The debt burden is truly out of line with the earning potential. It's just nuts. (Though not a problem that's restricted to PT, unfortunately).
In California, the formerly low-cost CSU system is raising tuition almost threefold with the transition from MPT to DPT, from about $26K to about $72K.
You're right, many folks don't think about what the debt load will mean for their lives.
There are a couple federal programs that might ameliorate it to some degree, though. I'm wondering if anyone has direct experience with one or both of these:
Income-based repayment: For direct Federal loans (including Stafford and Graduate PLUS), it's (theoretically) possible to cap your monthly payments at a reasonable level. This looks like it's actually based on AGI (or rather, "15 percent of the difference between your AGI and 150 percent of the Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guideline")
http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/factsheets/factsheet_IncomeBasedRepayment.pdf
So it may be possible to drop payments further once you can push AGI down via pre-tax retirement investing, a mortgage interest deduction, and so on.
The downside is that this is a 25-year repayment plan. Anything left over at the end should be forgiven, but interest accrues throughout, so that leaves a big hole to climb out of if policies change or something wacky happens.
Another possible downside is that the maximum total federal loan amount (the combination of Stafford loans, which have an annual limit of $20K or so, and Grad PLUS loans) is set by your school. Their estimated cost of attendance might not cover your actual cost of living, so there might be some private loans in the mix too, which would not be subject to IBR.
But using your $138K figure, assuming a $65K AGI (probably on the high side, at least to start), a 6.8% interest rate, and a family of two, the Department of Education IBR calculator (
http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRCalc.jsp) says that IBR payments will be $535 a month (again, though, for 25 years).
Over 25 years, that comes to $160,500. Much more reasonable. But you (and I!) would be in serious trouble if the forgiveness clause goes away for whatever reason.
Another possible avenue to kick down the debt (at least the federally-backed debt) could be
Public Service Loan Forgiveness: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/PSF.jsp
Under this program, you can pay IBR rates, but the debt is discharged after 10 years. So $535 per month times 120 months is $64,200. Now we're talking. It's not clear to me, though, if this is a viable route for PTs. The catch is that you need to be employed by a nonprofit, in most cases a 501(c)(3). Most hospitals should meet that requirement, but I don't know about outpatient facilities. I imagine your choice of setting could have an impact on your eligibility for PSLF.
It's also not totally clear if PT as a field is eligible for PSLF, but based on the FAQ
here, I think it is. (Q25: "The specific job that you perform does not matter, as long as you are employed by a public service organization.")
Sorry for going off, but I'm freaking out about the debt load too. $1240 a month for 15 years is just not feasible, and the low-cost options are fast disappearing. I'm going to be doing whatever I can to minimize the debt burden, but it's intimidating as hell. Programs like these may be the difference between attending PT school and not for me.
To those who are already practicing: Have you successfully participated in either IBR or PSLF? Any gotchas I've missed?
