USC DPT Tuition...WTF!?

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2BAnIDrNoMore

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Hello my fellow SDNers,

Can someone please tell me why USC costs so much? Am I missing something? Yes, it's the #1 program in the nation and yes, it's "USC" but come on now; $44K+ per year?? :eek::eek::eek::eek:

http://pt.usc.edu/sublayout.aspx?menu_id=52&id=68&ekmensel=568fab5c_52_0_68_3

I would love to stay in So Cal, and I wanted to go to USC (if I chose PT as a career) buuuutttt I'm thinking I may have to venture elsewhere. Who has gone to USC for their DPT program? Any thoughts...

Also, what does everyone think about this program and it's expenses? (I've searched the forum to see if this has been asked before but no such luck)

Thanks :D
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Where's the love on the PT-boards? 64 views and no answers? I'm sure soommmeeeoooonnnneeeee has to have an opinion about USC? Looks like the pre-med boards have you guys beat; they're always voicing their opinions :laugh:
 
2BAnIDrNoMore said:
Hello my fellow SDNers,

Can someone please tell me why USC costs so much? Am I missing something? Yes, it's the #1 program in the nation and yes, it's "USC" but come on now; $44K+ per year?? :eek::eek::eek::eek:

http://pt.usc.edu/sublayout.aspx?menu_id=52&id=68&ekmensel=568fab5c_52_0_68_3

I would love to stay in So Cal, and I wanted to go to USC (if I chose PT as a career) buuuutttt I'm thinking I may have to venture elsewhere. Who has gone to USC for their DPT program? Any thoughts...

Also, what does everyone think about this program and it's expenses? (I've searched the forum to see if this has been asked before but no such luck)

Thanks :D
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I didn't go to USC but I find it hard to understand why it would cost so much. Heck, you will be only one of maybe 40 students let's see, 40 times 44K equals $1.76 million and you aren't even there the last year.

I don't care if USC IS the #1 program, go elsewhere unless your last name is Gates. You learn the same stuff, and probably will learn more after you are out and you will be getting paid then.
 
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Wow. I guess that is economics. There must be enough demand to make people willing to cough up that much $$.
Are there more intangible perks associated with going to a school like USC?
 
I thought 22k/year that I will be paying was expensive. wow! Yet, it still is.
 
You have to consider your likely salary after you finish. If you accumulate nearly $200k in debt, does it make sense to do it if you will make ~$40-60k? I don't think so because you have to use after-tax money to pay back that $200k. PT as a profession is reaching a breaking point where it makes no economic sense to pursue it. You can thank all those ivory tower geniuses for creating the DPT. Many of these "doctorates" should have been kept at the bachelor's or master's level.
 
sorry but that's insane. the school i go to has an excellent program, an excellent faculty, and has had a 100% first attempt pass rate on the licensing exam every year since they implemented the DPT curriculum. the 3-yr program is $30,000 total (in-state, but the school has a very lenient policy on applying for instate tuition). hospitals and clinics in the area rave about how well prepared the SPTs and graduates are who come from the program. the cost of education says nothing about how well prepared it will make you.. and guess what, you'll be making the same money coming out as the people who went to the cheapest school out there. be smart about your education, you'll be paying it off for a long time.

i would check out CSU northridge. it's a $13,000 masters program. and azusa pacific's doctoral program, while very expensive, is still less than USC. i believe st augustine has a campus in san diego, too.. and i know it's not that expensive either. western U also has a DPT program. these are just the ones off the top of my head, i'm sure there are others... basically, there are too many cheaper options out there to shell out the kind of money you're talking about.
 
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Taurus said:
You have to consider your likely salary after you finish. If you accumulate nearly $200k in debt, does it make sense to do it if you will make ~$40-60k?
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just wanted to add in that you're not going to find full-time PTs making $40k a year. $55-60k is the lower end of the salary range.
 
Taurus said:
You have to consider your likely salary after you finish. If you accumulate nearly $200k in debt, does it make sense to do it if you will make ~$40-60k? I don't think so because you have to use after-tax money to pay back that $200k. PT as a profession is reaching a breaking point where it makes no economic sense to pursue it. You can thank all those ivory tower geniuses for creating the DPT. Many of these "doctorates" should have been kept at the bachelor's or master's level.
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AGREED :thumbup:
 
Thanks for all of the replies; that's more like it! :thumbup: Recently, I've been considering PT as a career and came across the USC program and was confused by how expensive their program is. It seemed/is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous to me but I didn't know if I was missing something. People are obviously paying that much to go there; I didn't know if there was some sort of "perk" involved.

Again, thanks and if anyone else has any comments...feel free to share. Crazy USC!!! :thumbdown: :rolleyes:
 
I feel your pain,
I am going to be attending U of Washington. The tuition for in-state is about $14500 per year, but I'll be out of state my first year so double that.

I guess you need to decide what is best for you. I wanted to go to U of Washington, so even though I was accepted to a cheaper school, I chose to go somewhere that I feel will give me the best opportunity as a future therapist to excel.

I think therapy is what you make of it as far as salaries go, I'll be paying off my student loans probably until my kids will be in college, but that okay because I love what I'll be doing.

If you feel like USC is where you will do the best, then go for it and don't look back
 
I do not know if my school still has assistantships, but I do know that the Bio Dept most likely does. I was a TA for physiology and anatomy that completely covered my tuition and provided a nice monthly stipend. You research all your schools to see if this is an option. Even my PT program (Univ of Rhode Island) had assistantships (student PT working with PT's in the field). It has been 5 years so I do not know if they still do. It was nice to graduate and only have a small amount of debt (living costs, etc.). In the end, it does not matter where you graduated...only if you have a license to practice. When you start as a PT, employers will only care about how much con't educ you have completed...trust me, I was once a manager at a clinic and did not care where one applicant graduated to another...only cared about length of time practicing/con't ed for practicing PT's and for new grads, if they had obtained there license (as I would not hire a newly graduated PT without one). Well, good luck with your choice!
 
2BAnIDrNoMore said:
Where's the love on the PT-boards? 64 views and no answers?
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I think there is a lot of lurking here :ninja:, but in general, not many PTs or DPT students are even aware of this website. It isn't well publicized to the PT profession. It would certainly be nice to have a wider variety and depth of discussions as there are on the other PT forums and blogs.

Any ideas how to get this happening?!

Frankly, I like the SDN forum layout & interdisciplinary format. For now, I continue to get real information from the other sites, but I would like to see this change and grow.
 
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Elbrus said:
I think there is a lot of lurking here :ninja:, but in general, not many PTs or DPT students are even aware of this website. It isn't well publicized to the PT profession. It would certainly be nice to have a wider variety and depth of discussions as there are on the other PT forums and blogs.

Any ideas how to get this happening?!

Frankly, I like the SDN forum layout & interdisciplinary format. For now, I continue to get real information from the other sites, but I would like to see this change and grow.
Click to expand...

i agree. it seems that the majority of the traffic this forum gets is from people interested in the PT profession, asking basic questions about the application process or certain schools and whatnot.
 
i got into every school i applied to including usc. i did alot of research and most employers told me it makes no difference and that you should go to the cheapest accredited school with a high passing rate for the licensure exam. thats why i chose cal state university of northridge instead of USC. I think USC is ranked so well because of their research, but from what I have been told its better to go to a program in which teachers are practitioners. Good luck in what ever you chose.
 
When a technical degree in allied health has a very real and permanant pay ceiling, one wonders why they would pay more than the bare minimum, after some due diligence is met with respect to the quality of the education.
Buyer beware.
 
superCOTA said:
When a technical degree in allied health has a very real and permanant pay ceiling, one wonders why they would pay more than the bare minimum, after some due diligence is met with respect to the quality of the education.
Buyer beware.
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Are you talking about physical or occupational therapy assistant programs?
 
Elbrus said:
I think there is a lot of lurking here :ninja:, but in general, not many PTs or DPT students are even aware of this website. It isn't well publicized to the PT profession. It would certainly be nice to have a wider variety and depth of discussions as there are on the other PT forums and blogs.

Any ideas how to get this happening?!

Frankly, I like the SDN forum layout & interdisciplinary format. For now, I continue to get real information from the other sites, but I would like to see this change and grow.
Click to expand...


what other sites do you use for info? i agree that the SDN boards aren't the best for info on PT or OT.
 
200k is a ridiculous amount of money--from what I've heard, it really doesn't matter what school you go to as long as it is accredited, you do most of your learning after you get out of school anyways. A cheaper school will get you the exact same DPT license.
 
Ok, what if USC is the only school gives you the offer. Should you go ahead take it despite the high tuition, or should you wait for another year to reapply. With the new centralized PTCAS application, not quite sure if it will help to gain more chances to PT schools or less. My concern is that due to the weak economy, the competition to PT and OT programs will be increased as we moving forward to 2009, the number of applicants already increased in 2008, I can only see more competitive admission process and not sure if I will have a better luck of getting accepted into PT program in 2009. Although I do agree that it doesn't make sense to pay this much for DPT, but if it is what you really wanted to do as a profession and if the options are limited, perhaps it is still better to take the chance rather to wait for another year........what do you guys think?
 
That's an interesting question, and I guess it really depends if you think 200k is a fair trade for getting in one year earlier. The short term benefit is that even though you are paying a lot, you would be able to get moving towards becoming a PT that much quicker. But if you look long term, paying off 200k worth of school as opposed to, oh, let's say 60k at another school is going to take a lot longer and would be undesirable not to mention unnecessary financial baggage. I would also think that if you get accepted to USC, you can also get accepted into other schools. I don't think there is a magic number of schools to apply for, but I think if you apply to five or six schools, probably two out of those five or six would accept you. Of course, that all depends on your marketability, but if you have reasonable scores I would think your chances would be good.

If you do decide to wait another year, it would give you the chance to gain more experience in the PT field (If you haven't already, I recommend working at a hospital in an inpatient setting, excellent experience) or just work and gain some much needed cash for when you do get to school.
 
PTSchoolOrBust said:
200k is a ridiculous amount of money--from what I've heard, it really doesn't matter what school you go to as long as it is accredited, you do most of your learning after you get out of school anyways. A cheaper school will get you the exact same DPT license.
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I'm not sure where the 200K figure came from, but looking at the USC link provided by the OP, I calculate <125K (minus health insurance). While I do agree this is a lot of $$, but aren't you also paying to attend an elite school? Salary may start off the same, but the intangibles may be different.

It often seems that many of the leaders in the profession tend to cluster around a few schools. If you intend to apply for grants, publish, run for office, apply for a faculty position someday, things like this may be an advantage. I think the expectations and the opportunities can vary greatly between different schools.
 
I work for USC in the office as staff. I will not talk negative about other dpt universities however all I ask is for you to experience USC and you will see why we are the number one program.

Our team of professors who teach our students are practicing clinicians to cutting edge research (Dr. Carolee Winstein-$12.4 million NIH grant for stroke study) to national conference speakers (APTA, CPTA, CSM, world conferences also, etc) to high ranked officers (Dr. Cheryl Resnik-President of the CPTA, Dr. Christopher Powers-Vice President of the CPTA and section of research for the APTA, Dr. Kathy Sullivan-President of Neurology Section APTA) to editorial boards (Dr. Christopher Powers) the list goes on and on. All and yes ALL the faculty and staff CARE and want you to graduate.

And as far as our Clinical Education Program we have over 900 pt clinical affiliations around the US. Basically you can choose where you would like to spend over 50 weeks of clinical experience.

I also want to stress we have opportunities for workstudy students. If you had in mind of helping our research professors this may be your chance of a lifetime and great on your resume. The pay starts around $10 per hour.

Once you graduate USC DPT you can join the USC Physical Therapy Alumni Association (PTAA) where you get invited to our annual HOMCOMING football game to discounted rates for continuing education programs. This has just kicked off so we are expanding the possibilities.

One more thing, our graduates have NO PROBLEM finding jobs. PT clinics know the difference between a well educated and well prepared graduate of USC.

Come and check it out thats all we ask.

www.usc.edu/pt
 
Its very simple actually. It costs that much because EVERY school at USC costs that much. Its a private university and thats just what the average tuition is, there is no extravagant reason other than that. Not that it isnt an awesome school, and i loved every minute. LAC+USC is a very unique training facility that can only be found at a few other places in the nation, more than enough PT to go round.
 
2BAnIDrNoMore said:
Yes, it's the #1 program in the nation and yes, it's "USC" but come on now; $44K+ per year??
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You can also go to the #2/3 program in the nation, Pitt, for $23k/year, that's half of what USC will cost you (the link provided listed expenses at $46k+/year). Of course it's a good idea to go to a school with a great reputation for excellence, but it's not worth drowning in debt to do so, nor is it even required when there are a lot of other quality schools out there.

Ironically there is a private school less than half a mile from Pitt that will run you upwards of $115k, and you won't even find it on any of the national rankings. Cost does not guarantee quality. Though if you take rankings with a grain of salt, then rankings don't necessarily guarantee it either.

Just don't apply to Pitt for '09; I don't need any more competition;)
 
I just looked up the current costs for my alma matter, Arcadia University. http://www.arcadia.edu/academic/default.aspx?id=1007
It costs $24,00 per year to attend this program. It's currently ranked #7 in the nation (not that the rankings mean much to most future employers). That's a pretty big difference in tuition for a relatively small difference in ranking.

I'll repeat what I've posted numerous times before. Go to the cheapest school, with decent pass rates for the national PT exam, that you get accepted into.
 
DPT tuition at Des Moines University is 20K per year. I learned plenty there. don't saddle yourself with 130K worth of debt. I am guessing it is more expensive to live in LA than in Des Moines as well.

Grants are nice, but why does that raise the tuition?
 
I have been accepted to several schools including the University of Southern California. I chose USC. Yes, it will be extremely expensive, as most private graduate schools are. The expected cost of your third year there is almost half the expected cost of your first two years. So, when you average it all out it is not much more expensive there than Wash U in St. Louis, another nationally recognized school. I think you have to go where you can be happy regardless of price. The base pay rate is 40-60k, but that is the BASE pay rate. Most therapist I know make considerably more than that after a few years experience and I live in a small town in the central U.S. Plus, there are many government programs that will agree to pay all or a portion of your debt if you agree to work for them for a 3-5 years. 3-5 years you would be spending gaining real world experience and credibility where ever you decided to work. Some programs are low income or rural communities and the Veteran's administration. Think of it this way too. Medical students are often in the same situation right out of med school. The ratio of earn income to student loan debt is horrible. But, no one would ever tell you not to go to a top medical school given the chance even if their specialty was going to be basic family medicine. You only get one chance at life, so you better make it count.
 
if you choose to blow that kind of money, you better have a budget planned to determine how you're going to pay it back.

case in point: i had breakfast with a friend of mine this morning who is a first year lawyer in philadelphia. his starting salary is $130,000. he went to villanova law school and now currently has a debt that exceeds $150,000. he went on a rant wishing he had gone to temple (an equally good school for a fraction of the cost). between rent and his loans, hes had no opportunity to put any money away for savings. granted, he lives in a pricey apartment and could probably work on his budgeting, but he literally makes double what any pt will be starting out with.

my point is, it sounds almost impossible to pay that kind of loan back on a pt salary. if you choose usc, i think youre going to be disaoppointed down the road when you have the exact same job as someone who is able to buy a house and a decent car, while youre working 7 days a week to make ends meet.
 
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