Tuition frustration

[Ctinct]

Hi. First post here. I'm not a pre pt student, but my daughter is. I feel like a helicopter parent right now for admitting this, but I'm helping her by doing a lot of research on schools. I think she will be a pretty competitive applicant. She's a junior, hasn't taken the GRE yet, but typically does quite well on standardized tests, and has around a 3.9 gpa both cum And in pre- req classes.

Here is my frustration. If is so dang hard to compare tuition costs. The main criteria I am looking at for her are graduation rate, first time pass rate for the licensing exam, and cost. Some schools only give a per credit hour fee, and then you have you multiply the whole thing out, search for fees, etc. Then of course, there is the cost of living. Some schools are fairly transparent and give a three year rate. Others give a semester rate, and you have to take into account summers, etc. At this point I can't even be certain that I am coming up with accurate figures for her. Is there an easier way to do this?

Right now her top choice would be our state school, but for a state school, it is relatively pricey, and there seem to be a few out of state schools I have found that are even cheaper. (Northern Arizona and Youngstown State, off the top of my head). There are theoretically three schools in our state she could commute to, but they are private and expensive. I still think she could do it more cheaply than living at home and commuting to these schools.

I guess my question , then, would be: is there a list of less expensive schools somewhere?

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[end508]

Hello! I came accross the same question while doing my research on what school to pursue . While there is no sort of a "list" that contain all schools and its tution fees. I have found the CAPTE which accredite PT schools to be the best resource. almost every school post its tution and fees ( per year or per program) on the CAPTE website. just a word of caution: some schools havent updated thier page for a while so you might be looking at "outdated" information, but it would still give you a good overall picture on thier cost as well as other things.
here's the website, hope it helps: http://www.capteonline.org/apta/directories/accreditedschools.aspx?type=PT&navID=10737421958

 

[Ennuisitic]

I know your frustration. As for PT schools, I mainly looked at the overall pass rates for the boards, cost, and accreditation. To become a PT is getting more expensive, while their reimbursement-> salary is stagnant, diminishing. I'm not sure where your state school is, but the schools in Texas are known for being really cheap. Typically a resident will pay <$30k tuition and fees, while a non resident <$58k for tuition and fees.

I have worked with many therapists and students that were out of state that ended up qualifying for in-state tuition. However, it is very competitive, many schools in TX have received 600-1000+ apps for only 40-60 seats. It seems like your daughter's stats would qualify her for tuition waivers so you can pay instate tuition. Texas schools really look at your grades and GRE. Even then, after a year of living here, she can qualify for TX residency to get instate tuition.

A couple of schools come to mind that don't care if you're instate, out of state, international and will often give waivers to out of state people to pay instate tuition: Texas Women's University, UT-Southwestern, Texas Tech, and U of North Texas.

Texas is a good place to go to school, cheap tuition, cheaper than natl' average Cost of Living, but it is also competitive.

 

[pruitt]

Arkansas State waives out of state tuition if you maintain B average in PT school. Also if your daughter speaks Spanish it would increase her application score. They also have on campus housing for grad students.

 

[okramango]

I had exactly the same criteria when I was looking at which schools to apply to, and spent probably hundreds of hours trying to figure out tuition at schools all over the country. I used the CAPTE website, though a lot of that info is out of date. I also had to contact some programs directly to ask for tuition info. I found that some programs offer scholarships and out-of-state tuition waivers but don't advertise it on their websites. My home state tuition is pretty expensive, so I ended up applying and attending out of state. Northern Arizona was one of the lowest cost programs I found, and they also offer out of state tuition waivers to some students for the first year. Arizona is one of the few states where you can attain residency after a year, even if you move there for school (at least for now). It's a fantastic program, too. Last year they had over 1200 applicants, but it sounds like your daughter would be pretty competitive.

I also agree that Texas is a great state to attend PT school, because the programs are great and it is some of the lowest tuition in the country. Texas does not allow people to become residents if they move there to attend school, though. I ended up attending Texas Woman's University, with an out-of-state tuition waiver, so tuition is about 28k total for the entire 3 years. I couldn't find that kind of tuition anywhere else in the country. And the cost of living in Texas is far cheaper than in my home state. It was a long way to move for school, but I don't regret it at all and love my program.

Good luck!

 

[Ctinct]

Thanks everyone. I have been using the CAPTE site for research, and as someone mentioned, a lot of the schools have not updated their info in a long time. I have been visiting each school's website and searching for tuition info. I just wish there was a clear dollar figure for each school, but there's not. Some schools don't add in fees, some don't add in summer tuition, etc. I am searching state by state, and I haven't gotten to Texas yet, but I will carefully check when I get there. I will also go back and look into Arkansas, too.

And actually, when I went back and looked at Northern Arizona, it is not quite as inexpensive as I thought compared to our state school. I'm not sure, though. They have a chart that says annual out of state tuition is$21423, but looking at their info on the bursar 's page, that doesn't jibe with the per credit cost. I think they may have neglected to include summers in their annual cost. If that cost IS including summers, then NAU is a screaming bargain. See what I mean about the confusion and frustration? I'm not sure if annual really means the whole year in this case.

We live in connecticut, which has a tuition right now of $18462 per year, plus $8128 for the summer. To live on campus would add about $13000. She could probably live off campus for less, but she doesn't attend uconn now, so it might be difficult for her to find roommates to split off campus housing for the first year. I guess her strategy right now will be to apply to the lower cost schools, see where she gets in, and then take it from there. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[apalj]

I live in Ohio and have been visiting some of the PT schools in the area. I know that Ohio State, University of Cincinnati, Youngstown State, and Ohio University (and I assume all other Ohio programs) let you establish residency after 1 year. The in-state tuition for these schools is quite reasonable (~$40k total). Additionally, Ohio University offers GAs (15 hours of work a week, can be renewed all 3 years) and GRSs (6 hours of work a week, only for first year) that will waive the tuition entirely. The cost of living here is pretty cheap, which really helps keep expenses down.

 

[okramango]

And actually, when I went back and looked at Northern Arizona, it is not quite as inexpensive as I thought compared to our state school. I'm not sure, though. They have a chart that says annual out of state tuition is$21423, but looking at their info on the bursar 's page, that doesn't jibe with the per credit cost. I think they may have neglected to include summers in their annual cost. If that cost IS including summers, then NAU is a screaming bargain. See what I mean about the confusion and frustration? I'm not sure if annual really means the whole year in this case.

When I interviewed at Northern Arizona last year, they told us that the out of state cost was about 24k per year, and that figure includes tuition, fees, books, etc. However, remember that in Arizona you can get residency after the first year, even if you move there just to attend school, so you would only be paying out of state tuition for the first year (unless Arizona changes that law soon). That makes NAU a real deal for out of state students (though a very competitive one). Additionally, they offer graduate assistantships during the second year that completely waive tuition for that year.