A T Still University of Health Sciences Online Doctor of Athletic Training (Post-Professional)

ATSU's Doctor of Athletic Training is a terminal degree for athletic trainers who are already certified and already working. You take it in 10-week blocks, apart from one four-day Winter Institute in Mesa, Arizona, and finish with an applied research project instead of a dissertation. It isn't an exercise science degree, and it can't make you an athletic trainer. Choose it to lead, teach or improve care where you work.

A.T. Still University is a private nonprofit osteopathic health-professions school. Its online athletic training programs run through the Arizona School of Health Sciences. The doctorate is 60 credits, split into 42 core credits and 18 concentration credits, and the school says you can finish in as few as three years.

Admission is narrow. You need a master's degree or higher, Board of Certification (BOC) credentials as an athletic trainer or a close international equivalent, and a state license if your state requires one. ATSU also asks for a 2.75 graduate GPA, one recommendation form, a $70 application fee and a phone interview with the program director. The GRE isn't required.

Each course is ten one-week modules in Canvas, and you finish each week's work whenever you can inside that week. You take a variable number of courses per 10-week block, so you set your own load. There are four start dates a year.

The Winter Institute is the one required campus visit. It's four days of faculty presentations and daily small groups, and you present a project proposal built around your own workplace. You read a course reading list beforehand and complete an assessment afterward. One faculty member, Dr. Anderson, chairs the CAATE (Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education) Standards Committee and advises applied research projects.

Who It Fits

• Certified athletic trainers headed toward leadership or teaching. The core includes leadership, quality improvement and health information technology courses, and one of the five concentrations, Athletic Training Education, covers curriculum design, instruction and assessment for people who want to teach in athletic training programs.
• Clinicians who would rather fix a problem at their own job than write a dissertation. Your applied research project can be quality improvement, a case study or original research, and ATSU says most students keep working full time while they study.
• Athletic trainers who already hold ATSU's master's or one of its graduate certificates. Those credits count as advanced standing, and the school says the master's alone puts you 24% of the way to the DAT.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who isn't a certified athletic trainer yet. ATSU says this degree is not a route to certification and is open only to athletic trainers or people eligible for the BOC exam. ATSU's entry-level Master of Athletic Training is a hybrid program with clinical rotations, so it isn't covered on this site.
• People who want exercise science or exercise physiology as their field. Athletic training has its own credential through the BOC, not the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Browse our online doctorate options in exercise science if you want that path.
• Anyone who wants a research career. ATSU describes the DAT as a practice degree and the PhD as the degree for contributing new evidence, so a PhD fits better if you want a lab or a faculty research line.

Coursework is organized around three foundations. Clinical decision-making includes ATRN 7110 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, ATRN 7130 Patient-Oriented Outcomes, ATRN 7140 Health Information Technology and ATRN 7150 Clinical Scholarship in Athletic Training. Applied research includes ATRN 8010 Research Methods and Design, ATRN 8020 Methods of Data Analysis and ATRN 8100 Practice-Based Research. Leadership includes ATRN 8140 and the five-credit Winter Institute, ATRN 8150.

The applied research project is four 4-credit courses, ATRN 9001 through 9004. In the second one you write your proposal with your advisor and submit it to the IRB, the ethics board that approves studies involving people. Concentrations add orthopaedic imaging and surgery, movement dysfunction, concussion assessment or teaching methods.

Courses the School Names

• ATRN 7110 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
• ATRN 7130 Patient-Oriented Outcomes
• ATRN 7140 Health Information Technology
• ATRN 7150 Clinical Scholarship in Athletic Training
• ATRN 7230 Assessment of Movement Dysfunction
• ATRN 7240 Corrective Techniques for Movement Dysfunction
• ATRN 7430 Orthopaedic Imaging and Labs
• ATRN 7440 Orthopaedic Surgical Considerations
• ATRN 7340 Assessment and Management of Complex Patients with Concussion

Standout Features

• Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory: 3,000 sq ft with 12-camera Vicon motion analysis, Noraxon EMG, Kistler force plate, GaitRite, NeuroCom Smart Balance Master
• Doctoral program customizable with graduate certificates (page states 20 different ways)

ATSU charges $690 per credit plus a $44 per credit technology fee for 2026-27. Over 60 credits that's $41,400 in tuition and $2,640 in fees, or $44,040 in all, before scholarships. Bills come by semester and are due the first week of class, and late balances accrue 1.5% per month, which ATSU states as 18% per year.

Travel to Mesa for the Winter Institute is on top of that. Scholarships exist, including the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) Foundation's $2300 post-professional award, a scholarship for students committed to youth sports and several regional athletic training association awards.

60 credits at $690 a credit comes to $41,400 in tuition, before fees.

A.T. Still University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. ATSU's pages list no separate programmatic accreditation for this degree, and the DAT doesn't lead to a new certification. Your athletic trainer certification comes from the BOC, and you need it before you enroll.

Two rule changes shape exercise science bachelor's degrees but not this one. From August 15, 2027, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates (American College of Sports Medicine exercise physiologist certifications) must graduate from a program accredited by CAAHEP, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. From January 1, 2030, U.S. CSCS candidates (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

• ATSU's page calls the campus requirement a one-week institute in its summary and a four-day institute in its course description and FAQ. Plan for four days and confirm the dates.
• The page says you choose 24 elective credits in one place and 18 in another, even though the 60-credit total is 42 core plus 18 concentration.
• The master's head start is smaller than it sounds. ATSU says the MS puts you 24% of the way to the DAT, which is about 14 of the 60 credits, even though the MS itself is 30 credits.
• The Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory is a physical lab with motion capture and force plates. The page doesn't say online students can use it.

• Is the Winter Institute four days or a week, and can I attend in a later year if my work schedule blocks the first date?
• Are the concentration credits 18 or 24, and how do they fit inside the 42 core credits?
• If I finish ATSU's MS first, which of my 30 credits count toward the DAT, and does the $44 technology fee apply twice?
• Which applied research option fits a working clinician, and how are advisors matched to my topic?
• Will my employer's tuition benefit cover the technology fee and my travel to Mesa?
• How do you verify BOC certification and state licensure before I matriculate?

ATSU is a private osteopathic health-professions university with campuses in Kirksville (MO), Mesa (AZ) and San Luis Obispo (CA); its online athletic training and kinesiology programs are offered through the Arizona School of Health Sciences and College of Graduate Health Studies. Its mission cites 'osteopathic heritage and focus on whole person healthcare'.

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• Master of Science in Athletic Training (post-professional)

  M.S., Master's

  Fully Online $690 per credit Score 47.2

• Temple University

  Athletic Training, Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT)

  Pennsylvania $1,225 per credit Score 46.6

• Old Dominion University

  Doctor of Applied Science in Kinesiology (DAS)

  Virginia $662 per credit Score 45.8

• University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  Doctor of Education in Kinesiology (Online)

  North Carolina $667.04 per credit Score 49.1

• Concordia University-Saint Paul

  Doctor of Education in Kinesiology (emphases: Exercise Science, Exercise Physiology, Exercise and Sport Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning)

  Minnesota $690 per credit Score 44.5