Georgia State University Online Kinesiology and Health, Exercise Science Pathway (Associate of Science)

Georgia State's online exercise science pathway is the cheapest online associate program on our list. You earn a 60-credit Associate of Science through Perimeter College at $105 a credit, then move to Georgia State's Atlanta campus for the CAAHEP-accredited B.S. It's a stepping stone, not a job credential, and the pathway won't appear on your diploma. Choose it if you're willing to finish the bachelor's in person in Atlanta.

Georgia State is a large public research university in downtown Atlanta. This program runs through Perimeter College, the multi-campus associate-degree college inside Georgia State. Georgia State calls it the Kinesiology and Health, Exercise Science Pathway, and it looks at how exercise affects the body and at health promotion and disease prevention, both for healthy people and for people managing chronic conditions.

A pathway is an advising guide, not a major. You earn an Associate of Science, and the pathway is the set of courses that gets you ready for a bachelor's. Georgia State also names physical therapy, occupational therapy and other allied health professions as fields the prerequisites lead toward.

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

Tuition is $105 per credit hour, and the page says it's the same for all fully online students regardless of location. Sixty credits comes to $6,300. The online learning fee is $195 per semester at nine or more credits, $167 at five to eight credits and $139 at one to four.

Four semesters at nine or more credits would add $780, which makes $7,080 in tuition and online fees. Books and student fees are extra. Georgia State's page still labels these rates as the 2025-26 academic year, so ask what the 2026-27 numbers are.

60 credits at $105 a credit comes to $6,300 in tuition, before fees.

Who It Fits

• You want to finish Georgia State's B.S. in Exercise Science. The pathway page calls the move to the Atlanta campus seamless, and its 42 core hours and 18 pathway hours mirror the bachelor's 42-hour core and 18 field-of-study hours.
• You need to keep the bill small. Tuition is $105 a credit for every fully online student, wherever you live, which puts the whole 60 credits at $6,300 before fees.
• You're weighing physical therapy or occupational therapy and want the science base first. Our pre-physical therapy list shows how this compares, but check each graduate program's own prerequisites.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if you want a credential you can use without more school. Personal trainer certifications need no degree, and the ACSM exercise physiologist and CSCS both start at a bachelor's.
• Skip it if you need a fully online bachelor's. Georgia State lists its exercise science B.S. at the Atlanta campus, not online, and it ends with a semester-long internship. Try our online bachelor's programs instead.
• Skip it if you want the diploma to say exercise science. The page states that a pathway is not represented on the diploma.

The pathway requires 60 semester hours: 42 in the core curriculum and 18 in courses for the pathway. Georgia State's program page doesn't list the 18 pathway hours. It sends you to the catalog, so ask an adviser for the current list before you register.

The topics Perimeter names are anatomy, physiology and the principles of physical activity, plus exercise interventions and health promotion.

The bachelor's shows what this associate has to set up. To enter the major you need Core IMPACTS complete, KH 2220K and KH 2230K with a C- or better in no more than two attempts, and a major application. The B.S. then adds 18 field-of-study hours and 60 major hours, including Biomechanics, Exercise Physiology and Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription, for at least 120 hours.

Standout Features

• A pathway (advising guide), not a diploma major; the A.S. degree is awarded and the pathway does not appear on the diploma
• Seamless transfer into the B.S. in Exercise Science on the Atlanta campus
• Tuition is a flat $105 per credit for all fully online students regardless of location

Perimeter's page says all required classes can be completed online. The same page also says pathway-specific courses may require attendance at a particular location and tells you to confirm online availability with an adviser. Perimeter's class locations are Alpharetta, Clarkston, Decatur, Dunwoody, Newton and online.

Georgia State says the degree you earn online is no different from the in-person one and that tuition is priced the same. Applications are due August 1 for fall, December 1 for spring and May 1 for summer.

Perimeter College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate degrees. The associate itself lists no programmatic accreditation.

The accreditation that matters is on the bachelor's. Georgia State's B.S. in Exercise Science is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), which matters because ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program from August 15, 2027. The Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) needs a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program from January 1, 2030.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

• The pathway isn't a major. The A.S. is what you earn, and the exercise science label lives only in the advising guide.
• The online promise has a catch. All required classes can be online, yet pathway-specific courses may need a campus, so an adviser has to confirm your schedule.
• The bachelor's isn't online. Moving to Georgia State's exercise science B.S. means Atlanta, lab fees, and a semester-long internship.
• The page mentions ACE certification for the Personal Trainer and Health Coach concentrations, but this pathway is neither, so it doesn't show what certification prep you actually get.

• Which 18 pathway hours are required right now, and which of them can I take fully online?
• Are the $105 tuition rate and $195 online learning fee the same for 2026-27?
• Does the seamless transfer include admission to the exercise science major, or do I apply separately after KH 2220K and KH 2230K?
• Do any courses in this pathway have lab or in-person sessions, and at which campuses?
• Does this pathway include any personal trainer certification, given the ACE mention on the page?
• Is enrollment open in my state, and how do I check Georgia State's state authorization list?

Georgia State is a large urban public research university in downtown Atlanta. The online associate pathway is offered through its Perimeter College, a multi-campus associate-degree college within Georgia State, and feeds the on-campus B.S. in Exercise Science in Atlanta.

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• Lionel University

  Associate of Science in Exercise Science

  California $333 per quarter credit Score 66.3

• Lake Region State College

  Fitness Trainer Technician (Associate in Applied Science)

  North Dakota $238.65 per credit Score 64.2

• University of the Cumberlands

  Exercise & Sport Science, A.A.S. (online)

  Kentucky $220 per credit Score 56.0

• Angelina College

  Associate of Arts in Health and Physical Education

  Texas $210 per credit Score 49.8