by: Tyler North on March 28, 2012

Med school employees Scott Kimberlin and Sage Bates make their way to the Neurosurgery Department Tuesday at the School of Medicine.

The School of Medicine was recently denied funding for a class size increase by the Utah Legislature.

Currently, the School of Medicine accepts 82 students per year to its program, a drop of 20 students from 2010. Lack of funding and many other reasons caused the school to decrease its size during the past two years.

In the recent legislative session, higher education in Utah received an overall boost in the budget, but the School of Medicines initiative was turned down.

I was disappointed we didnt fund the medical school, but that is not to say we didnt give plenty to higher education, said Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, who supported the School of Medicines initiative. We helped higher education by increasing the budget by three percent.

Utah is ranked No. 46 nationally in the number of physicians per population with the projection for physician supply worsening in the future, according to the School of Medicines web page.

We really do have a shortage of physicians and especially in pediatrics and rural areas, said Chris Nelson, Health Sciences spokesman. For this reason, our top priority is to grow the class size over the next two years.

The School of Medicine received 1,500 applicants for its 82 positions in 2011. Under the proposed plan, the School of Medicine first intends to restore class sizes to 102 students and then increase accepted applicants to 122 as soon as possible.

Just to restore it back to 102 is $6 million per year, Nelson said.

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Medical school denied funding to increase class size