GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) A new study completed by Student Loan Hero ranks the Brody School of Medicine the most affordable medical school in the country.

The study looked at three factors: tuition, average medical school debt, and the percentage of students receiving financial aid from the institution.

According to the study, students at Brody pay $18,159 in tuition and graduate with an average debt of $112,692.

Keeping tuition manageable is critical in Brodys efforts to supply rural areas with primary care physicians, said Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Elizabeth Baxley.

Students need to be able to, physicians ultimately, need to be able to afford to live there and be able to support a practice there, and to pay off their loan debt, Baxley said.

She said the pay for primary care doctors is often lower than that of other fields in the medical profession. In order to have people in the field, they have to have less debt.

Despite having to raise tuition with rising costs over the years, Baxley said theyve been able to keep the increases manageable.

We have tried to benchmark that with other schools, we have tried to make sure that the increases are more in the range of $1,000 to $1,500 a year, she said.

UNC- Chapel Hill landed at 14th most affordable, while Dukes medical school landed at 39th.

To see the full report, click here.

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Study: Brody ranks as most affordable medical school in America - WNCT