Cost of Living/Other Expenses Estimates in DPT School?

[eschmitt98]

Hi everyone! I am not asking anyone to make my decision for me, but I was just accepted to my top two schools and am having a tough time deciding. One is slightly more expensive than the other by a little, and I wanted to try and estimate how much I should expect to be racking up in loans outside of tuition. Obviously I know it will be different based on rent, extra school and living fees, lifestyle, etc. but I'd love an estimate. Thanks!!

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[rebeccalee0404]

Hi everyone! I am not asking anyone to make my decision for me, but I was just accepted to my top two schools and am having a tough time deciding. One is slightly more expensive than the other by a little, and I wanted to try and estimate how much I should expect to be racking up in loans outside of tuition. Obviously I know it will be different based on rent, extra school and living fees, lifestyle, etc. but I'd love an estimate. Thanks!!

Honestly, something that I’ve heard from a lot of my PTs is to choose which ever school is the cheapest because the education is essentially the same. And coming out of grad school, you won’t get paid more because you went to a certain school so they say to go to the cheaper one. I don’t know if that helps or not but that’s just what I heard

 

[dobsonek]

I think a lot has to factor in to answering this question. So my program has a tuition freeze, meaning we pay the same amount every semester regardless of credit hours. We’re also in a very small town in a rural area, so rent is slightly cheaper but other things like gas and groceries are more expensive. You also have to travel farther to go to certain places, for example the closest target to me is about an hour away.

I took 2 years off in between undergrad and PT school so I was able to work and save money and I’m also fortunate that my parents help me with rent/kind of an allowance each month since I can’t work while in school, so for my loans for this first year I took out the amount I’d need for tuition + $2000 for books/extra fees.
So in order to get the best idea of an estimate for what you’ll be taking out in loans is to factor in tuition, rent + utilities, textbooks (mine have averaged about $600 per semester so far), and then consider your own lifestyle and expenses that come with that, like gym memberships, going out, etc.

 

[kdubz7w7]

Hi everyone! I am not asking anyone to make my decision for me, but I was just accepted to my top two schools and am having a tough time deciding. One is slightly more expensive than the other by a little, and I wanted to try and estimate how much I should expect to be racking up in loans outside of tuition. Obviously I know it will be different based on rent, extra school and living fees, lifestyle, etc. but I'd love an estimate. Thanks!!

Honestly, you're the only one who can come up with that estimate. Budget out your rent, figure out how much you need for groceries each month, gas money, cell phone, whatever you're spending each month. Then add a healthy buffer because stuff will come up that you can't foresee (example, one month I needed both new tires and emergency dental surgery and I didn't have dental insurance - but also I supported myself 100%, I did not have financial support from my parents).

Since I was fully supporting myself, I probably took out much larger loans than most students. Everyone has a different situation and is living in wildly varying cost of living areas.

Go with the cheaper school, if local cost of living is the same. There is zero benefit to a more expensive school. The ONLY thing employers care about is whether you're licensed.

 

[kdubz7w7]

Honestly, something that I’ve heard from a lot of my PTs is to choose which ever school is the cheapest because the education is essentially the same. And coming out of grad school, you won’t get paid more because you went to a certain school so they say to go to the cheaper one. I don’t know if that helps or not but that’s just what I heard

You are 100% correct! Employers just care if you are licensed.