursuing graduate degrees in the Johns Hopkins Schools of Education, Engineering, Business, Arts and Sciences, Advanced International Studies, Peabody Institute, and the upcoming School of Government and Policy through expanded need-based scholarships and fully funded PhD fellowships.
The gift also will support the development of a program to send more impact-focused, interdisciplinary leaders into the worlds of research, industry and government through innovations in PhD education and training.
How will the different schools use proceeds from the gift?
Each school will be putting this gift toward financial aid for graduate students.
The School of Medicine will provide the tuition-free and full-ride levels of financial aid described above (see question 1).
Our schools of nursing and public health are using their gift dollars to boost their flagship programs – the Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), and the MSN Entry into Nursing program – to support students who will have an extraordinary impact on American health challenges.
Our other graduate schools will be deploying their gift dollars either for specific degrees or for other graduate student needs and priorities.
More detail about the specific impact at each graduate school can be found on their financial aid websites:
Is all of the money going to student financial aid?
Yes, 100% of the gift will benefit graduate student financial aid.
Is any of this for undergraduates?
Undergraduate financial aid was the focus of Michael Bloomberg’s record 2018 contribution of $1.8 billion, which had a transformative impact on our student body. By dramatically expanding scholarship support, Hopkins was able to simultaneously attract the world’s most academically qualified undergraduates and transform the socioeconomic makeup of our undergraduate programs.
We believe this current gift, focused on graduate education, will have a similar impact, attracting the best and brightest graduate and medical students, allowing them to pursue their dreams regardless of financial background
Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies are longtime supporters of graduate education at Johns Hopkins, having made previous major gifts, particularly in health-related fields where their philanthropy at Hopkins and around the globe has been so impactful.
All told, thousands of our undergraduate and graduate students and alumni have benefitted from their generosity, as will generations to come.
Will current students get increased financial aid as a result of this gift?
Each of our graduate divisions has been able to deploy this extraordinary philanthropy to maximum effect for their students.
In some cases, the gift has been infused throughout the program already and is fueling the aid packages of current students; in other cases, it is being targeted at the neediest students entering next year’s class in pursuit of one of our flagship degrees.
Because we’ve been working on this for several months, we were very lucky to be able to work it into Fall 2024 aid packages, which were sent out by most divisions in April and May.
Eligible incoming and returning M.D. students in the School of Medicine will receive updated award notifications on July 8, 2024.
So current medical school students who qualify will receive these generous new levels of aid?
Yes, all School of Medicine students, current and future, are included in this program. For example, a current second-year medical student will have the next two years covered if they meet the criteria.
Do M.D. students need to resubmit financial aid forms to access support from the gift?
No. Financial aid has already completed a review of student financial circumstances and is sending updated award letters to eligible incoming and returning M.D. students on July 8, 2024. Students who qualify for additional financial aid funding will see these award changes reflected in their new award letters. Students will see the new award reflected in their bill for the fall semester no later than Monday, July 15.
In many of our other academic divisions, the gift has been infused throughout the program already and is fueling the aid packages of current students. There is no need to apply for this aid as it is automatically considered in the need-based financial aid packages provided by the respective divisions.
Will the gift reduce medical student debt?
Yes. The goal of this program is to decrease some of that burden, broaden the group of talented medical students who could attend Hopkins, and ensure that debt is not the driver of the choices our students make around which fields of medicine to practice.
The cost of a medical school education, which averages $100k per year (so $400k total), is burdensome to most families. And very often the students bear this burden by incurring debt.
How will the gift affect socio-economic diversity at Hopkins?
Michael Bloomberg’s record 2018 contribution of $1.8 billion to undergraduate financial aid at Hopkins had a transformative impact on our student body. By dramatically expanding scholarship support, Hopkins was able to simultaneously attract the world’s most academically qualified undergraduates and transform the socioeconomic makeup of our undergraduate programs.
We believe this gift will have a similar impact, attracting the best and brightest graduate and medical students, allowing them to pursue their dreams regardless of financial background.
Where can I read more about the gift?
See our coverage on the Johns Hopkins Hub and visit the financial aid and news pages of the colleges and schools benefitting from the gift.
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Five years after a historic $1.8 billion gift from alumnus and philanthropist Michael R. Bloomberg, Johns Hopkins University has dramatically increased both access and academic excellence
