Despite his concerns, Kozhimannio said that the increase will probably not dissuade potential students to matriculate.
“If you can deal with $20,000, then you can deal with $23,000,” he said.
Boodram also said that the change will not make HMS less attractive to prospective students.
Even with the loan increase, he wrote, the average HMS graduating debt will remain below the 2002 national medical school average and the national private medical school average.
“It is also important to note that at most other medical schools, the bulk of the student debt is comprised of UNsubsidized [sic] student loans, which carry significantly higher repayment costs than the loan programs used to fund the HMS unit loan,” he wrote.
Approximately 70 percent of the HMS student body take out student loans to finance some portion of their medical school expenses. The 2002 average graduating debt was $88,000.
The unit loan generally includes up to three components: the Federal Direct Stafford Loan, the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and a campus-based loan.
—Staff writer Ebonie D. Hazle can be reached at hazle@fas.harvard.edu.