Episode 273 16 Jul, 2025
How Student Loan Planning, HRSA Loan Repayment & Nonprofit Student Loan Forgiveness Can Fuel Practice Growth with Connor Pierce
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With Connor Pierce
Wondering how to turn student loans into a recruitment and retention strategy for your group practice? This episode is for you.
I sat down with Connor Pierce – doctor of physical therapy and certified student loan consultant – to talk all things student loan planning, HRSA loan repayment, and nonprofit student loan forgiveness.
As group practice owners, we’re always looking for ways to support our team while growing our business sustainably. And let’s be real – student loan planning isn’t just about personal finance anymore. It can directly impact your hiring, retention, and overall business strategy.
Connor breaks it all down with practical tips on how to navigate student loan forgiveness for mental health professionals, how HRSA loan repayment programs work, and how nonprofit student loan forgiveness could be the edge you need to attract top talent.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
- What most group practice owners don’t know about student loan forgiveness for mental health professionals – and how to change that.
- The real difference between HRSA loan repayment and nonprofit student loan forgiveness (and how to know which is right for your practice).
- How opening a nonprofit arm of your practice could unlock student loan forgiveness for mental health professionals – and be a game-changer in hiring.
- The top student loan planning mistakes practice owners make – and how to avoid them.
- How your student loan planning strategy can (and should) be aligned with your business growth goals and tax planning.
Whether you’ve already paid off your loans or you’re still navigating repayment, there’s a ton of value in understanding how student loan planning fits into the bigger picture. Especially if you’re building a benefits package that stands out in a competitive hiring market.
Tune in to learn how HRSA loan repayment, nonprofit student loan forgiveness, and smart student loan planning can fuel sustainable growth in your group practice.
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Transcript: Connor Pierce
can you talk a little bit about PSLF payments and like how that would affect group practice owners who maybe do have a nonprofit arm in their practice?
[00:10:13] Connor Pierce: This is an interesting one. So yeah, if you have a for-profit entity, the only option available to use that longer term route, again, 20 or 25 years.
[00:10:21] Connor Pierce: But if you have a segment and you are employed by that, you have to be full time. Okay. So the first requirement for PSLF is you have to be full time. At a nonprofit entity. So if you have that arm, or maybe you have an employee who’s like, Hey, I’ll come work for you, but I want it to be a nonprofit because I was at a nonprofit in the past, that could be an enticing way to say, Hey, we do have this arm.
[00:10:42] Connor Pierce: You can be employed by them, and if you work 30 hours or more per week there, that can count towards PSLF forgiveness, which again, at the end of that 10 years, everything gets forgiven with. No tax. So that’s a pretty huge benefit to have for someone who has maybe six figure student loan debt right from going to grad school.
[00:10:58] Connor Pierce: So that could be a good way for a practice owner to inform and educate their employees, Hey, we have this. This could be a good option.
[00:11:05] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Yeah. And I feel like would be a good, I. Tool for getting clinicians in the door, like a good benefit for them?
[00:11:12] Connor Pierce: Absolutely. And a lot of people feel the frustration of, I’m competing with this hospital or this nonprofit organization, and that’s not fair because they can offer this benefit because they’re a nonprofit.
[00:11:23] Connor Pierce: And I can’t because I’m a for-profit entity. Even though it’s like, well, non-profit for-profit, it’s kind of this made up thing. ’cause they’re all trying to be profitable. Profitable, right? Yeah. So it’s kind of this unfair advantage, but that is a way that you could potentially, and again, you have to go through the bells and whistles of making sure it’s a legitimate non-profit.
[00:11:38] Connor Pierce: You can’t just hang your shingle and say I’m a non-profit.
[00:11:41] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Right. But
[00:11:41] Connor Pierce: once you do that, it’s a great opportunity.
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