The School of Medicine Annual Fund: Everyday Impact
The Annual Fund combines gifts of all sizes to create scholarships for deserving medical students.
The Annual Fund is used to meet the School of Medicine's most pressing need: reducing the amount of debt medical students carry into residency and their careers. Gifts of all sizes combine and 100% of the fund is used to create medical student scholarships, which are used to recruit top incoming students as well as to reward current students who demonstrate outstanding merit.
Limiting tuition increases and increasing financial aid are important parts of the Dean's strategy to make a medical education more affordable for our students.
For yearly gifts below $10,000, your gift will have the greatest impact if it is designated for the Annual Fund because the full amount of the fund can be put to use quickly for the benefit of the school and its students.
Show your support of the school by making an annual gift.
If you would like to talk with someone about the Annual Fund, please contact:
Graceanne Gershner
Phone: (804) 628-2611
Email: gershnerg@vcu.edu
Scholarships
Scholarships continue to be a high-priority need for the medical school.
Privately endowed scholarships at the medical school are a combination of need-based and merit-based awards. The medical school's financial aid office keeps students informed of all scholarship and loan opportunities and provides counseling to students on debt management. The School of Medicine Scholarship Committee is responsible for making the awards of both need- and merit-based scholarships. The committee also works with the School of Medicine Admissions Committee to award the various recruitment scholarships.
Today, the dream of a career in medicine often comes with a heavy burden of debt. We are determined to make a medical education more affordable for our students. Through a sustained effort to hold tuition increases to a minimum, our medical school's tuition and fees are one of the lowest in Virginia.
But they are still higher than the average tuition at peer schools across the nation, and while the School of Medicine has successfully grown its scholarship resources for students through generous philanthropic support from our alumni and friends, our resources remain fewer than those of our peer institutions.
We believe we have a responsibility to provide meaningful scholarship support to the medical students who study in the tradition of the Medical College of Virginia.
- In the 2024-25 academic year, the School of Medicine awarded more than $5.8 million in merit- and need-based scholarship support, including $2.7 million in privately funded scholarships.
- Only 54 students from the Class of 2025 graduated debt-free.
- In the Class of 2025, 34 graduated with debt of $300,000 or more.
2025-26 M.D. Tuition and fees
In-State: $41,660
Out-of-State: $67,318
2025-26 Ph.D. Tuition and Fees
In-State: $15,974
Out-of-State: $29,536
Established with a commitment of $50,000 or more, an endowed scholarship exists in perpetuity and provides annual tuition support. An endowed scholarship carries the name of its creator or the name of an honoree the donor chooses.
Full- and half-tuition scholarships are most urgently needed. Created with a commitment of $1.25 million or $625,000, they are one of the medical school's best resources for recruiting and rewarding top students.
Endow a named full-tuition scholarship: $1.25 million or $250,000 annually with a 5-year commitment
Endow a named half-tuition scholarship: $625,000 or $125,000 annually with a 5-year commitment
Endow a named quarter-tuition scholarship: $187,500 or $37,500 annually with a 5-year commitment
Endow a named partial scholarship: $50,000 or $10,000 annually with a 5-year commitment
1838 Fund endowment: $25,000 and up or $5,000 annually with a 5-year commitment
| Virginian | Out-of-State | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $40,913 | $66,304 |
| 2010 | $29,185 | $43,648 |
| 1990 | $7,367 | $15,267 |
| 1975 | $1,780 | $3,010 |
| 1950 | $425* | $625* |
| 1900 |
$65 a year with no differential |
|
*In addition to $86 fees for in- and out-of-state
1838 Campaign Impact
The 1838 Campaign raised $27 million for endowed scholarships and resulted in 128 new or expanded scholarships.
Education debt is a heavy burden for medical students nationwide. The 1838 Campaign — where every gift is used to create medical student scholarships — is helping to reduce student debt, reward student excellence and recruit top students who will thrive on the MCV Campus.
The 1838 Campaign:
- Surpassed the campaign's $25 million goal
- Created 78 new endowed scholarships
- Expanded 50 existing scholarships through new gifts
- Increased the number of full-tuition scholarships to 13, compared to one at the start of the campaign. An additional 11 students receive half-tuition scholarships.
- More than doubled the average scholarship award. The average size of scholarship support per recipient today is $13,735. At the start of the campaign, the average size was $6,840.