King's College Online Master of Science in Performance and Sports Science (MSPSS)

King's College built this master's for strength coaches and trainers who want to work with data. It's fully asynchronous, starts three times a year, and swaps a thesis for two digital projects where you build a mobile app and a web dashboard. Tuition is $27,540 for 36 credits. It isn't a clinical degree and it isn't programmatically accredited, so it's the right pick only if performance analytics is your target.

King's College is a private Catholic college in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Master of Science in Performance and Sports Science (MSPSS) extends the college's on-campus Exercise Science program, whose strength and conditioning track is accredited through the Council on Accreditation of Strength and Conditioning Education (CASCE).

Dr. Jan Kretzschmar, a Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS), leads the program, and the college says faculty include people who work with elite athletes. It's designed around NSCA's CPSS credential, and King's says it's built for working professionals around the world.

Admission wants a bachelor's degree, a 2.75 GPA, a career goals statement and a background in exercise science, kinesiology or a related field. Coaching or training experience can substitute.

The program is 100% asynchronous. You work through each seven-week course on your own schedule, then meet the deadline. The only live pieces are the two-day virtual workshops that close CPSS 508 and CPSS 512.

King's says twelve courses in seven-week blocks can be finished in as little as two years, with fall, spring or summer entry. Twelve courses in two years works out to about one course per block, so plan your job and family time around steady weekly effort.

There's no internship or thesis. To graduate you need all coursework and a 3.0 GPA.

Who It Fits

• Strength and conditioning coaches who want to run testing, monitoring and reporting. Half the coursework is data collection, statistics, analysis and building tools, so it pays off if you'd like to be the person who handles athlete data.
• Working professionals who need a slow, steady pace. It's part time by design, with two years as the shortest path and starts in fall, spring or summer.
• Trainers and coaches whose background doesn't fit the usual application. King's says relevant professional experience can substitute for some admission requirements, and exceptions are possible.
• Students who already hold the CSCS or plan to earn it soon. King's requires anyone who isn't CSCS certified to earn it between year one and year two.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who wants clinical exercise physiology, cardiac rehab or exercise testing. This degree is about athletic performance and analytics, so look at online clinical exercise physiology master's programs instead.
• Students who don't like statistics or software. Biostatistics, two data courses and two digital projects make up a large share of the degree.
• Anyone who needs an accredited program to qualify for a credential later. The MSPSS lists no CAAHEP or CASCE accreditation.

All 12 courses are required, at 3 credits each. You start with CPSS 501 Advanced Weight Training Concepts, then CPSS 502, which covers Soviet weightlifting principles, Bulgarian and Chinese schools of lifting, Westside Barbell and Sheiko. CPSS 503 Advanced Conditioning Concepts covers high-intensity intervals and energy system development, and CPSS 504 Needs Analysis and Training Theory adds periodization.

The data track runs CPSS 505 and 506 (Data Preparation and Data Collection), CPSS 507 Biostatistics and CPSS 508 Data Analysis and Delivery, which ends with a two-day virtual workshop. Pairs of courses have prerequisites, so you take them in order.

Then come the projects. In Digital Project I you design and pitch a working mobile app with wearable technology in mind. Digital Project II builds a web dashboard for coaches. CPSS 511 Special Topics and CPSS 512 New and Emerging Technologies close the degree, with another two-day virtual workshop.

Courses the School Names

• CPSS 501 Advanced Weight Training Concepts
• CPSS 502 Advanced Weight Training Concepts II
• CPSS 503 Advanced Conditioning Concepts
• CPSS 504 Needs Analysis and Training Theory
• CPSS 505 Data Preparation and Data Collection I
• CPSS 506 Data Preparation and Data Collection II
• CPSS 507 Biostatistics
• CPSS 508 Data Analysis and Delivery
• CPSS 509 Digital Project I
• CPSS 510 Digital Project II
• CPSS 511 Special Topics in Strength and Conditioning
• CPSS 512 New and Emerging Technologies in S/C

Standout Features

• Built around the NSCA Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) credential
• Digital Project I has students design, test and pitch a functional mobile app for athletic performance or health monitoring; Digital Project II builds a web-based analytics dashboard
• Program is led by Dr. Jan Kretzschmar, a CPSS-certified sports science expert; faculty include people who work with elite athletes
• Extension of King's College's NSCA-accredited Exercise Science program in Wilkes-Barre

Tuition for 2026-27 is $765 per credit, so 36 credits is $27,540. King's adds a $208 graduation fee in your final year, which makes $27,748. No separate graduate college fee applies to this program.

Transfer credit can cut the bill. King's accepts up to 9 graduate credits with a B or better from work completed in the last five years, which would save $6,885 at this rate. King's alumni with a B.A. or B.S. may qualify for an alumni discount on select part-time programs, so ask.

King's also says tuition has risen about 2.5% each year on average, so a two-year path may cost more than the current rate suggests.

36 credits at $765 a credit comes to $27,540 in tuition, before fees.

King's is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The MSPSS itself carries no programmatic accreditation. The program page describes the degree as aligned with NSCA's Certified Performance and Sport Scientist credential, which is a statement about coursework, not a guarantee of exam eligibility.

The 2030 CSCS rule turns on your bachelor's degree. From January 1, 2030, U.S. candidates need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program, and King's on-campus Exercise Science strength and conditioning track is one of the CASCE-listed programs. The August 15, 2027 ACSM rule for ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates asks for a CAAHEP-accredited program, which this master's isn't either.

The college's admissions text also names a Master of Science in Strength and Conditioning, which looks like old wording.

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.

• The program page calls the degree 'accredited', but King's accreditation page credits CASCE only to the on-campus Exercise Science track.
• Two years is the shortest time. There's no accelerated option, and tuition can rise about 2.5% a year.
• Nothing is hands-on with athletes. There's no internship or practicum, so the work you build in the digital projects is software and reports, not coaching hours.
• At $765 a credit it costs more than Jacksonville State's $443 for a similar length of degree, and the two aren't built the same way.

• Does the coursework count toward CPSS exam eligibility, and does the tuition include any exam or prep costs?
• When must I earn the CSCS, and what happens if I don't pass it between year one and year two?
• Which of my past graduate credits transfer, and can I have that decision before I enroll?
• How many courses do students usually take per seven-week block, and what does the two-year plan look like week to week?
• Which software and wearable platforms do CPSS 509, 510 and 512 use, and do I have to buy any?
• What are the application deadlines for the next fall, spring and summer starts, and can I defer a start?

Private Catholic college in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross. Its on-campus Exercise Science program has an NSCA-recognized strength and conditioning track accredited by CASCE, and the online MSPSS extends that program.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 44 of 99, master's
• Best Online Master's Programs Rank 44 of 99, master's
• Best Online Strength and Conditioning Degrees Rank 26 of 39, master's
• Best Online Sport Science Degrees Rank 11 of 17, master's
• Accelerated Online Programs Rank 39 of 46, master's
• Best for Working Adults Rank 25 of 50, master's
• Best for Parents Rank 9 of 14, master's
• Best for Personal Trainers Rank 21 of 32, master's
• Best for Coaches Rank 21 of 43, master's
• Best Christian Programs Rank 15 of 27, master's
• Best Part-Time Programs Rank 11 of 23, master's
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 35 of 78, master's
• Best Online Programs in Pennsylvania Rank 4 of 5, master's

• Lebanon Valley College

  Master of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology

  Pennsylvania $789 per credit Score 56.1

• University of Louisiana at Monroe

  Master of Science in Exercise Science (Sport Management Concentration)

  Louisiana $500 per credit Score 56.4

• Colby-Sawyer College

  Master of Science in Exercise Science (M.S.E.S.)

  New Hampshire $685 per credit Score 55.6

• University of Wisconsin-River Falls

  Strength and Conditioning (M.S.)

  Wisconsin $540 per credit Score 55.3