Students Thought They Were 'In Trouble.' Instead They Learned Anonymous Donor’s $50M Gift Was Covering Their Tuition

Students Thought They Were 'In Trouble.' Instead They Learned Anonymous Donor’s $50M Gift Was Covering Their Tuition

“This donor’s selfless generosity will allow us to reduce the debt burden for our students and attract more young people to the field," said the CEO of UW Medicine

Kimberlee Speakman

Thu, December 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM UTC

4 min read

SGM/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock  A photo of the University of Washington Campus — SGM/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
A photo of the University of Washington Campus

NEED TO KNOW

An anonymous donor gave approximately $50 million to be put toward the University of Washington's Medical Laboratory Science Program
The money would help pay for the tuition of students enrolled in the UW’s Medical Laboratory Science Program’s senior-year clinical rotations and will also “help expand enrollment to 100 students over the next ten years"
Students in this field will go on to perform patient lab tests at hospitals and clinics and for public health agencies and conduct research in academic and commercial laboratories, among other jobs

Some students at the University of Washington will now have their tuition covered — and it’s all thanks to an anonymous donor.

The University of Washington announced in a press release earlier this month that the donor’s approximately $50 million donation will help pay for undergraduate students enrolled in the UW’s Medical Laboratory Science Program, covering their senior-year tuition for their clinical rotations.

According to the school, the donation will be put toward the tuition of in-state students — which costs between $4,000-$5,000 — for all medical laboratory science seniors. There are currently 70 students in the program, including 35 who have begun their senior-year clinical rotations.

“I was shocked at first, and it took a second for me to process that they are going to pay our tuition. And then I felt a lot of relief,” Jasmine Wertz, 30, a senior in the program said in UW’s press release.

Speaking with the Seattle Times, fellow student Jennifer Wang said the group had no idea what was coming ahead of the announcement event, just that they'd been told to prepare for big news — and to “dress properly."

“We thought we were going to be in trouble,” Wang said.

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty A photo of the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington — Smith Collection/Gado/Getty
A photo of the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington

The students who graduate from the program, which trains students to perform clinical lab tests, can take several professional pathways, including performing patient lab tests at hospitals and clinics, conducting research in academic and commercial laboratories and teaching at colleges and universities.

“Some people don’t even know we exist, or they think it’s robots or something,” Dr. Geoff Baird said while speaking with the Seattle Times.

But as another school official put it while speaking with the students, "you are the glue, in many ways, of our entire health system."

“You are the unsung heroes. You work behind the scenes that allow all of the health care machinery to work," added Dr. Tim Dellit, CEO of UW Medicine and the dean of the School of Medicine, according to the newspaper.

Their jobs can be demanding, especially when students are also trying to hold down part-time jobs.

“Our schedule is very demanding, especially when we start clinical rotations for 40 hours a week," Jasmine Wertz explained in the university's press release. "It's very hard to find time between studying and doing rotations to be able to hold a job.”

Wertz added that she wanted to thank the anonymous donor saying, “Just thinking of the gift they’ve given to so many people. Thank you for acknowledging our major and our career as a viable source of healthcare.”

The money that was donated will also be put back into the program to “help expand enrollment to 100 students over the next ten years.”

This is particularly important as the school noted that Washington state faces a shortage of “medical laboratory specialists as the demand for lab services has grown.”

The university went on to note that only there are only two programs in Washington state that offer "baccalaureate-level medical science degrees."

Karen Ducey/Getty A sign outside the UW Medicine Research facilities in South Lake Union on December 10, 2020 — Karen Ducey/Getty
A sign outside the UW Medicine Research facilities in South Lake Union on December 10, 2020

“This donor’s selfless generosity will allow us to reduce the debt burden for our students and attract more young people to the field to ensure that our region has the skilled laboratory workforce that is so critical to high-quality, timely patient care,” said Dellit.

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“This extraordinary gift advances one of our highest priorities: making a UW education accessible and debt-free and enabling students who are passionate about healthcare to pursue their goals,” added UW President Robert J. Jones. “Its profound impact on student success will lead to more trained healthcare professionals and better health for all Washington residents."

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