Bronx school tuition will be free forever thanks to a $1 billion donation
When 93-year-old Ruth Gottesman stood before students and faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, few could have imagined the announcement that would follow. With quiet grace, the longtime professor and trustee revealed she was donating $1 billion — a gift that would make tuition free forever for all current and future medical students.
The room erupted. Students cried, clapped, and embraced one another — many realizing in that instant their futures had just changed. For first-year student Samuel Woo, whose parents immigrated from South Korea, the news lifted years of financial anxiety. “I was definitely very emotional,” he said. “It changes everything.” Once determined to specialize in cardiology to pay off his debt, Woo now dreams of serving people living on the streets — without the fear of lifelong loans.
Another student, Jade Andrade, whose parents came from the Philippines, described the moment as “liberating.” Growing up, she said, every decision had to factor in money. “But once you remove that burden,” she said, “anyone can dream bigger.”
Gottesman, a pioneer in learning disabilities and widow of Wall Street investor David ‘Sandy’ Gottesman, made the donation using Berkshire Hathaway stock she inherited from her husband — a close associate of Warren Buffett. Her generosity ensures that all students, now and in the future, will attend tuition-free at a school located in one of New York’s most underserved communities.