Mike Bloomberg gifts $1B to Johns Hopkins; making med school free for most students

By Amir Pasic, Indiana University Most medical students at the university will no longer pay tuition. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky Mike Bloomberg, the media mogul and former New York City mayor, has given Johns Hopkins University US$1 billion to eliminate tuition for most its current and future medical students, the school and Bloomberg Philanthropies announced on July 8, 2024. The gift will also expand financial aid for students studying several other fields at Bloomberg’s alma mater. He graduated from the university in 1964. Emily Schwartz Greco, The Conversation’s Philanthropy and Nonprofits Editor, spoke with Amir Pasic about this gift and its significance. Pasic is the dean of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the world’s first school devoted to research and teaching about philanthropy. Is this a big deal? I consider it a milestone in terms of its size, even if it’s smaller than the $1.8 billion Bloomberg gave Hopkins in 2018 to fund scholarships for its undergraduate students. It also matters because it’s part of a pattern. Earlier this year, Ruth Gottesman gave $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine that will also make tuition free for students. Both gifts will make a medical education much...