The Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine will be free for its first five graduating classes. As previously discussed, the nonprofit school in Pasadena California will begin accepting applications this June.
Free tuition at a new medical school for the first five graduating classes is unprecedented. It should easily get this school through any accreditation issues. Additionally, it should cement the school a strong reputation. Interestingly, the Kaiser Permanente move has one distinct advantage over NYU. Kaiser Permanente is also bundling free health insurance whereas NYU has only made tuition free.
We expect competition to be very intense at Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine for these next five years. By year six, we believe the school should be able to compete while charging comparable tuition to competitor schools. Finally, while the clinical training locations will all be at Kaiser Permanente facilities, graduates will NOT have any residency restrictions. As the website very clearly states, “We encourage you to follow your own career path.”