There’s no doubt that becoming a physical therapist is expensive. The cost of physical therapy school and amount of debt many PT’s take on is one of the biggest issues in the profession even if you’re attending a relatively inexpensive school. To offset the cost of PT education, it can be helpful to get scholarships. Unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of these and it can be difficult to find them. Here are some suggestions for narrowing your search:
- Many PT schools offer scholarships for students in their own program. For example, I received a merit scholarship at Columbia for keeping my GPA above a certain threshold. And I edit essays all the time for students applying to school-specific scholarships at their own programs.
- The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) offers students several scholarships, including for minority students and students in different sections. For most of these, you do have to be an APTA member (which means paying a fee to join).
- Rizing Tide, which was created by WebPT’s founder, offers their own scholarship for BIPOC students and also has a helpful list of other scholarships to apply for.
- Check out local scholarships. For example, NYC offers scholarships to PT and OT students. Google your state or city + “scholarship” and see what comes up.
- Underrepresented student scholarships. There are many scholarships for BIPOC students, first generation students, and others who may be underrepresented. Google whichever category applies to you + “scholarship” and you may find some of these.
Good luck and let me know if you find anything else!