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Abstract

Introduction: Recently, there has been speculation that the transition to a master’s degree for entry into the athletic training profession has resulted in a shortage of athletic trainers (ATs) relative to the number of jobs available. The Board of Certification has announced that the total number of credentialed ATs has not decreased, yet athletic training programs consistently report challenges in recruiting athletic training students to their programs. Data provided by the CAATE from annual reports is typically two years old once it is made publicly available. Program and institutional administrators need access to real-time data to make decisions regarding program continuation and enrollment targets. The purpose of this study was to examine enrollment data of professional graduate athletic training programs for the classes of 2024 and 2025. Methods: We employed a cross-sectional online survey to capture current athletic training student enrollment in CAATE-accredited graduate professional athletic training programs. Program director contact information was obtained from the CAATE and 260 graduate program administrators were emailed. We collected the number of students enrolled in the class of 1a) 2024, and 1b) 2025, 2) length of time the program has been at the graduate level, 3) whether an accelerated track (e.g., 3+2) existed, and 4) enrollment characterization (i.e., stable, unstable, increase, decreasing, too early to tell). Of the 260 programs contacted, 20 were removed due to not having a cohort enrolled or being in their last year of offering the program. We received data from 207 (86.3%) of the remaining programs and determined each institution’s funding classification (public, private). Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the data, an odds ratio was calculated to determine whether public or private institutions were more likely to have an accelerated program, and independent samples t-tests were performed to compare enrollment across public and private institutions with and without accelerated tracks. Results: Public institution programs (PUI) represented 66% (N=136) of programs, of which 75 (55%) had an accelerated track. Private institutions programs (PRI) represented 34% (N=71) programs, of which 61 (86%) had an accelerated track. PUIs reported a mean enrollment of 19.6 ± 11.3 students, and PRIs reported a mean enrollment of 15.7 ± 9.1. Approximately 41% (N=56) of PUIs reported increasing enrollment, while 30% (N=21) of PUIs reported enrollment trends as increasing. PRIs had greater odds of offering an accelerated track (OR=4.96, 95%CI [2.35, 10.50], p

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