SEATTLE — The anonymous donation is expected to exceed $50 million to help cover the tuition costs of UW medical laboratory science students over the next half-century.
Dean of the University’s School of Medicine, Dr. Tim Delet, made the surprise announcement Monday to about 30 grateful undergraduates, who will each see two quarters of their tuition fees covered for their final year clinical courses. The Seattle Times reported.
“I was really shocked,” Jasmine Wertz said, her eyes filling with tears. “Overwhelmed. So grateful.”
Students in the program are trained to perform clinical laboratory tests on patient samples, which are used to help diagnose, treat and prevent diseases and other conditions. Their clinical rotations take so long that it is difficult to maintain part-time jobs during them.
The gift is the latest in a series of recent donations that help pay for college across the country. Last year, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York Received a billion dollar donation From Ruth Gottesman, a former professor and widow of a Wall Street investor, who made tuition there free.
Most medical students at Johns Hopkins no longer pay tuition thanks A gift worth one billion dollars From Bloomberg Philanthropies.
In September, President Brad Smith and his wife, Alice Smith, of Marshall University in West Virginia, announced A A gift worth $50 million To promote a program aimed at eliminating student debt, in part by covering tuition for West Virginia students whose family income is $65,000 or less.
The University of Washington’s announcement Monday is worth about $8,000 to $10,000 per student, UW Medical spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. The program will also be able to expand from 70 to 100 students over the next ten years.
The donor, from Washington state, wished to remain anonymous, but “had something to do with this program,” Gregg said. The donor is also a fan of local burger chain Dick’s, and the burgers were piled high on plates as the students celebrated.
The field of medical laboratory services has faced increasing demand and an aging workforce in Washington, according to UW Medicine. These factors have led to “an urgent need to grow a pipeline of highly skilled clinical laboratory professionals,” the health care system said in a news release.
“You are the glue of our entire health system, in so many ways,” Dillett told the students. “You are the unsung heroes. You work behind the scenes allowing all the healthcare mechanisms to work.”