Physical therapy school is one of the most expensive graduate programs in healthcare. The average DPT graduate leaves school carrying roughly $140,000–$170,000 in student debt, often at interest rates that make standard 10-year repayment feel impossible on a new-grad salary.

If you’re a current or prospective DPT, you’ve probably heard the phrase “student loan forgiveness” thrown around — but the actual paths that apply to physical therapists are narrower and more specific than most blog posts let on. This guide walks through the real options in 2026, what qualifies, what doesn’t, and what to look at when forgiveness isn’t on the table.

The five paths PTs should actually evaluate

1. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

PSLF forgives the remaining balance on Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments while employed full-time by a qualifying employer — generally a government entity or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

What qualifies for PTs:

• VA hospitals and military treatment facilities
• Public and nonprofit hospital systems (most academic medical centers)
• School-district-based PT roles
• Certain nonprofit community health centers
• Nonprofit inpatient rehabilitation facilities

What does NOT qualify:

• Most outpatient orthopedic and sports PT clinics (the vast majority are for-profit, including multi-brand networks)
• Private practice ownership
• Travel PT through for-profit staffing agencies
• Home health through for-profit agencies

If PSLF is your primary financial plan, you’ll need to route your career through qualifying settings. This is a real tradeoff worth being explicit about — many PTs discover mid-career that their clinic structure doesn’t qualify and that past payments don’t count.

2. Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness

After 20–25 years on an IDR plan (SAVE, PAYE, IBR, or ICR — availability changes periodically), any remaining balance is forgiven. Unlike PSLF, IDR forgiveness applies to any employer. The tradeoff: IDR stretches the timeline significantly and the forgiven balance may be treated as taxable income in the year of forgiveness, depending on current law.

IDR is the default fallback for PTs whose employer doesn’t qualify for PSLF but who still need manageable monthly payments on a new-grad salary.

3. NHSC Loan Repayment Program

The National Health Service Corps offers up to $50,000 in loan repayment for healthcare professionals — including PTs in some years — who work full-time at an NHSC-approved site in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). Eligibility for PTs fluctuates year over year, so check current status at hrsa.gov before planning around it.

4. State-level programs

Several states run their own loan repayment programs for healthcare workers in underserved regions. Rhode Island and Massachusetts both have healthcare workforce programs that have included PTs in some cycles. These are worth a 30-minute search on your state’s health department site.

5. Employer loan repayment assistance

Since the CARES Act and subsequent extensions through SECURE 2.0, employers can contribute up to $5,250 per year toward an employee’s student loans on a tax-free basis. This doesn’t forgive the loan — it helps pay it down. Growing numbers of PT employers, including Highbar, offer this as a recruitment and retention benefit.

What to do before committing to a forgiveness strategy

• Pull your full loan profile at StudentAid.gov. Confirm which loans are federal Direct Loans (PSLF-eligible) vs. FFEL or private (not PSLF-eligible without consolidation).
• Use the PSLF Help Tool to verify whether a prospective employer qualifies — don’t assume.
• Model your payments under IDR with the Loan Simulator. New grads are often shocked by how low their IDR payment is.
• Ask employers directly what they offer for loan assistance and whether they’re a qualifying PSLF employer. A good talent team should be able to answer this without hesitation.
• Talk to a fee-only financial planner if your debt is above $150,000. The math is specific to your situation and worth paying a few hundred dollars to get right.

Where Highbar fits

Highbar is a network of outpatient physical therapy clinics across Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Like most outpatient PT employers, we are not a PSLF-qualifying employer.

What we do offer is a comprehensive package designed to help PTs build financial security without routing through a federal forgiveness program:

• Competitive starting salaries for new grads entering the outpatient specialty
• Employer-paid student loan repayment assistance as part of our benefits package
• The H-Share Plan, a growth-participation benefit that gives every team member — from your first day — a financial stake in Highbar’s growth as we build toward serving one million people annually by 2032
• Strong mentorship through our new grad DPT program, including residency-style structure and board certification support

If you’re weighing a PSLF-qualifying hospital role against an outpatient career, the honest framing is this: PSLF works if you can commit to a qualifying employer for a decade. If you want outpatient clinical practice, the question shifts to which employer offers the strongest compensation, growth, and loan-support structure.

Review Highbar’s total compensation package to see the full picture of what we offer new grads. If you’re about to graduate and want to talk through the math on any of this, reach out to our Talent team. We’ll be honest about what qualifies and what doesn’t.

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