(UPDATED, 2:27 p.m., with additional detail from Idaho State University.)
Idaho State University officials wanted to cancel a white coat ceremony, but quickly hoisted the white flag.
And that means Idaho State’s physician assistant students will receive the long white coats at their 2027 graduation ceremony.
It only took a few days for the university to propose — and then walk back — the cost-cutting measure.
“(We will) address the budget situation in other ways,” Idaho State spokeswoman Emily Frandsen told Idaho EdNews in an email Wednesday afternoon.
The white coat episode is a subplot in a larger story, as Idaho State tries to steer through a budget crunch. Earlier this year, the university cut 44 positions and announced plans to restructure several colleges and departments. A tuition and fee increase will generate $4.1 million, which will balance Idaho State’s budget after the university finds additional spending cuts, vice president for finance and university planning Jennifer Steele told the State Board of Education in April.
In a July 17 email to students and staff, obtained by Idaho EdNews, the director of the PA program said the white coat decision was “difficult.”
“After careful consideration, the program determined that ongoing budget constraints, challenges with sourcing the coats, and their limited practical use in current clinical practice make it necessary to discontinue this tradition,” Jared Papa wrote.
The white coats “add several thousand dollars” to the program’s costs, said Rex Force, Idaho State’s senior vice provost and vice president for health sciences. And such costs are often passed along in the form of increased tuition and student fees.
It’s unclear when the PA program began providing its graduates with white coats. In his July 17 email, Papa said the program had held graduation ceremonies “for decades” without a white coat presentation.
Idaho State is the only university in the state that offers a PA program. Idaho State serves 72 PA students — at its Pocatello and Meridian campuses, and in a partnership with The College of Idaho in Caldwell.
