Billionaire’s donation makes medical school free for all students

Ruth Gottesman donated a billion dollars to a medical school, changing the lives of all of its students.

Words:

• To go to a university or college, students have to pay tuition every year.
• When something guarantees something else, it means that it is sure to happen.
• People feel pressure when they are worried about something or have to do something important.
• When people have debt, it means they need to pay back money they borrowed.
• The board of an organisation is a group of people that makes important decisions. The chairwoman of the board is the person leading this group.
• A conglomerate is another word for a group of different parts. In this video, conglomerate is used to describe a group of businesses.
• Stocks is a financial term. It is a piece of a company you can buy as an investment.

1. Ruth Gottesman says that the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will be ‘tuition-free’ from August. In your own words, explain what this means for the students?

2. The first girl that’s interviewed says that the gift “takes a lot of the pressure off”. What does she mean?

A: The study will become a lot easier now that it’s free.

B: She doesn’t have to get perfect grades now, because the study is free anyway.

C: She can focus on her studies without worrying about money.

D: She doesn’t have to worry about making her family proud anymore.

3. Which of these statements is true according to the video?

A: Medical students earn the highest wages after they finish university.

B: Medical students find it much harder to pay off debts than other students.

C: Most medical students don’t graduate because of their debt.

D: Only dental students have more debt on average than medical students.

4. How was Ruth Gottesman able to donate so much money?

A: Her husband gave her the money, and told her to do whatever she thought was right with it.

B: Her husband left her stocks after he died. These stocks were worth a lot of money.

C: She earns a lot of money as Chairwoman of the board.

D: She received a donation from Warren Buffet when she was a professor at the school.

5. At the end of the video, the voice-over gives a hint about who will be the happiest about the donation. Who is this?

Van de makers van All Right!, Of Course! en Taalblokken Engels