Abilene Christian University Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science (Online)

ACU's online exercise science bachelor's is a full four-year degree from a private Christian university, priced at a flat $395 per credit hour that stays locked for your whole degree. It's a strong match if you hold NASM credentials or have college credit to transfer, because ACU takes up to 80 credits. It lists no programmatic accreditation, so check it against your certification plans before you apply.

Abilene Christian University is a private Christian school in Abilene, Texas, and this degree is offered through ACU Online in its College of Health and Human Services. The program director, Dr. Kathy Carroll, worked as a pharmacist before earning a doctorate in health and human performance with an exercise physiology focus.

The degree is 120 credit hours: 56 hours of university requirements, including 9 to 15 hours of Bible, and a 64-hour major with up to 17 hours of electives. You need a 2.5 high school GPA or a 2.0 college GPA, and no ACT or SAT score. The next listed starts are October 20, 2026 and January 12, 2027.

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

Undergraduate tuition is $395 per credit hour. Across 120 hours that's $47,400 before transfer or NASM credit. Active-duty tuition assistance is $250 per credit hour, which works out to $30,000 over 120 hours if tuition assistance covered every credit. ACU adds a $310 resource fee per session, or $620 a semester, and there's a $50 application fee.

Transfer changes the math. ACU requires at least 40 hours through its own online courses, so a student transferring the maximum 80 credits pays for 40 hours, which is $15,800 plus resource fees. Locked-In Tuition means the $395 doesn't rise while you're enrolled.

120 credits at $395 a credit comes to $47,400 in tuition, before fees.

Who It Fits

• Certified trainers who hold National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) credentials. ACU gives up to 9 hours of credit for the NASM Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Sports Nutrition Coach or Performance Enhancement Specialist certifications, which it says saves more than $3,500 in tuition.
• Transfer students and adult learners with credits already in hand. ACU accepts up to 80 transfer credits, up to 30 hours of College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam credit, and reviews military training through the American Council on Education.
• Students who want faith woven into the coursework. ACU describes a Christ-centered virtual community, and the Bible hours are built into the degree, so this is a school for people who want that.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone counting on the ACSM-EP exam, the American College of Sports Medicine's exercise physiologist certification, after August 15, 2027. ACU's pages list no accreditation from CAAHEP, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, and the program isn't on the CAAHEP list we pulled September 29, 2026. See the best online bachelor's degrees in exercise science if that rule matters to you.
• Students who don't want religion courses. The 9 to 15 Bible hours are part of the degree's 56 university-requirement hours.
• Anyone who wants a supervised internship. The degree ends with a capstone course, and no placement is listed.

ACU's 2024-25 program flyer lists the major courses. EXSO 201 Foundations of Exercise Science comes early. KINO 232 Structural Kinesiology, KINO 311 Motor Behavior and EXSO 374 Exercise Physiology and Applications build the science. KINO 342 Exercise Testing, Evaluation and Prescription teaches you to evaluate fitness and design programs, and EXSO 401 Strength and Conditioning for Performance covers sport and tactical populations.

EXSO 421 Exercise and Special Populations addresses children, older adults, pregnancy and clinical conditions. EXSO 451 prepares you for a professional certification, KINO 399 covers research methods, and EXSO 491 is the capstone. Required science includes two semesters of anatomy and physiology with labs, chemistry, statistics and psychology.

Courses the School Names

• EXSO 201 Foundations of Exercise Science
• KINO 232 Structural Kinesiology
• KINO 311 Motor Behavior
• KINO 342 Exercise Testing, Evaluation and Prescription
• EXSO 374 Exercise Physiology and Applications
• EXSO 401 Strength and Conditioning for Performance
• EXSO 421 Exercise and Special Populations
• KINO 399 Research Methods in Kinesiology and Nutrition
• EXSO 491 Exercise Science Capstone

Standout Features

• NASM partnership: up to 9 credit hours for NASM certifications and an integrated NASM CPT prep course
• Christ-centered online community; Locked-In Tuition

ACU describes its online undergraduate formats as asynchronous, so you move at your own pace inside each course's deadlines. There's no separate tuition for out-of-state or international students.

The degree finishes with EXSO 491, a capstone where you pull together what you've learned. The flyer also lists KINO 498 Biomechanics, which it describes as analysis, diagnosis and demonstration as used in a teaching situation. Ask how the anatomy and physiology labs are delivered, since the flyer lists them as separate courses.

ACU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the regional accreditor. The program has no separate programmatic accreditation listed. For certification prep, ACU integrates an NASM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) course, and a personal trainer certification doesn't require a degree at all.

The bigger questions are two rule changes. From August 15, 2027, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP (clinical exercise physiologist) candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program. From January 1, 2030, U.S. candidates for the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program, meaning the Council on Accreditation of Strength and Conditioning Education. ACU's pages mention neither.

For context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports a May 2025 median of $59,460 for exercise physiologists.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

• No CAAHEP or CASCE accreditation appears on ACU's pages, which limits the ACSM-EP and CSCS routes after 2027 and 2030.
• The resource fee is worded three ways. The program page says $310 per term, the tuition page says $310 per session ($620 per semester), and the older flyer says $300 per part of term.
• The NASM CPT prep course is announced for "this Spring" without a year, so it may not run every term.
• The federal graduation rate for the whole university is 59%, and ACU admits 66% of applicants. Neither number is specific to this program.

• Is the resource fee $310 per session or per term, and how many sessions will I take in a year?
• How are the anatomy and physiology labs delivered online, and do I buy materials?
• Will the NASM CPT prep course run every year, and how does it connect to EXSO 451?
• Can you evaluate my certifications, CLEP scores and military transcripts before I apply?
• Has the program started the CAAHEP accreditation process for ACSM candidates after August 15, 2027?
• How long are your sessions, and how many start dates are there a year beyond October 20 and January 12?

Private Christian university in Abilene, TX with more than 5,400 students and 17 NCAA Division I teams (per acu.edu). Exercise science lives in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition; the online B.S. is offered through ACU Online.

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