An anonymous donation expected to exceed $50 million will cover tuition costs for medical laboratory science students at the University of Washington for the next half century, with the dean of the School of Medicine making the surprise announcement Monday to about 30 grateful undergrads who will each see two quarters’ worth of tuition covered for their senior year clinical rotations. Jasmine Wertz’s eyes filled with tears as she said “I’m really shocked, overwhelmed, extremely grateful” after learning about the gift worth about $8,000 to $10,000 per student that will also allow the program to expand from 70 to 100 students over the next decade. Students in the program are trained to perform clinical lab tests on patient samples used to help diagnose, treat, and prevent disease, and their clinical rotations are so time consuming that it’s hard to hold down part time jobs during them, making this financial relief especially meaningful.
The donor, from Washington state, wishes to remain anonymous but “had a relationship with this program” according to UW Medicine spokesperson Susan Gregg, and is also a fan of local burger chain Dick’s, so burgers were piled high atop platters as the students celebrated their incredible fortune. The gift joins a series of recent donations helping pay for college around the country, including Ruth Gottesman’s $1 billion donation to Albert Einstein College of Medicine making tuition free, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $1 billion gift covering tuition at Johns Hopkins, and Marshall University’s $50 million gift eliminating student debt for West Virginia students with family income under $65,000. The field of medical laboratory services has faced increasing demand and an aging workforce in Washington, creating an urgent need to grow the pipeline of highly skilled clinical laboratory professionals who Dean Tim Dellit called “the glue of our entire health system” and “the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes that allow all of the health care machinery to work.” This anonymous benefactor’s generosity ensures that for the next 50 years, students pursuing this critical but often overlooked profession will be able to focus on their demanding clinical training without the crushing weight of tuition payments, proving that sometimes the most powerful gifts come from people who want nothing more than to help others succeed.
