Mayo Clinic officials tell Minnesota House committee state funds support scholarships and family medicine residencies

Mayo Clinic representatives told the Minnesota House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee on March 1 that state appropriations to the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science are used primarily for scholarships for Minnesota residents and to help operate family medicine residency programs.

The committee heard the presentation from Dave Dolan, education compliance officer and accreditation liaison for the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and John Poe, a Mayo education official. Dolan said the college credits state scholarship funds directly to students' accounts and that the legislative language requires the program to encourage graduates to enter family medicine and primary care.

Dolan said the medical school appropriation for the current biennium is $1,330,000 and that the annual amount — $665,000 — averages to roughly $41,563 in state scholarship funds per eligible student in the most recent reporting year. He said those scholarships are credited on students' invoices and are limited by statute to…