Debt Burden and Impact on Physical Therapy Students.

Journal of Allied Health Pub Date : 2026-01-01 DOI:10.21091/jah.2026.01005

Michael J Turner, Xi Ning, Eric Coley, Yinghao Pan, J P Barfield

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Financing of professional physical therapy programs has shifted over the last decade with tuition increases of over 100% during this timeframe despite only a 10% rise in salaries.

Purpose: We evaluated the debt burden of students enrolled in full-time Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs to determine the percentage of students likely to be negatively affected by debt service upon graduation.

Methods: A survey was distributed to responders (N = 703) who represented 1st-year (35%), 2nd-year (34%), and 3rd-year (31%) students from public (45%) and private (52%) institutions.

Results: Responders borrowed $101,444 ± $53,102 to pay for their program (median $100,000, mode $150,000). Almost 50% of students enrolled in private programs reported the total debt (undergraduate loan plus DPT loan) would surpass the $150,000 threshold identified as benchmark for net present value. As a percentage of salary, the sample would pay approximately 20% to service the debt in 120 months (10 years) and the debt would only represent 10% of salary if the repayment was made over a period of 25 years.

Conclusion: As a result of this borrowing and repayment, graduates should expect financial burdens, professional choices based on income, and impacts on personal decisions.

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债务负担及其对理疗专业学生的影响。

背景：在过去的十年里，专业物理治疗项目的资金已经发生了变化，在此期间，学费增长了100%以上，而工资只增长了10%。目的：我们评估全日制物理治疗博士（DPT）课程学生的债务负担，以确定毕业后可能受到债务服务负面影响的学生百分比。方法：对来自公立（45%）和私立（52%）院校的一年级（35%）、二年级（34%）和三年级（31%）学生进行问卷调查。结果：响应者借了101,444±53,102美元来支付他们的项目（中位数10万美元，平均15万美元）。几乎50%参加私人项目的学生报告总债务（本科贷款加上DPT贷款）将超过15万美元的门槛，作为净现值的基准。作为工资的百分比，样本将在120个月（10年）内支付大约20%的债务来偿还债务，如果债务在25年内偿还，则债务仅占工资的10%。结论：由于这种借贷和偿还，毕业生应该预料到经济负担，基于收入的职业选择，以及对个人决定的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Allied Health Medicine-Medicine (all)

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Allied Health is the official publication of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) . The Journal is the only interdisciplinary allied health periodical, publishing scholarly works related to research and development, feature articles, research abstracts and book reviews. Readers of The Journal comprise allied health leaders, educators, faculty and students. Subscribers to The Journal consist of domestic and international college and university libraries, health organizations and hospitals. Almost 20% of subscribers, in the last three years, have been from outside of the United States. Subscribers include the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and major universities.