Long-Term Career Earnings in Academia Might Offset the Opportunity Cost of Full-Time PhD and Postdoctoral Education for Physical Therapists Who Hold a Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree.
Alexander J Garbin, Jennifer E Stevens-Lapsley, R Mark Gritz and 2 others
PMID 37128811WHAT IT FOUND
PhD and postdoctoral training lowered earnings for physical therapists considering academia, but PhD careers broke even after 18 to 21 years and had greater 30-year cumulative compensation than non-PhD careers.
Key findings
01During training, both PhD career paths had lower total compensation: $264,854 less over 4 years of PhD training, and $357,065 less by the end of postdoctoral training for the majority-scholarship path.
02The PhD paths broke even after 18 to 21 years after DPT training relative to clinical and non-PhD academic careers.
03Over 30 years, the PhD path with less than 50% of workload committed to scholarship exceeded non-PhD careers by $449,372 versus clinical work and $372,931 versus academic non-PhD work, and the majority-scholarship PhD path exceeded them by $698,704 versus clinical work and $622,264 versus academic non-PhD work.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The model assumes PhD training starts right after DPT graduation, takes 4 years at $30,000, and postdoctoral training takes 2 years at $55,000; actual training salaries and time can differ. Salary data were from 2019 for academic careers and 2016 adjusted to 2019 for clinical careers, and the authors note pandemic-era salary data may not be typical. The analysis did not include loan repayment, scholarships, part-time clinical work, or other income, and it did not test how varying training time or salary would change the result. Promotion timing came from a survey of 75 DPT program directors and salary data from 1738 faculty salaries, not from observing the same people over 30 years. The projection is only 30 years and assumes 1% annual salary increases between rank changes, so longer or shorter careers could change the answer.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that PhD training is financially better for every physical therapist. It models one scenario with fixed training salaries and a 30-year horizon, and it excludes loan repayment, scholarships, part-time income, and individual career choices. The authors say these results are a starting point that must be adjusted for a person's own opportunities.