Financial help from clinics?!

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A few family friends have told me about opportunities where a student commits to working for a pharmaceutical company upon graduation from pharm school, and in return the company will help pay for their education. Are there any similar opportunities within the physical therapy field (maybe clinics offering financial help?) Thanks!

Yes, these opportunities usually come from skilled nursing facilities, not outpatient clinics. My classmate had most of his DPT paid for in exchange for a two-year commitment to work at a SNF. Rehabcare offers $10K or $5k for every year of commitment. Kinda of low but if you are in need of money during school.

I just looked into RehabCare....doesn't seem too bad. My tuition for 3 years will be around 55k and if I could possibly knock off 30k that would be sweet! It would make paying off my loans in 1-2 years VERY achievable! And even though it may be in a SNF, my interest lies in geriatrics so it just may be a good deal for me! Any thoughts? Does anyone know of any other companies that do this?

DPTinFL do you think this would be a good idea? or no?

Originally Posted by arvest25

I just looked into RehabCare....doesn't seem too bad. My tuition for 3 years will be around 55k and if I could possibly knock off 30k that would be sweet! It would make paying off my loans in 1-2 years VERY achievable! And even though it may be in a SNF, my interest lies in geriatrics so it just may be a good deal for me! Any thoughts? Does anyone know of any other companies that do this?

DPTinFL do you think this would be a good idea? or no?

I think it is a good deal if you are going to work in SNF after you graduate. RehabCare is big so location won't be an issue but check to see how happy employees are working for them. It would suck to be stuck with a bad employer for a couple of years.

What kind of salary does RehabCare pay on top of that 10k a year in tuition reimbursement?

Agreed, it is usually SNFs that do offfer these opportunities. If your interest is geriatrics, and you are willing to commit to the time required and/or willing to re-pay if you want out, then go for it. With student loan debt of the DPT, anything helps; you may not see the difference over the short-term, but will notice the difference in the long run.

Personal experience: I worked in a SNF for 2.5 years after PT school. I enjoyed working with the patients and the challenges and accomplishments of each patient; I hated the constant push for "minutes, minutes, minutes" in order to land an UH RUG and get reimbursed maximally. When push came to shove, I got out b/c ethically I could not see pushing frail, elderly patients in order to get minutes. Not all SNFs are like this, but it is a business too. While I worked in a SNF, I kept up-to-date with orthopedics and manual therapy through conference, journals, continuing education, etc.

If you are open to living in rural and under-served areas, contact some of those hospitals and/or clinics. I'm at a rural hospital-based OP clinic. For every year of service, the hospital pays a large chunk towards my students loans. Also, cost of living is a lot lower than city-life, the 401(k) match is 6%, so it's more money in the bank and toward student loans for me.

Cheers!

Do they have these in new york????