WVU School of Medicine student research finds that medical school financial assistance programs underutilized

A research team comprised of students, faculty and staff from the West Virginia University School of Medicine discovered that medical school financial assistance programs are being underutilized by medical students who could qualify for financial help.  

The research centered around the Fee Assistance Program (FAP), run by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) that is available to undergraduates to apply for application fee waivers for up to 20 different medical schools and other select admissions items, such as tests.

Among the group’s findings, they uncovered that among 568 enrolled students from 2021-2025 at the WVU School of Medicine, 500 of them – 88% – did not apply for the program. Of those 500, nearly 51% would likely have qualified for assistance had they applied.

Third-year medical student, Zeriel Wong, stated that the lack of knowledge about resources like the FAP can potentially put medical students at a disadvantage.  

“Any sort of fee assistance would make such a great difference in the amount of money people put towards their medical education,” Wong said. “I think that’s why we took on this project, because we saw the potential to advocate for more students to look into the program.”

The origins of the project began with Wong and Matthew Hudson, a fourth-year medical student, and their continued advocacy through the AAMC Organization of Student Representatives.

The AAMC group discussed the uncertainties students may face for medical education financing in light of larger discussions revolving around student debt burden and the continuing evolution of national policy.

Hudson said that it’s not just tuition that was the only concern for students, but other costs like school application fees, test preparation fees, and more, which can contribute significantly to a student’s overall debt. Additionally, now that the FAP has been extended to students applying for residency, only those who were previously accepted are eligible to receive this additional financial benefit as a resident physician. 

Hudson and Wong approached Linda Nield, M.D., principal investigator, and WVU School of Medicine associate admissions dean, about the possibility of participating in a research project with her because of their mutual concern around these topics.  

With assistance from Dr. Nield, who helped to get permission from the AAMC to pull and examine data on applications for the program, the group was able to examine if students utilized the FAP and if they were aware of its existence.

Other team members included Jason Hedrick, Ph.D., who served as an advisor for the project; and Amy Drvar, who helped develop and design the project.  

Dr. Hedrick’s background in continuous quality improvement methodologies helped the group with guidance on the methods to analyze the data pulled for the project.  

“One of the challenges we had with the data that we looked at is that we wanted to know how many students might have received FAP assistance if they had applied,” Hedrick said.  

Now, as their findings are being released, the research team is being asked to present their results to the 34th annual West Virginia Rural Health Conference in Morgantown, WV, November 11-13.  

“Matthew and I are super excited to be presenting our work,” Wong said. “It’s kind of rewarding in the sense that bringing this information to the forefront, we can try to help other medical school classes below us.”  

Hudson said that it excites him to be able to present their research at a West Virginia-focused health conference because there are broad implications for their work in that it could help the next generation of West Virginia and Appalachian medical students have more access to the education they are seeking.  

Nield stated she is extremely proud of Hudson and Wong, as their research was “above and beyond” what they were already asked to do as part of their ongoing education.

“This is not a required project for graduation,” Nield said. “This project took extra time away from their other studies.”

Nield said Hudson’s and Wong’s work will help future medical student hopefuls by increasing awareness of financial assistance programs, making it easier to apply and pay for medical school education.

“Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of everyone we serve, and a hopeful and healthy West Virginia is the vision and their looking into incoming students and reducing their debt will work to fulfill that mission,” Nield said.

For more information about the West Virginia University School of Medicine M.D. program visit: https://medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/students/md-program/.