Cumberland County will fund a $1 million endowment for Methodist University’s medical school, providing financial aid to incoming students. In a unanimous vote during Monday’s meeting, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners approved funds from the county’s general fund for the scholarship program.
To be eligible for the aid, students must be residents of Cumberland County and commit to practicing medicine within the county after being licensed. The amount of time that scholarship recipients have to commit to practicing in the county is yet to be determined.
“When you’re a kid and you might want to be a doctor, I don’t think that funds should hinder you from living out that dream or being able to do that,” Glenn Adams, chair of the board, told CityView.
The $1 million dollars will go to Cape Fear Valley Health. The health system, which partnered with Methodist University to create the medical school, will invest the money in an endowment fund. The endowment will build interest before becoming a source of financial aid for the medical school’s first class of students in 2026.
“We’ve got two years to be able to accumulate some funds to be able to pay out something that’s substantial to help kids,” Adams said.
Methodist University has stated it plans to set tuition slightly lower than $65,000 a year, the median tuition for a U.S. private medical school in 2023. While that price tag could be around $3,350 more than the county’s median household income, it is at least $9,000 lower than the base annual tuition for nearby Duke University’s medical school. It is higher than the UNC-Chapel Hill’s state resident yearly price for its medical school.
The endowment’s eligibility requirements further the medical school’s goal to retain physicians in southeastern North Carolina. Methodist University has already set up 300 residency and fellowship positions in the region for future medical school graduates. Sixty-seven percent of physicians who graduate from medical school and residency in North Carolina stayed in the state to practice.
Advice from the county attorney during a closed session was crucial for the board to decide how to turn county dollars into financial aid for medical students, Adams told CityView. The attorney said the board’s funds couldn’t go directly to Methodist University. But the board could give them to Cape Fear Valley Health since the health system is still connected to the county and is associated with the medical school.
Adams’ determination to set up the endowment fund is personal. He had two daughters attend medical school at UNC-Chapel Hill, so he knows how expensive tuition can be.
“Education is our way out of poverty, our way to a better life and to better living,” Adams said. “Money shouldn’t be a hindrance to get to that.”
The medical school is undergoing accreditation by the Liaison Commission on Medical Education, the accrediting organization for medical schools providing MD degrees. Last month, the school received the “candidacy” designation from LCME, the second step in the accreditation process. Members of the LCME will conduct a site visit of the school in the spring of 2025 before voting on preliminary accreditation as soon as next fall.
Until accredited, Methodist University is unable to comment on developments regarding scholarships, tuition and other details that may appear like recruitment efforts, per LCME rules.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.
