A New York medical school will eliminate tuition after receiving a $1 billion “transformative gift” from a powerful benefactor, the parent organization of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine said in a statement.
The charitable donation is one of the largest acts of charity ever publicly received by an educational institution in the United States will reduce annual tuition from nearly $60,000 to zero with no discount for students.
“The Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a transformative gift from Ruth L. Gottesman, Ed.D., chair of the Board of Trustees at Einstein and member of the Montefiore Health System Board of Directors,” the organization said in a statement Monday evening.
We are deeply grateful that Dr. Ruth Gottesman, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at @EinsteinMedyou have given a transformative gift #MontefioreEinstein– the largest of all medical schools in the country – which ensures that no students have to pay tuition fees again. pic.twitter.com/1ijv02jHFk
— Montefiore Health System (@MontefioreNYC) February 26, 2024
The school and its affiliated hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, are located in the Bronx, New York City’s poorest borough, where health records are among the worst in the eastern US state, according to official statistics. Gottesman, 93, was a clinical professor of pediatrics at Einstein University and the wife of David Gottesman, a former Wall Street financier. They were important donors to the educational center throughout their lives.
A clip of Albert Einstein officials’ announcement on campus posted on social media showed the moment the student audience responded enthusiastically to the news, cheering, screaming and applauding.
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