A recent cover story in ADVANCE revealed that the physical therapy profession still remains on solid ground despite the economic shake-up.

But what about students who will soon enter the job market and those considering going for extra schooling? With the ever-rising price of education and banks administering fewer loans, students must weigh the costs of their career path.

Looking to the Past

Lawrence G. Pan, PT, PhD, chair and professor of the physical therapy department at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, has lived through previous economic struggles. He says down times usually favor health care professions, but if the industry experiences cuts, individuals will concentrate on more schooling.

"When there was a down market for physical therapists in 1999 with the Balanced Budget Act and a tightening of Medicare rules for reimbursement, Marquette responded with more options," he said. "We opened up new majors for physical therapy students at the undergrad level so that students could leave Marquette with two skills. The idea is that perhaps students would be hired for the second skill in combination with physical therapy, thus gaining a competitive advantage in the process."

Marquette added business, exercise science and athletic training majors. Dr. Pan felt the last two were critical as they gave students training in the fitness and wellness market, a huge growth area for physical therapy and "one that is relatively immune to the whims of reimbursement and government support of health care," he said.

Other options for physical therapy students when jobs become scarce are residencies, because they train for specialty practice, Dr. Pan continued. Marquette, for instance, just started a neurology residency.

Loan Worries

While it's good to know that furthering education is an option if physical therapy jobs become scarce, there is one area of concern: student loan debt. The topic is not a new one among physical therapy students, but it's growing more severe thanks to struggling banks.

Just how expensive is education for physical therapy students today? At the University of Washington, for example, tuition for the 33-month DPT program (for a Washington resident) is $48,000, not including housing, books and internship expenses.¹

Though he hasn't had any PT students drop the program at Marquette due to financial reasons, Dr. Pan admits the cost of education is a growing issue.

"Loan debt is ever-growing, and it's an issue that threatens the future, as education costs have increased out of proportion to inflation for many years," he said.

Dr. Robin Dole, PT, EdD, PCS, associate dean of the Institute for Physical Therapy Education at Widener University in Chester, PA, is also anxious about graduate students financing their educations. She's had one student encounter difficulty with an alternative loan from a bank that cut operations. Fortunately, Widener was able to help the student get a new loan on time to continue with her studies.

"Students who are applying for financial aid and many times alternative loans are doing that based on their own credit history, and they might have very little credit history, or they have a lot of debt already from their undergraduate education," Dr. Dole explained.

"So they may look like a risk to these lenders who are starting to scale back. I think institutions of higher learning are going to have to reach out and be very supportive to students and families during this difficult time."

Relief in Sight

Widener is looking into other funding sources for students and educating them about what loan relief programs already exist.

"We make sure our students are aware of some of the newer programs coming out, like the National Health Service Corps, which is now including physical therapy in its program for loan forgiveness if those students work in areas of need," Dr. Dole said, speaking of the program that relieves loan debt for therapists who practice in areas in which there are shortages of health care providers.²"I know our institution as a whole is looking at ways in which we can be prepared for students who are having difficulty gaining financial aid and finding resources to support financial aid.

"You hear stories of universities with large endowments that have decreased significantly with what's happening with the stock market. Institutions like ours don't operate solely from endowments-we rely heavily on tuition revenues. We are always trying to be very mindful of the issues our students face, and we want to set a good example in handling our own finances."

In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation amending the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 to make physical therapists who choose to work with children, adolescents or veterans eligible to apply for student loan forgiveness.

Doctoral scholarships also are available through the Foundation for Physical Therapy Board of Trustees.³

Numbers Hold Steady

Even with mounting concerns over affording education, the physical therapy programs at both Marquette and Widener continue to attract a solid number of students.

"Our application numbers went up almost 20 percent for next fall," Dr. Pan said. "It likely was not an effect of the economy."

Widener's program has not calculated its projected enrollment for the fall semester yet, but Dr. Dole expects it to be the same or higher than in previous years.

"We're right on track. We've had a continued strong interest in our program and in physical therapy. We continue each year to see the quality of the candidates increase, and entrance into a physical therapy program has been known to be quite competitive, and I don't think that is changing," she said.

"It seems like we've got a good applicant pool to choose from, and I fully expect we'll have a full class of individuals coming to the physical therapy program. It's our great hope that every one of them will be able to find the right balance of financial and personal resources to be able to join us."

And when those students finish school, Dr. Dole is confident they will be able to find jobs. She's encouraged by a well-attended job fair Widener recently held.

"If you look at things like our job fair and the amount of calls I have on my answering machine when I get home at night or the number of people who are sending us emails wanting to extend job offers and information about jobs to our students, I would say I don't think I see any slowdown," she said.

References

1. University of Washington. (2009). DPT Tuition & Financial Aid. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, www.rehab.washington.edu/education/degree/pt/financial.asp

2. Physical Therapy Products. (2009). APTA Applauds Inclusion of PTs in Student Loan Relief Program. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, www.ptproductsonline.com/news/2009-02-19_01.asp

3. ADVANCE for Physical Therapists and PT Assistants. (2009). On the Rise. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, www.physical-therapy.advanceweb.com/Article/On-the-Rise-14.aspx

Lauren Fritsky is associate editor at ADVANCE and can be reached at lfritsky@advanceweb.com

Minimum Required Skills of PTA Graduates Now Available

The Minimum Required Skills of Physical Therapist Assistant Graduates at Entry Level (BOD G11-08-09-18) document now is available on APTA's Website. This document was developed over a 15-month period using the same consensus process to develop the parallel document for PT graduates. Details about the process and the assumptions that framed the boundaries for discussion and decision-making are included in the Background section of the document. 

Minimum skills were defined as foundational skills that are indispensable for a new graduate PTA to perform on patients/clients in a competent and coordinated manner under the direction and supervision of the PT. The Board of Directors adopted the document Minimum Required Skills of Physical Therapist Assistant Graduates at Entry-Level as a core document to be made available to stakeholders, including PTA academic programs and their faculties, clinical education sites, students, employers and CAPTE.

Questions or comments should be directed to Janet Crosier, PT, MS, MEd, associate director of Academic/Clinical Education Affairs and Professional Development at janetcrosier@apta.org or 703/706-8514.