The Physical Therapist’s Dilemma: Mounting Student Debt
The requirements to become a physical therapist have changed over time. When the profession began, a physical therapist could see patients after earning a bachelor’s degree and a certificate in physical therapy. Then, the industry created the entry-level PT bachelor’s degree and later the master’s degree and doctorate degree. As of 2016, the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) made the doctorate degree, or the DPT, the required degree for all accredited entry-level physical therapist education programs. So what does this all mean? Because of the additional schooling required to become a physical therapist, student debt has become a significant, and growing, problem.
According to the APTA, nearly 93% of recent physical therapy graduates are carrying debt and most of that debt is attributed to PT education debt, the average balance being $116,183.
According to an APTA survey, this mounting debt is significantly impacting PTs personal and professional lives:
Increased Anxiety: 70% of APTA survey respondents indicated that their student debt causes mid- to high-level anxiety on a regular basis2.
Delayed Life Milestones: PTs are forgoing or delaying important life milestones in order to pay off student debt. These milestones include buying a home and contributing to retirement savings accounts.
Restricted Career Choices: 22% of APTA survey respondents indicated that they are not working in their preferred practice setting and over 25% indicated that they are forgoing or delaying a change in position or practice.
Lack of Diversity in the PT Profession: Certain segments of the PT population are more burdened by debt, including non-White PTs, PTs with lower household incomes, and PTs with financial dependents. The rising cost of education impacts minority, low-income, and first generation professionals disproportionately and potentially precludes them from pursuing careers in physical therapy.
Rising student debt is impacting both physical therapists individually and the profession as a whole. While the issue is complicated, there are some initiatives that may alleviate some of the burden of rising education costs.
Make students more aware of the true ratio between debt and expected earnings: According to a 2018 study by Shields and Dudley-Javoroski, physical therapist education is a good investment only up to a certain level of debt. Once debt exceeds $266,000, the economic value of a PT degree no longer exceeds that of a typical bachelor’s degree.
Increase awareness of and access to employer assistance and loan repayment programs: Currently, only about 8% of employers offer employer loan assistance or repayment. As of March 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act that allows employers to make tax-exempt loan-repayment contributions up to $5,250 through 2025.
Reconsider the DPT curriculum: Various proposals have been made to alter the DPT curriculum. Some include: utilizing a competency-based system instead of an hours- or weeks-based system, increasing credit for prior learning, and making use of regional clinical education consortia to reduce faculty time and associated costs.
If you are a PT interested in expanding your supplemental income by seeing patients over telehealth or if you are a PT interested in setting your own hours and being your own boss through an independent telehealth practice, please fill out the form below!
At Comet, we’ve been building a set of software tools to support independent physical therapists looking at setting up their own private practices. Our mission is to bring PT into the 21st century and increase modalities with which patients can seek and receive care.
