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Riverside County considers $15 million pledge to UC Riverside med school to help it win accreditation

UC Riverside
UC Riverside
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Riverside County supervisors Tuesday will consider pledging $15 million to the UC Riverside medical school. The financial aid should help the school attain accreditation and stay on track for opening in 2013.

The medical school was supposed to welcome its first students by this fall, but those plans were dashed after state lawmakers withdrew a $10 million commitment last year.

Without that funding, the school lost any chance of attaining accreditation — and without that, it would likely lose out on millions of dollars in federal grants. But the pending financial commitment from Riverside County should help UCR win accreditation later this year.

The county’s proposal calls for the money in installments over the next eight years. County leaders say the financial assistance would cement a bond between county medical services and the medical school.

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Supervisors designated the Riverside County Regional Medical Center as the medical school’s primary teaching hospital. County clinics would also serve as teaching sites.

UCR hopes to welcome its first 50 students in summer 2013.

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