I received my financial award letter a while ago, and it got me thinking about some classmates who have helped reduce their loan money in school. With Ashley (my wife) working part-time, it has helped us somewhat. Plus, my big bucks from teaching 3 guitar students helps even more J. Therefore, I asked a few classmates to share their thoughts and experiences about the talk of money.
Many of you may be asking the question, “Are there alternative ways to help pay for graduate school aside from loans?” My name is Kristin Stockham. I’m from the Regis University DPT Class of 2011 and I’m here to tell you the answer is “yes!” The cost of a private, graduate school education can be daunting, especially when you look at the average salary of a full time physical therapist. However, there are ways to help off-set these costs. I have participated in the work study program for 3 semesters. I am also the recipient of a scholarship offered to Regis physical therapist students during their third semester.
The opportunities for work study at Regis include helping physical therapy faculty members with their research projects. Depending on the faculty projects, there are opportunities to, for example, implement clinical tests, perform literature reviews or input data into the computer. Your first and foremost priority at Regis is being a successful physical therapist student, so the faculty are very willing to accommodate to our schedule. Some weeks I worked 8 hours; other weeks I didn’t work at all. It’s been an incredible opportunity to learn more about the area of research within the field of physical therapy as well as give my brain a rest of PT school “things!” ☺ It has also been neat to get to know the faculty outside of the classroom setting. However, I would not recommend attempting work study during your first or second semesters as a PT student. As far as scholarships are concerned I would recommend first looking into scholarships sponsored by your local communities. For instance, in my community, Soroptimist International of the Americas offers a scholarship to women seeking a higher education in the health sciences. There are many scholarships that receive literally thousands of applicants. To be completely honest, I’ve stopped applying for them because I never had any luck. However, my financial advisor told me to start looking for scholarships within my community. Not only do they then have a face to put with the name, but they also have a sense of loyalty and pride in helping a member of their community achieve a goal. Likewise, my financial advisor also told me to look for scholarships related to my ethnicity. I am the typical, white American female attending physical therapy school. However, I was surprised to see I was eligible for some scholarships based on the fact that my great grandparents were from Russia. He said it is surprising how many scholarships actually are not awarded, even in this economy, due to the fact that people do not know or do not take the time to search out and complete scholarship applications.
If you have any questions regarding scholarships or work-study at Regis please e-mail me at stock163@regis.edu.
Another classmate, Liz, gives the following about AmeriCorp scholarships:
As you have probably figured out, PT school is expensive! So it’s always nice to find some way to help offset some of the cost. One option Regis offers is that you can receive an AmeriCorp scholarship for some of your required clinical affiliation time. AmeriCorp offers this scholarship to healthcare students who are doing their clinical experience in non-profit clinics, hospitals, or other organizations. This scholarship ranges from approximately $1000 to $2500, depending on the length of the clinical.
I have taken advantage of this scholarship for 3 of my 4 clinicals. The PT Department makes it really easy for students to participate in this opportunity by having the Clinical Education Secretary run the program and ensure students have all the proper paperwork in place. All you have to do, as the student, is work the required time during your clinical rotations, get the PT you are working with to sign your timesheet, and get all the paperwork back to Regis.
There are many non-profit clinical options at Regis and many students in my class have been able to receive this scholarship for a least one or two of their clinicals. Though there are more important factors to consider when choosing your clinical rotations, this is a nice option if you do end up somewhere with a non-profit status.
Here’s Larissa, another classmate who worked during PT school:
When I interviewed at Regis University, I was told that it would be impossible for me to work and maintain my grades in school. If you have been told the same thing, I am here to tell you it’s not impossible. I have worked as a Physical Therapist Assistant on weekends the entire time I’ve been in this DPT program. I don’t want to miss-lead you. It was very difficult and required a lot of time management on my part to make sure I did my assignments early to get them in on time. I would say that working in a part time or full time job would be very difficult. I only worked on average of 4-5 days a month unless we were on break. There were great benefits for working while in school. I never experienced the financial restraints that my classmates dealt with. I also was able to see patients that had the conditions we recently covered in the classroom. This made the material more applicable to me and easier to learn.
On top of working while in PT school, I also volunteered at my church and a downtown organization that was a before and after school program for inner city youth. School itself is more than a full time job. However, if you are truly passionate about something or dedicated to having a life outside of school, it is possible. I recommend that every Regis Student get involved in this community somehow while you are here. It will help you keep life in perspective and keep you grounded during this program. Whether that’s working, volunteering, or spending your weekends hiking in the mountains, there is time to do what you enjoy doing as long as you make the time for it.
~Larissa Torres Nixon
DPT Class of 2011
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