How will you pay for medical school?
Throughout our undergraduate careers as pre-medical students, we tend to focus solely on working towards an acceptance to medical school, but not the financial aspect of the path to becoming a physician. According to the AAMC website, for medical school graduates from the class of 2013 the mean debt was $169,901. While some schools offer merit scholarships, loan programs, etc., many states also offer financial incentive programs to attract future physicians to Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). In general, the financial incentive programs take the form of either scholarships or loan repayments in return for the physician's commitment to practice for a designated number of years in an MUA. Medically Underserved Areas are designated as having shortages of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers, and may be geographic (a county or service area), demographic (low income population), or institutional (comprehensive health center, federally qualified health center or other public facility). Currently in the United States alone, there is a shortage of 20,000 doctors. Our website contains the specific information for many state and federal financial incentive programs across the United States in order to offer pre-medical students the opportunity to explore other financial options to fund their medical school experience. Check out the "State Programs" Tab to find your state to view your options for state-wide financial incentive programs.