The University of Utah College of Pharmacy offers a one-of-a-kind scholarship program for new pharmacy students: free tuition for the first year of the PharmD program.

The First Year Free scholarship program is made possible by a generous grant from the ALSAM Foundation, founded by L. S. and Aline W. Skaggs. Now in its second year, the program has already proven successful at reducing student debt and increasing enrollment.

Cutting tuition costs by 25% makes a pharmacy degree an option for a wider range of students, drawing in those who may have never thought a degree in pharmacy was possible. From the very beginning, students know that they will be better able to pay off their school debt.

“Usually, nothing in life is free,” says Kyle Turner, PharmD. “But in this case, it is.”

Turner, an associate professor, assistant dean and primary care clinical pharmacist, has been a faculty member for eight years and was the admissions committee chair when the First Year Free program launched. He often refers to First Year Free as “revolutionary.”

“It’s a very innovative approach,” says Turner. “There have always been scholarships for pharmacy students, but this is something very new and very intentional and helps reduce stress levels for our students as they get started.”

For Stockton Welch, a second-year PharmD student, First Year Free was a major factor in his decision to attend the University of Utah after being accepted to the program.

“The First Year Free program has made me see how much of a difference affordability can make in shaping a student’s overall experience,” says Welch. “It shows the U’s level of commitment to its students and has made a graduate education much more accessible.”

Over the last decade, there has been a downward trend in applications for pharmacy schools nationwide. However, since implementing First Year Free, the College of Pharmacy has seen its biggest class since 2018.

“I have watched our class size go from half full to now having a full class with a wait list,” says Kamryn Shepherd, prepharmacy student advisor for the College of Pharmacy. “The last two years have shown a significant increase in class size.”

Recruiting has been a big part of Shepherd’s job since she joined the college in 2020. Every fall, she spends much of her time attending graduate school fairs in Utah and elsewhere to connect with as many students as possible. She also helps coordinate activities for prepharmacy students at Salt Lake Community College and the U.

“We correspond with and provide a lot of resources for prepharmacy students. The goal is to help them feel connected with the U,” says Shepherd. “If they don’t feel connected to our program, they’re unlikely to come here.”

For Shepherd, recruiting will always be necessary and important—both for the students and the college. But having a program like First Year Free is a terrific way to stand out from the crowd.

“First Year Free is a great jumping-off point when we are connecting with students,” she says. “Having such a great program—it really does a lot of the work for me.”

Shepherd says some students don’t believe that the First Year Free Program is real at first.

“We get a lot of questions about whether or not the first year’s tuition is added to the other three years,” she says. “We truthfully tell students that the first-year savings are not tacked on later. It’s truly incredible.”

Potential students learn about the First Year Free program long before they apply to the PharmD program, but for some, it’s still a lot to take in.

Shepherd personally calls every student who is accepted into the program to tell them the good news and remind them about the First Year Free scholarship.

“I tell each student that by accepting the offer to enter our PharmD program, they are accepting our First Year Free scholarship,” she says. “It’s brought some to tears, and it’s left others speechless.”

While it’s fun for Shepherd to tell students the good news, explaining the reasoning behind it is just as important.

“We need to continue talking to our current and potential students about why we do this,” says Shepherd. “It shows we are investing in them and really want them to succeed in our program and in their careers.”

Without the ALSAM Foundation, none of this would be possible. ALSAM’s founders have always championed progress in the field of pharmacy. The Skaggs family were the main drivers in getting pharmacies into grocery stores, beginning in 1969.

Since the ALSAM Foundation was established in 2006, it has been a major contributor to colleges of pharmacy throughout the West.

“My favorite thing about being a part of the ALSAM Foundation is being able to say ‘yes’ to organizations when they request funding,” says Ronny L. Cutshall, president of the ALSAM Foundation.

The foundation’s Grants Committee gave a resounding “yes” when the Dean of the College of Pharmacy, Randall Peterson, Ph.D., and the U’s Senior Vice President of Health Sciences, Michael L. Good, M.D., proposed the First Year Free program.

“There are governing documents and guidelines that the foundation’s Grants Committee has to follow,” said Cutshall. “In following those guidelines and reviewing what Mr. Skaggs did during his lifetime, the Grants Committee analyzes each situation and thinks ‘What would Mr. Skaggs do if he were still with us?'”

ALSAM’s contribution is bolstered by gifts from other generous alumni and donors to make First Year Free what it is today.

Brian Farley, a second-year student, doesn’t take this investment for granted. Farley has a wife and two children and wasn’t sure if pharmacy school would be financially feasible. First Year Free removed a lot of those financial barriers for him.

“Having a full year free means I take on less debt and will be able to get out of debt that much faster,” says Farley. “I am beyond grateful for the opportunity the school has given so many students to gain this education at a reasonable cost.”