Urgent call to action: Without your comment, the Department of Education may never hear the full story.
Act Now: AT Education at Risk Under New Federal Loan Rule
The Department of Education (ED) has issued a proposed rule, “Reimagining and Improving Student Education”, that would establish new federal student loan caps for graduate students. If finalized as written, this rule will have serious and lasting consequences for athletic training education, the athletic training workforce, and the patients and communities we serve.
Why This Matters: The Athletic Training Degree
Athletic training has a long and established history as a healthcare profession. Today, entry into the profession requires a master’s degree; this is not a bachelor’s-level field. The Master of Athletic Training (MAT or MS) degree is the sole pathway to eligibility for the Board of Certification (BOC) exam, which is required for licensure in the vast majority of states. There is no alternative route: without the graduate degree, there is no certification, and without certification, there is no licensure and no clinical practice.
This is exactly the kind of post-baccalaureate, licensure-required, accreditation-dependent program the professional degree classification was designed to protect, yet athletic training has been left off the list.
What the Rule Does
Following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the Grad PLUS loan program has been eliminated. Graduate students are now limited to Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans. Under the proposed rule, most graduate students (including athletic training students) would be capped at $20,500 per year and $100,000 lifetime. Programs classified as “professional degree programs” would have access to up to $50,000 per year and $200,000 lifetime.
ED’s proposed list of professional degree programs includes only 11 fields: Pharmacy, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Chiropractic, Law, Medicine, Optometry, Osteopathic Medicine, Podiatry, Theology, and Clinical Psychology. Athletic training, along with many other licensed health professions, is excluded.
The Harm Is Real
When the cost of a graduate degree outpaces available federal financial support, students don’t find another way—they choose another field. Lower loan caps will reduce the number of students who can afford to enroll in master’s-level athletic training programs, which directly translates to fewer certified and licensed athletic trainers entering the workforce.
We are already facing significant workforce demand. Athletic trainers are on the sidelines when a high school athlete collapses from cardiac arrest. They are in the locker room when a concussion goes unrecognized. They are in the clinic when a post-surgical patient needs rehabilitation to return to sport or work. These are not abstract scenarios—they are the daily realities of what happens when a qualified AT is present, and what is lost when one is not.
Rural schools, underserved communities, and under-resourced institutions will feel this most acutely. These are often the settings where an AT makes the greatest difference, and the first places a workforce shortage will leave people without care.
How to Submit Your Comment
In your letter, consider including:
- Who you are and your connection to athletic training education
- That the master’s degree is required to sit for BOC certification and obtain state licensure — there is no other path to clinical practice
- How lower loan caps would affect your program’s enrollment or your students’ ability to complete their degree
- The broader workforce and public health consequences of fewer ATs in the field
- A specific request that ED include athletic training in the regulatory definition of a professional degree program
To submit your comment:
- Visit regulations.gov/document/ED-2025-OPE-0944-0001 (or search ED-2025-OPE-0944-0001 on regulations.gov)
- Click the blue “Comment” button
- Upload your letter as a PDF (do not include contact information in the letter body — you will enter that during submission)
- Click “Submit Comment”
You will receive a confirmation email once submitted. Given expected high volume near the deadline, we encourage you to submit as early as possible.
AATE is working alongside CAATE, NATA, and the Alliance for Healthcare Access & Workforce Development to advocate for a broad definition that recognizes any post-baccalaureate degree required for licensure and credentialed practice as a professional degree program. Every individual comment submitted strengthens that record.
With appreciation and resolve,
Jennifer L. Volberding, PhD, LAT, ATC, NREMR
Preferred Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
President, Board of Directors
Association for Athletic Training Education (AATE)