Citadel Military College of South Carolina Online Strength and Conditioning, B.S. Degree Completion Program

The Citadel's online Strength and Conditioning B.S. is a degree-completion program. You arrive with at least 30 college credits, the school maps the rest, and you finish a bachelor's aimed at coaching athletes and tactical teams. It fits transfer students who already know they want to coach. It won't fit you if you have less than a year of college behind you or you're headed toward clinical exercise physiology.

The Citadel is the Military College of South Carolina, and this degree comes from its Department of Health and Human Performance. It's 100% online with rolling enrollment and Fall, Spring, and Summer starts. The bachelor's totals 122 credit hours: 31 to 34 in general education, 60 in the major, and 30 in electives. Your transcript decides how many you take at The Citadel.

The coaching focus is athletic and tactical performance. The school lists tactical populations (military, law enforcement, fire and rescue), pro and college sport, and youth sport. Areas of study include exercise physiology, biomechanics, athlete assessment, sport nutrition, leadership, and performance monitoring.

The Citadel holds institutional accreditation from SACSCOC. On the program side, the page says NSCA recognizes it as an Educationally Recognized Program and that the curriculum is designed to support preparation for the CSCS, the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist exam. It doesn't say the degree includes the exam.

Two dated rules matter. Today CSCS candidates need a bachelor's degree and current CPR/AED, and that stays true until December 31, 2029. From January 1, 2030, U.S. candidates need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program.

CASCE is NSCA's current accreditation program, and this degree isn't among the 69 rows on the CASCE list we checked on September 29, 2026. A two-year map could finish before 2030, but confirm your exam timing with NSCA.

ACSM's rule, effective August 15, 2027, requires a CAAHEP-accredited exercise science or exercise physiology program for the ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP credentials. This degree isn't one. Careers the page names include sport performance, tactical strength and conditioning, and military human performance. Our CSCS guide covers the exam.

Where this degree can lead: Strength and Conditioning Coach Careers, CSCS Certification Requirements.

Who It Fits

• You finished an associate degree or have 30 or more credits from a regionally accredited school, with C or higher grades in the courses you want counted. The Citadel evaluates your transcripts and builds your plan around what transfers, so earlier work isn't wasted.
• You coach or train people now and want tactical strength and conditioning in your degree. STRC 301 covers it, and the page calls the program military and veteran friendly.
• You want a predictable schedule. The sample map takes 60 credits over six terms, two of them summers.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if you have fewer than 30 college credits. That's the entry minimum, so community college comes first.
• Skip it if your goal is ACSM's exercise physiologist credential or clinical work. This is a strength and conditioning degree, and it isn't on CAAHEP's list of accredited programs.
• Skip it if you can't line up a field site. STRC 395 and STRC 495 add 9 credits of field experience, and the department's internship page tells students to find their own sites.

The sample full-time map covers 60 credits in six terms. Year one opens with STRC 200 Instructional Aspects of Teaching and Coaching and EXSC 319 and 329 Physiology of Exercise with lab. Spring adds EXSC 314 Biomechanical Kinesiology, EXSC 315 Strength and Conditioning I, EXSC 320 Exercise Physiology II, HLED 401 Nutrition, and HLED 402 Sport Nutrition. Summer brings EXSC 200 Motor Learning and Development and PSYC 319 Psychological Resiliency.

Year two runs EXSC 412 Strength and Conditioning II, EXSC 202 Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries, EXSC 305 Measurement and Evaluation, EXSC 403 Exercise Testing and Prescription, STRC 395 Directed Field Experience, and the 6-credit STRC 495 Internship in Strength and Conditioning. The second summer finishes with STRC 301 Tactical Strength and Conditioning and SMGT 303 Event and Facility Management.

Courses the School Names

• EXSC 319 Physiology of Exercise
• EXSC 320 Exercise Physiology II
• EXSC 314 Biomechanical Kinesiology
• EXSC 315 Strength and Conditioning I
• EXSC 412 Strength and Conditioning II
• EXSC 403 Exercise Testing & Prescription
• STRC 301 Tactical Strength & Conditioning
• STRC 495 Internship in Strength & Conditioning
• HLED 402 Sport Nutrition
• EXSC 202 Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries

Standout Features

• NSCA Educationally Recognized Program
• Tactical strength and conditioning focus (military, law enforcement, fire/rescue) with a dedicated STRC 301 Tactical Strength & Conditioning course, offered by a Senior Military College
• Designed as a degree-completion pathway for transfer students, working professionals and military personnel

Tuition is $520 per credit hour for 1 to 11 credits, then a flat $6,240 for 12 to 21 credits in a term. The online table lists one rate with no resident and non-resident split. Every term adds a $15 registration fee, a $75 technology fee, and a $75 infrastructure fee, which is $165 before tuition. Cards carry a 2.85% service fee.

Here's the sample map priced out. Three terms of 12 or more credits cost $6,240 each, the 9-credit fall costs $4,680, and the two 6-credit summers cost $3,120 each. That's $29,640 in tuition, plus $990 in fees for six terms, or about $30,630 for the 60 credits at The Citadel.

Transfer credit moves your bill more than anything else. Taking all 122 credits at the per-credit rate would come to $63,440.

122 credits at $520 a credit comes to $63,440 in tuition, before fees.

The program page says the degree is 100% online, and it doesn't mention campus visits. You apply through the online evening undergraduate application, with official transcripts and a one-page letter.

Applied work is described concretely: technique evaluations and movement analysis, coaching demonstrations, performance testing and athlete assessment, and evidence-based program design projects. Field experience earns credit twice, 3 credits in STRC 395 and 6 in STRC 495.

For comparison, the department's internship page describes its Exercise Science internships as 100 hours with weekly supervisor sign-offs, a critical thinking paper, and a final presentation. Program coordinator Dr. Bryan Terlizzi books 30-minute meetings with prospective students.

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

• General education is your job. The transfer page lists what to finish first: composition and literature, one history course, humanities, math or statistics, natural science with a lab, and two social science courses. Anything missing becomes extra terms.
• Fees repeat every term, summers included, and the flat rate only saves money above 12 credits because 12 credits at $520 already equals $6,240.
• The credential match is loose. The page says NSCA recognizes it, but NSCA's current accreditation program doesn't list this degree, and that matters if you plan to sit the CSCS exam after 2029.
• The major is a single track. Use the 30 elective credits for psychology, sport management, business, or leadership.

• How many of my credits transfer, which general education courses would I still owe, and can I get the evaluation in writing before I commit?
• Who finds and approves the sites for STRC 395 and STRC 495, how many hours does each require, and can my current coaching job count?
• Do any courses meet at set times or use proctored exams, or is everything asynchronous?
• Is this degree on NSCA's CASCE list or in the process, and what should I expect for CSCS eligibility after January 1, 2030?
• How do GI Bill benefits and military tuition assistance apply to the $520 rate and the $6,240 flat rate?

Senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina whose Corps of Cadets is complemented by the Citadel Graduate College and online degree-completion programs for civilians and veterans. Its Department of Health and Human Performance houses exercise science, strength and conditioning, coaching and sport management, and a named human performance laboratory.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 13 of 46, bachelor's
• Best Online Bachelor's Programs Rank 13 of 46, bachelor's
• Best Online Strength and Conditioning Degrees Rank 2 of 12, bachelor's
• Best Degree Completion Programs Rank 11 of 34, bachelor's
• Best for Coaches Rank 5 of 11, bachelor's
• Best Certification-Ready Programs Rank 5 of 7, bachelor's

Also at Citadel Military College of South Carolina, but not counted here because they are not fully online: Health and Human Performance: Concentration in Exercise Science, M.S. (master's, on campus); Health and Human Performance: Concentration in Coaching and Athletic Performance, M.S. (master's, on campus); Exercise Science, B.S. (bachelor's, on campus).

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