Geffen gives UCLA $100 million for scholarships
Medical students go deep in the hole for their M.D. degrees.
And the logic goes that those students, saddled with loan payments for decades, won’t serve low income communities, but will instead end up as plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills.
Philanthropist David Geffen gave UCLA’s medical school $100 million today to fully fund the educations of about 30 new doctors per year, starting in the 2013-14 school year. The money will be used for scholarships that will pay for everything from tuition to housing, freeing those select students from debt.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called Geffen’s gift “visionary.”
“If [new doctors] want to practice in a rural area, they can feel free to do that,” says Block. “They don’t have to worry about paying off debt. I think it allows some of our most creative students an opportunity to do good in new and important ways because of their freedom from acquired loans.”
When asked to comment on the newly redesigned UC logo, Block simply called it “controversial.”
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