Beyond Scarcity: Reimagining an Abundant Future for Physical Therapist Education

Physical therapist education (PTE) has historically been shaped by scarcity: deliberate structural and cultural choices that constrain who is admitted, how instruction is delivered, and what pathways lead into the profession. These constraints have reinforced exclusivity, elevated institutional prestige over public access, and resisted reform under the guise of protecting quality. In this position paper, we apply Smith's Abundant University framework to rethink scarcity and reimagine PTE, offering a future-oriented vision that aligns with broader trends in higher education and addresses workforce, equity, and affordability concerns.

We argue that physical therapy must reject scarcity-driven assumptions and embrace an abundance framework-rooted in scalability, flexibility, and inclusivity-to reimagine PTE for contemporary needs. We identify specific barriers-including rigid seat-time requirements, exclusionary admissions metrics, and the lack of physical therapist assistant to physical therapist pathways-as evidence that scarcity is embedded by design. Drawing on examples from digital education, competency-based learning, and health care workforce development, we describe how long-standing ideas (e.g., hybrid learning, holistic admissions, modular credentialing) take on new relevance within an abundance framework.

An abundance framework reveals untapped potential to expand student access, enhance and scale instruction, and diversify credentialing pathways. Despite regulatory, financial, and cultural barriers, the profession has the capacity-and responsibility-to reject artificial limits, create new pathways to practice, and redefine quality by outcomes that matter: competence, access, and societal impact. Embracing abundance offers a unifying vision and actionable strategies to build a more inclusive, scalable, and sustainable future for physical therapist education.