Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, President and Dean, Morehouse School of Medicine, speaks about the need for increased community action on mental health and addiction-related issues at Morehouse School of Medicine Pre-State of the Union on Mental Health and Addiction Reception at the Kaiser Family Foundation Barbara Jordan Conference Center on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015 in Washington, DC.Photo: Paul Morigi (AP)
Morehouse med students are getting an early Christmas gift.
The future docs at the famed Atlanta HBCU will be receiving thousands of dollars in pandemic aid just in time for the holidays, after receiving word last week that the funds were getting delayed until next year. Morehouse students are eligible for as much as $6,300 to assist with living expenses, depending on several factors such as family size.
The federal funds were supposed to reach students at Morehouse School of Medicine on Dec. 15, but the day before the school informed students that the money wasn’t coming until Jan. 7, so the government could review the school’s plans to disburse the money, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. The medical school’s president, Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, told the newspaper that that review had been completed.
From the AJC
The money will come from federal coronavirus aid to assist students with costs such as child care, health care, housing and transportation, which the school said has increased since the start of the pandemic. Many U.S. colleges and universities have used the federal relief funds for similar purposes.
The school has said 91% of its students receive some type of need-based financial aid, which Rice has said “identifies exceptional need of our student population.” Rice said many students need the grants because, for example, some are driving across the state to work in medical facilities for their coursework. She noted that most of the school’s graduates work in underserved communities.
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The delay had caused confusion and anger among students who needed the money. Local TV station CBS 46 quoted several anonymous students who said they were originally sent mixed messages about who was eligible for the money and what it could be used for.
Morehouse is considered one of the top HBCU medical programs in the country, ranking 22 among all med schools in graduating doctors who practice in underserved areas and 18th most in graduates who practice in primary care, according to US News & World Report’s Best Medical Schools list. But the school didn’t submit data to be included on US News’ most recent ranking of schools with the most Black med school graduates.
