Sep 11, 2015 01:37 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Massachusetts Medical School will start admitting out-of-state students for the first time in its 53-year history next fall, Inside Higher Ed reported.

The Worcester-based medical school will continue to admit 125 in-state students each year, but will add 25 spots for out-of-state students who will pay about $55,000 in tuition compared to the $38,000 a year Massachusetts' residents have to pay.

"With these actions we shall increase diversity of thought, experience and background as we recruit the finest medical students to our campus," medical school Chancellor Michael F. Collins said, according to The Boston Globe.  

The medical school's MD/PhD program already admits out-of-state students.

School officials have negotiated two new clinical affiliations to accommodate out-of-state students in their clinical years.

 "We shall establish our first regional campus at Baystate Health in Springfield, as we attract 25 students who shall be admitted to the medical school with a desire and commitment to focus on primary care in rural and urban settings," Collins said. "In partnership with UMass Amherst, together with Baystate we shall collaborate on research initiatives focused on population health and health care disparities as we redouble the university's commitment to 2 greater Springfield. "

The school has also established a clinical affiliation with Cape Cod Healthcare.

"Our medical school's reach now extends from the Cape to the Berkshires; and with the emphasis on basic science," he said.

According to The Boston Globe, this change comes "as the five-campus UMass system as a whole comes under the new leadership of President Martin Meehan."

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