Supporting Future Physicians by Helping With Student Debt

The 2020 Health Trends Report, a national survey of physicians, residents, and medical students by Stanford Medicine, reveals a physician workforce that, while technologically savvy, is wrestling with high levels of student debt, poor work-life balance, and administrative distractions.

Eighty percent of medical students are saddled with serious debt upon graduation, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. The national average is nearly $200,000— creating a constant concern for the vast majority of students.

With a long history of helping the best and brightest—we accept only the top students regardless of their individual financial circumstances—Stanford already has one of the most generous financial aid programs in the country, and our students currently graduate with an average medical school debt that is less than the national average.

“I am a future emergency medicine doctor, a future medical educator, and for the rest of my career I’m going to be serving people and patients in need. If it were not for the generosity of donors, I would not be here,” says Paloma Marin Nevarez, who expects to graduate this spring. “I am part of a group of many students passionate about giving back to our communities. A lot of us would never be able to afford the cost of education at a magnificent place like Stanford.”

Despite this ongoing commitment to our students’ financial well-being, a top-quality medical education at Stanford is still cost-prohibitive for many students.

With the help of a recent gift from a generous donor, Stanford will now be able to offer qualified medical students the financial support they need. Supporting these students will have an impact long into the future.

Through a variety of planned gifts—such as a bequest made in an estate plan or life income gift—you can help propel future leaders and innovators to find solutions for the most urgent challenges in medicine.

Jimmy Zheng, a medical student expecting to graduate in 2021, is one such future leader. Regarding the impact that financial support can mean for students, Jimmy says, “Helping medical students is something truly profound, because donors are allowing someone like me to impact hundreds, thousands of lives in my career. Donors can make a difference through compassionate caretakers that people like me will eventually become. Enabling our dreams is enabling a better world for all.”