the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine

Tiﬀany Lemuz, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine Student

My name is Tiﬀany Lemuz. I am a DO/MPH candidate, a first-generation college graduate, and a mother. For the past ten years, I have been chasing the dream of becoming a physician while raising my son, working night shifts, conducting public health research, and serving my community through outreach and advocacy. It has been a long road, and I have carried this dream through caregiving, grief, and sacrifice most people never see.

I lost my mom while I was in undergrad. She spent the last decade of her life on disability. My dad passed away during my ﬁrst week of medical school, after working retail jobs at Walmart and Goodwill to make ends meet. I do not have a financial safety net, just a son who has only ever known his mother as a student trying to build something better for both of us.

Now I am at the ﬁnish line, and I may not be able to cross it.

Due to pending changes in federal student loan policies, including the proposed elimination of the Grad PLUS loan program, I am suddenly facing the possibility that I will not be able to afford my final year of medical school. I have already exhausted every other form of aid. If Grad PLUS is taken away, the only remaining option would be to turn to private, high-interest loans from predatory lenders, and that is not a decision any student should be forced to make.

The consequences are devastating: ﬁve years of training, tens of thousands in debt, and no degree to show for it.

This is not just my story. This is the story of every student who came from nothing and gave everything. The ones who fought their way into these institutions, who do not have a safety net to fall back on, and who are now being told that our presence and our potential are negotiable.

I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for a system that does not pull the rug out from under students right before the ﬁnish line.

I am deeply grateful to AACOM for the advocacy they have already done on this issue, and I am ready to help however I can — by sharing my story publicly, speaking with lawmakers, or supporting any campaigns that need real voices behind them.

We need future physicians who know what it means to fall through the cracks and still claw their way back. I want to be one of them.