The Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP) and Unicred, a financial institution, signed a cooperation agreement, with the support of Fundação Faculdade de Medicina (FFM), in February 2023, to increase the Bolsa Afinal Program – which promotes the student permanence of undergraduate students.

The Bolsa Afinal was created in 2017 by the FMUSP Student Financial Support Commission (AFINAL), with the aim of implementing a program to address situations of financial vulnerability, which impairs the performance of students with great academic potential, with resources obtained through institutional donations. To collaborate in this challenge, Unicred offered a contribution to fund 10 scholarships, monthly, for a period of two years, to be undertaken from that month onwards.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the need for financial support for FMUSP students. In 2020, there were 173 applicants to compete for the Bolsa Afinal and 75 were awarded. In 2021, of the 263 requests for assistance, 87 grants were awarded. Last year, the number of applicants was 203 and 94 concessions.

Currently, there are 63 grants guaranteed by fixed monthly donations from the FFM, Fundação Zerbini, Hospital das Clínicas board of directors and the Associação dos Antigos Alunos. Another 32 Bolsa Afinal are guaranteed until May 2023 by the donation fund for individuals and companies.

At the FMUSP, admission is based both on broad competition and on social and racial quotas. Most of its students are from outside the state of São Paulo, 50% of the students come from public schools and, of these, 30% are self-declared black or brown or indigenous.

The Bolsa Afinal makes a selection, the student cannot simultaneously receive other scholarships of FMUSP (Scientific Initiation, Monitoring, etc.) and, to request the benefit again, the student cannot have failed in mandatory subjects and others. The program is aimed at undergraduate students of all courses, Medicine, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Medical Physics.