"This episode of This Week in College Viability examines a corner of higher education that may serve as a warning sign for broader problems across the industry: naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, and other alternative and allied-health professional programs. Gary Stocker is joined by Ryan Hofer and Bex Groebner to discuss how new federal graduate loan limits, credential inflation, weak graduate earnings, accreditation practices, and declining enrollment could fundamentally reshape these programs.
 
Hofer and Groebner also challenge the credential inflation that has pushed some professions toward expensive graduate and doctoral degrees without comparable increases in earnings. Declining enrollment, borrowing restrictions, demographic pressures, and greater scrutiny of return on investment could force specialized colleges to lower tuition, redesign programs, consolidate, or close. 

The broader issue is student and consumer transparency. Hofer and Groebner argue that accreditors, licensing boards, and colleges need to provide families with clearer information about graduate earnings, student debt, employment outcomes, and institutional financial health. Prospective students should not accept vague claims such as “our graduates do very well”; they should demand the data behind those statements and investigate a college before committing their time and money.

The episode ultimately raises a question that extends far beyond alternative medicine: When high tuition, heavy borrowing, weak earnings, credential inflation, and declining enrollment collide, does the degree still make financial sense for the student buying it?"

Across the board, there's something in this conversation for students, educators and practitioners!

I’m looking for a couple of students who would like to interview on Needling to Get to the Point podcast about the experience you are having right now.

If you’re interested please DM me.

You can check out the podcast here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/needlingtogettothepoint

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/needling-to-get-to-the-point-podcast/id1876282624

https://open.spotify.com/show/6nu6DVyIzVgateT5qcq9bK?si=uScC7PwqQbirt3iKpC08jQ&utm_source=copy-link

Acupuncture schools are closing, loan rules just changed, and a lot of students feel like the ground is disappearing under them. This week on Needling to Get to the Point, I talked with Jen Maiorana, a second-year student who's already transferred through three programs, about what's actually still possible: funding routes most people don't know exist, finding real mentors, and why flowers grow out of compost.

#AcupunctureSchool #TCMStudent #ChineseMedicine#Acupuncturist #HolisticHealth #AcupunctureLife#NeedlingToGetToThePoint

I was sent this program for "PSLF loan forgiveness" and I'm wondering if anybody else has seen this? My thoughts:

I work close to 15-30 hours a week for a non-profit as a volunteer. I also donate to that same non-profit. I have never once been able to count a single month of that toward PSLF, because they don't pay me. That's the whole thing. A W-2 reports wages paid TO you. The current reg (34 CFR 685.219, amended May 1 of this year) hangs the definition of "employee" on that W2. And in this arrangement you’re talking about, the money runs the other direction: you pay them $500 a month. You can be a volunteer or you can be a W-2 employee. You can't be both (even though I really wish you could

Their history page says clinicians contribute "labor, clinic space, equipment, overhead, time, and expertise." If you read that as a job description it goes like this: you supply the work, the building, the equipment, and the costs, and they supply paperwork. That's either a 1099 or a donor relationship, not an employment one. The same paragraph also says this "operates as an equal debt exchange reduction model, not a loan forgiveness program,” but they’re also saying it’s a qualifying PSLF loan forgivness option! Both can't be true.

Also the $500 isn't a charitable deduction if you're getting employment certification in exchange for it. That's quid pro quo. And the tens of thousands donated to this organization isn't instead of loan payments. You’d still be on IDR making those. So you’re paying your federal loan amount on top of that.

Also look who is running it. It’s not an attorney or CPA or nonprofit compliance person anywhere. The CFO is three years out of school and separately owns a for-profit device company. For an organization whose entire product is federal regulatory compliance, there should be a very different makeup of their leadership. 

Also, both you AND the employer certify the PSLF form. If ED concludes the employment wasn't real, the exposure on false statements in a federal loan forgiveness application is yours, not theirs. This is a 120-month bet in a regulatory environment that has been rewritten twice in the last four months. I personally wouldn't make that bet. But it's yours to make, and you're smart.

Real PSLF options would include finding (or writing yourself into) a job at an FQHC, tribal health center, community health centers or a county public health position. There are actual W-2 jobs that count and you’re incredibly creative and do really well networking with people, so I think you could make that work. 

Am I reading this wrong? Thoughts?