Our Top Priority: Scholarships

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine is committed to providing more scholarships through philanthropy. We want the very best students, from all backgrounds, to be able to choose the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and to embark on their careers without overwhelming debt.

Today, BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine’s annual tuition exceeds $64,000—a sum comparable to our peer schools and far less than the true cost. Even so, our 2019 students who graduated with debt (that’s 68 percent of the class) carried an average debt of more than $221,000.

There are many compelling reasons to support financial aid:

  • It helps the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine attract the very best. A highly qualified applicant could choose a less prestigious peer school simply to save money. We want to be our accepted students’ first choice, and scholarships help keep us at the top of their lists.
  • It gives students more career options. Scholarships lower barriers for students to enter less lucrative specialties such as primary care or pediatrics if they choose, without incurring insurmountable debt.
  • It promotes diversity. The Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine actively recruits students with diverse socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds—representative of the communities they will serve. Financial aid helps ensure that the extraordinary opportunities the School provides are open to all qualified students.
  • It helps the Chobanian & Avedisian School build an even stronger curriculum. We need to continually increase the quality of our educational offerings. Having philanthropy underwrite financial aid makes additional resources available for our academic programs.

We must do more for our students. Above all, we must build our endowment for financial aid, which donors can do by creating named scholarships. We welcome gifts to create new scholarship funds, and donors can also give to existing funds, including ones for underrepresented minority students, including the Rebecca Lee Crumpler Scholarship. To learn more about endowing a scholarship fund, contact the BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Development Office.

We also seek to bolster our loan-forgiveness program for our graduates who accept residencies in pediatrics or family medicine. In 2012, BU Trustee Steven Karp (CAS’63) and his family foundation made an extraordinary gift that helps those students: $5 million for a professorship and scholarships in pediatrics.

With your help, we can do even more. Make a scholarship gift now.


Impact of Scholarships on Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Students—In their own words

“Never in a million years did I think I would be where I am today. I am blown away by the incredible opportunities that I have had at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and this life-changing experience would not have been possible without your scholarship fund. Thank you so very much for all that you have done, not only on my behalf, but for Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine students past and future as well. We are so fortunate to have amazing donors helping to make our dreams of providing exceptional care to patients (regardless of background) come true!”

Rebecca Webb (CAMED’20)
Recipient, Karp Family Scholarship in Pediatrics

“My scholarship was donated by the Bagan Family, so I want to express my gratitude. Med school can be stressful. Having the scholarship takes away some of that stress on us. It lets us focus on our school work, and focus on our activities, on what’s important to us.”

Jake Uminski (CAS’15, CAMED’23)

“I’m so thankful for your generosity. Right now, I’m trying my best not to just be a good doctor, but a doctor that will honor your gift.”

Ramkumar Balasubramaniyan (CAMED’18,’22)
Recipient, Aram V. Chobanian Scholarship and Drs. Richard D. and Mary D. Scott Scholarship Fund