military PA school with a bachelor's?

[lilyclare]

Hello. To begin, I apologize if this question has been asked before, but I could not find the information I needed for my situation. Google results articles are incredibly vague so hopefully speaking to people will be better for me!

I am an undergraduate pre-PA student. I am interested in going through the military for PA school. I do not have any military involvement at this point in time. Do they train people with a bachelor's degree, is it paid for, how many years of service will I be committed to? The little information I could find online leads me to believe they only train people who are already in service, but I've been told otherwise by people who kind of know what they are talking about, kind of not. Any answers to the questions above or any related questions I might have forgotten would be greatly appreciated! 

[AdamPAC]

First, I only know specifics of one of the military options below. Specifics in eligibility for service as well as for each of these branches of the military change from year to year based on the needs of the military.

That disclaimer out of the way, yes, the military can pay for your PA school. There are scholarship opportunities for that through the different services that would obligate you to a period of active duty service in return for time as a PA following your graduation. As far as I know from looking into them prior to school, they typically pay for tuition at a civilian PA program you’ve been accepted to, books, and provide a monthly stipend.

The training that requires first being  in the military that you referred to is called the Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP) and is the military’s own PA school. This is what I did, because I had already been enlisted in the Army. I think minimum time served prior to application to the program is still 4 years, but most who apply have significantly more time served already.

Another option, if you want to serve, is to go through civilian school under traditional loans and get student loan repayment once you join a service after graduation. There is a limit to how much is repaid.

If at all interested in these routes and the military in general, you should really speak to someone who works in the service you’re interested in as a PA first to see if it would be for you, because you would “pay back” your school financing by serving several years. Sorry that I can’t give specifics, but that all depends on the needs of the military at the time you sign a contract, which would require you to talk to a recruiter in that service to know what to expect.

[TheFatMan]

If you want to be trained to be a PA by the military, you must already be in the miltary. https://medcoe.army.mil/ipap-prospective-student-students

 

That said, there are plenty of threads regarding HPSP which will pay you to go to a civilian school with the caveat that you owe them service afterward. Total service obligation with this program is 8 years (6 active, 2 inactive reserves). Talk to a recruiter for more info. https://www.navycs.com/officer/hpsp.html