That’s a much better deal than I got…
Military sweetens the deal to entice medical students
A beefed-up scholarship program now offers a $20,000 signing bonus as well as full tuition and an increased monthly stipend.
By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. July 7, 2008.
Katie Doyle could have borrowed $200,000 to get through medical school. Instead, when she enters Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this fall, she won’t borrow a dime.
Doyle accepted a military scholarship that will pay her tuition, books and other school fees. A monthly stipend will cover living expenses. The scholarship, called the Health Professions Scholarship Program, or HPSP, also comes with a new $20,000 signing bonus.
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…, Congress authorized the three branches to bolster their recruitment packages, resulting in the $20,000 bonus, along with a $300 hike in the scholarship’s monthly stipend, which is now $1,900. The money comes from military appropriations earmarked for medical corps recruitment. In 2007, the Air Force recruited 211 medical school students; the Army, 242; and the Navy, which also recruits for the Marines, 181.
That’s got to be a BIG shortfall for the Navy. My Intern class in San Diego had over 100, and that was only one of two big NAVHOPS’s, with several smaller facilities. Thus, the enticements.
A reminder: the Navy HPSP Wki
HPSP has been suffering shortfalls in recruiting for some time… and military medicine will cease to exist without keeping a full HPSP pipeline. I think the Navy hasn’t even been able to fill their slots for the last year or so… eg. they can’t give scholarships away.
Military medicine isn’t what it used to be, and that’s part of what’s driving the train. Unfortunately, in typical military fashion, they’re throwing money at the problem instead of addressing the problems that drive docs out.
The single-digit retention rate for docs should tell you a lot.
I think that the military has a lot of shortcomings when it comes to how they do medicine, but the HPSP is still an enticing offer (coming from an entering Army HPSP student). Especially with all the changes to Medicare coming up that are bound to hurt the civilian medical world, it seems more and more like a safe house even if there is a bunch of crap to be dealt with.
Jeez, I thought it was a good deal when it only paid $600/month and the only signing Bonus was if you didn’t get a Rectal during your Induction Physical. Best part was going over to the Admin Office on the day Tuition was due and just having to sign your name while everyone else was writing big checks.
As a past hospital corpsman with the marine corps in the 1980s, I would suggest reading the writings of a corpsman related to his experience in a war enviornment at his site: http://www.docinthebox.blogspot.com. You may find this interesting.