General Program Description
Pearl River Community College’s physical therapist assistant program is a two-year integrated program in which all academic courses are completed by the end of the first year. PTA courses are taken throughout both years. The program has two faculty members. A new class of 20 is admitted each August. Students are in class approximately 15-18 hours per week. Graduation is held in May each year.
Clinical Experiences
Clinical education begins in the summer semester of the first year with one, 3-week clinical experience. It continues in the second semester of the sophomore year with three, 5-week clinical experiences. Approximately 75 clinical sites located in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, and Florida are available. Students are given a clinical site preference, but assignments are made to provide a variety of experiences. Some travel will be required during this phase of the program. Settings include acute care hospital, rehabilitation, private clinics, burn centers, outpatient clinics, school system, pediatric centers, and home health care.
Faculty
There are two full-time faculty members. The faculty-to-student ratio is 1:20. Both instructors have Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. The Program Director has her DPT.
Enrollment
Total enrollment at the college is approximate 4,800 with 2,800 on the main campus in Poplarville, MS, and approximately 2,000 at the Hattiesburg Center where the PTA program is located. The physical therapist assistant program admits 20 students each August. The total number of students in the program is 40.
Admission
Applications for admission are accepted until the second Monday of April deadline each year. Each applicant must submit ACT scores, official college transcripts (if college courses have been taken), an official high school transcript, and an application to both Pearl River Community College and the PTA program. Selections are made by an admissions committee based on a formula derived from the composite ACT score, previous college grade point average (GPA) and college core GPA, or high school GPA and interview. Final selection is based on rank score and interview score. For more information concering application and admission to the PTA Program please visit the program’s home page at http://www.prcc.edu/career-tech/physical-therapist-assistant.
Outcomes
PTA Program Outcomes Data Graduating Class 2012 2013 2014 Number of Students Admitted (2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively) 21 22 21 Number of Students Graduated 16 22 16 Ultimate Licensure Pass Rate (20012-2014 with 53 graduates testing) 100% Employment Rate (% of graduates who were employed as PTAs within six months of graduation) 100 100 100
Tuition, fees and financial aid
The average cost of tuition, fees, books, and liability insurance for the 2014-2015 school year is approximately $5000.00 for in-state students. Other expenses include uniform, APTA membership dues, name tag, transportation, housing, and meals while on clinical rotations. Application and information concerning financial aid is available upon request and is located on the Pearl River Community College website at www.prcc.edu. The college conducts several financial aid workshops each year. For more information, contact 601-403-1211.
Student life
Pearl River Community College is a multi-campus institution. The PTA program is housed in the Allied Health Building at the Forrest County Center in Hattiesburg, MS. Although no student housing is available at the Center, adjacent housing may be found in Hattiesburg, a city of approximately 65,000. Hattiesburg, recently selected as one of the top 10 “livable cities”, has a variety of recreational and cultural activities available. The Physical Therapist Assistant Club is active at the Forrest County Center. The Mississippi Gulf Coast beaches are approximately 1.5 hours south, and New Orleans is approximately 2 hours south.