FAU sets $27,000 tuition, fees for new medical program

Question: Florida Atlantic University is known for cheap tuition, so why does one new program cost $27,000 a year?

Answer: it’s not just any program. It’s FAU’s medical school, which is scheduled to open next fall. The Board of Trustees’ Audit and Finance Committee set in-state tuition and fees at $27,040, pending full board approval. Out-of-state-tuition and fees would be $58,195.

Those prices are in line with medical programs at other state universities. The University of Florida charges $30,823 for in-state students, the University of South Florida charges $29,018, the University of Central Florida charges $23,771, and Florida International University charges $28,5092. The bargain of the state is Florida State University: $19,841.

Those are the prices for this year, so they likely will be higher next year when FAU’s medical school opens.

FAU’s price is lower than the $30,000 the private University of Miami charged last year when it offered a medical school degree program on FAU’s campus. FAU terminated that partnership early this year when it decided to have an independent medical school.

FAU is partnering with The Scripps Research Institute, and some students will be able to earn a joint degree Ph.D from Scripps’ Kellogg School of Science and Technology.

I asked folks at FAU whether it’s accepting applications yet. The response was surprising.

“FAU is currently going through its accreditation process for its medical program,” spokeswoman Lisa Metcalf said. ” Until the accreditation is completed, the university prefers not to discuss certain details associated with the medical school, per the accrediting body, the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.”

I asked if that meant the university wouldn’t even say whether it’s accepting applications.

Metcalf’s response: “Until the accreditation is completed, the university prefers not to discuss certain details associated with the medical school, per the accrediting body, the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.”

So your guess is as good as mine about whether FAU wants you to apply.