How to Go to Medical School for Free

A growing number of government agencies, universities, and charities are trying to ease the burden of medical school by offering free or nearly free rides.

That's worth a lot. Even if you go to your home state's medical school, the sticker price on a medical degree will very likely top out at $140,000, including room and board. Double that amount for a degree from a private school. Of course, when you finally finish your four years of school and minimum of three years of residency, even low-paid family practitioners usually get an annual starting salary of at least $143,000, while orthopedic surgeons start at almost three times that.

But before you apply for any medical school funding, check the fine print. Many of the good deals have some heavy-duty strings attached. Military scholarships, for example, typically require students to put in two years of service for every year they received a scholarship.

Completely free ride -- tuition and living expenses -- with few strings attached:

The University of Central Florida is offering completely free rides to all 40 members of the class of 2013.

Fine print: Next year will be the medical school's first year in existence, so there might be some first-year jitters.

Vanderbilt: A few full-ride scholarships for top-notch students are detailed here.

Washington University: A few full-ride scholarships for top-notch students are detailed here:

http://wusmfinaid.wustl.edu/admissions/faweb.nsf/WV/147A547996599CEB862570DC006E619C?OpenDocument

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•	How to Go to Medical School for Free Paying for Graduate School U.S. News & World Report, Monday, June 2, 2008 Byline: Kim Clark