A scholarship covering a year of tuition costs for an incoming medical student will be given out next fall after the establishment of a first-of-its-kind endowment at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
The endowment is being created with a $1.5 million estate gift from Carl Stout, the university announced Monday.
The R. Louise Stout Simmons, M.D. Endowed Scholarship, named in honor of Stout's daughter, will be given out based on financial need, said Leslie Taylor, the university's vice chancellor for communications and marketing.
Simmons was a UAMS graduate who died in 1970, according to the university.
Annual medical school tuition at UAMS for an Arkansas resident is $33,010, and for out-of-state students it is $65,180. Since the 2015-16 academic year, tuition has increased by 24 percent for in-state students and 23 percent for out-of-state students, based on a Democrat-Gazette analysis.
Previous UAMS scholarships to medical students have covered tuition costs, but the Stout estate gift for the first time creates an endowment whose investment earnings can pay for full-tuition scholarships, according to the university.
"UAMS is an academic institution as well as a health sciences center, and we take our job seriously to attract, teach and train tomorrow's health care leaders," Dr. Cam Patterson, the chancellor, said in a statement.
The first award from the Stout gift will go out in fall 2019, Taylor said. In future years, two students annually may receive the scholarship, she said.
Not all UAMS students leave medical school with debt, but those that do must pay back an average of $190,000, according to the university.
Carl Stout worked for Alcoa and died in 1994, according to the university, with a trust he created providing for another daughter, Dorothy Aldridge, until her death. The remainder was designated to go to UAMS, according to the university.
Aldridge, described in the announcement as a longtime supporter of UAMS, died in January. Her career included work as a medical researcher.
Metro on 12/11/2018