How to pay for it all?

[BosDPT11]

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Hello all,

I've been reading the posts on here for a long time, but this is my first time posting.

I was recently accepted into a couple of programs (one state, one private) and I'm just now sitting down and trying to figure out how to pay for it all. I know the "cost of a DPT education" subject has been discussed previously, but from the perspective of someone who's just about to begin a program this coming summer, the reality of making it happen financially is a bit overwhelming.

The private school that I was accepted into is a great place, with an excellent reputation, and is nearby where I'm currently living. The state school isn't near me (which would mean relocating) and, quite frankly, isn't a place that I want to go to (really depressing place, run-down campus, horrible labs, etc).

Is there anyone else making similar decisions regarding where to attend right now? If so, have you considered how much your student loan payments will be each month once you graduate? I just wanted to hear from others who are in the same boat to see what their thoughts are.

 

[Stickboi]

The private school that I was accepted into is a great place, with an excellent reputation, and is nearby where I'm currently living. The state school isn't near me (which would mean relocating) and, quite frankly, isn't a place that I want to go to (really depressing place, run-down campus, horrible labs, etc).

We're not in the exact same boat, but I figured I should throw out my thoughts all the same. I'm in a situation where I've been working for a number of years, and I've saved up a bit of a war chest so PT school is a little more financially feasible than most, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. Anyway, this is something that I thought a lot about before deciding where to go, or even apply for that matter.

A rather large percentage of my friends and family are in the medical field to some degree. In fact, quite a number of my friends are PTs or OT's, so I got to see the result of the stresses applied to them through the three years of school, and being good friends with them also gave me a chance to speak with their classmates from time to time.

Though all students were pushed very hard, it was clear that some programs do a better job at building up students. To put it plainly, some schools just don't give a rats *** about their students. In one program that really stands out, many students end up hating their time there, hating 1/2 the staff, and some even started out with a grossly negative view on PT, if not the medical profession as a whole. In essence they thought all their time spent in PT school was a waste if not a down right lie. One student from this program actually pulled me aside and tried to convince me NOT to enter PT school as I already had a career in another field, and that it was not worth my time to pursue PT.

If you go to a program that makes you hate the practice, it makes me wonder how much you can actually learn, and it makes me wonder just how good of a PT you can be. If you hate the professors and the staff, and they hate you, what can you actually pick up from them in all that negativity? If the school doesn't think well enough of the program to properly fund it, and thus the labs and equipment are outdated, will you be up to snuff in a real world setting where new technologies and techniques are introduced to the practice? In the end is it worth saving $20k? $40k? $60K? How will your future patients and co-workers be affected? Will these intangibles affect your ability to continue to learn and adapt to changes in future and thus adversely affect your earning potential? Of course there are no concrete answers to any of these questions, but maybe this rambling will help get the wheels turning as it did for me.

 

[BosDPT11]

Hey Stickboi,

Thanks for your thoughts on this one. To a degree, I do understand where you're coming from, as I'm 32 and this will be a second career for me. That said, I don't have a war chest saved up at this point, so I'm trying to be as smart as I can be financially, as I don't want to be completely overwhelmed with loans once I graduate from pt school.

That said, you bring up some very good points and I'm definitely gonna give this some more consideration. I wish the less expensive program was a more attractive option, but unfortunately, it's anything but.

As you said, future patients, co-workers, and the negatives that I had encountered so far with the less expensive program should factor into my decision, and they will.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

 

[jesspt]

I've posted this all over other threads, but here it is again:

http://www.fsbpt.org/exams/PassRates/index.asp

This site shows the National Physical Therapy Exam Pass rate. It might make that in-state school look a little better.

 

[BosDPT11]

I actually got a chance to check this out on one of your previous posts. Unfortunately, it doesn't make the decision any easier, because as you suggested, both programs that I'm deciding between did very well. Definitely some food for thought.

Thanks again!

 

[dubpt]

I am a PT with the DPT education currently working in outpatient ortho.

I attended a private school in expensive southern california and have that nice DPT educational loan burden. From my experience I would always bias towards attaining the cheapest possible debt.

I sometimes wonder if I had exposure to this site and others that allows you to speak with people who have been in your shoes, if I would have foregone attaing the private school DPT. Everytime I analyze it my choice would have been to go to a state school that offers a DPT or one that offers the MPT and complete a t-DPT program. Both of these options will leave one with less debt than a private DPT education.

You really have to decide if you can deal with some undesirable aspects of a cheaper school vs. the prolonged burden of paying back those hefty loans. I know which one I would choose.

 

[jesspt]

dubpt speaks the truth - it's bite the bullet for three years or live with potentially crushing levels of debt for quite a bit longer than that.

 

[BosDPT11]

I'm definitely gonna give this a lot of thought - thanks to the both of you for your honest advice.

dubpt, I agree with you in that having a resource like this is a great help for people who are just starting out, like me. It's good to be able to get some answers from folks who have "been there, done that".

Thanks again, guys...