In a few years, he'll graduate debt-free and be a doctor. Yep, I'm jealous.
When Pasha Jackson graduates from med school, he won't have to worry about student loans cramping his style.
He'll be debt-free because he studies at the Latin American Medical School in Havana, Cuba.
Why Cuba? Well, it doesn't hurt that the Cuban government is paying for his entire medical-school education, room, and board — a hefty expense that typically costs about $50,000 a year in the U.S., saddling graduates with $175,000 in debt on average.
"Receiving this gift from a country who already does not have a lot, there's no way that I'm going to return back to United States and just take any job. I want to be able to give myself to the very communities who are under-served." — Pasha Jackson
But he's not the only scholarship winner. ELAM funds tuition and living costs for international students who excel academically and are mostly from low-income communities.
Cuba has a history of working to expand healthcare access in low-income areas.
"The school's aim is to create a pool of physicians for public service in disadvantaged rural and urban areas around the world." — Dr. Maritza Gonzalez Bravo
Cuban doctors play a huge role in the government's larger global outreach effort. In 2014, hundreds of doctors flew to West Africa to combat Ebola. Cuba also sent over 600 medical workers to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Now it's Cuba's hands-on approach and sense of service that Pasha will continue, when he graduates debt-free.