I can envision very few circumstances for you in which paying >$150k in tuition and fees for a DPT would be a financially justifiable decision.
If you had to borrow for living expenses during PT school as well (which I'm assuming you will because this school is out of state - perhaps you have a spouse with substantial income?), then I imagine you would have a bare minimum of $320,000 in student loan
principle when you graduated. You'd likely be at >$350,000 with the interest that is generated over the 3 years of school. Your monthly payments would be at least $2200/month just to keep up with the interest. $2200+/month to never even make a dent in the principle.
Sure you could go on some sort of IBR plan and make minimum payments for 20-25 years. Generally you won't pay more than 15% of you AGI each month, or something along those lines, IIRC. Whatever your minimum payment would be, it would almost certainly be less than the interest, in which case your loans could be close to a
half a million dollars by the time your 20-25 years is up.
Let's pretend a best-case scenario happens and you can afford to pay all the interest every year ($26,000/year for the purposes of this discussion). Great, your $350k is forgiven after 20 years, right? Nope, probably not. It's hard to say how things will change over the next two decades, but as of now forgiven loans that aren't part of some sort of PSLF program count as taxable income. Your loans would be "forgiven" and you would probably owe $100,000 in income tax that year. Can't pay a tax bill that's as big as your annual income!
No doubt, the structure of federal student loans will change in the next 20 years, but you can't justify borrowing such an insane amount of money with no knowledge whatsoever of how repayment will work in the future. You can't wisely put all your financial eggs in the "PSLF staying around for 10 more years" basket either. Is there a chance it could work out for you? Of course there is. But the risk involved is unbelievably high.
Even if you get in to your top choice school and pay $54k for your DPT, your student debt burden is likely going to be a quarter of a million when you graduate. $180k
best case, if you only borrow tuition and fees. There is a high risk of you experiencing financial ruin if you add another $100k to that.
I imagine this is information you already know, so sorry if I'm preaching to the choir to some extent, but I don't know what else to tell you. I don't see any way that being $350,000 in student debt as a new PT is financially feasible. Best case scenario even if you only borrow tuition and fees at the expensive school is still >$265k. Still probably not feasible, unless you have a spouse that generates
significant income, or a windfall from a rich uncle you know is coming in the future...