Dear Missouri OTA/OT Community,
We want to make you aware of an important federal policy change that could significantly affect current and future occupational therapy students.
The issue comes down to how occupational therapy programs are classified. OT was previously treated as a professional program, which allowed students to borrow higher federal loan amounts similar to other clinical professions. Under the new rules, OT programs will be treated as graduate programs instead. This shift lowers the federal loan limits that students can access. Most OT graduate students would be limited to 20,500 dollars per year and a 100,000 dollar lifetime cap on federal loans.
These limits fall far below the actual cost of many OT master’s and doctoral programs, creating real barriers to entering the profession and potentially worsening existing workforce shortages.
This issue affects all of us, practitioners, educators, and students, and now is the time to speak up.
What you can do:
Your voice can help protect access to OT education and strengthen the future of our profession. Please take a moment to reach out today.
In solidarity,
Maria Lindbergh, MOT, OTR/L, ECHM and
Dr. Lindsay Bright, OTD, OTR/L
Co-Directors of Practice
Missouri Occupational Therapy Association (MOTA)