Lebanon Valley College Online Master of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology

Lebanon Valley's M.S. in Clinical Exercise Physiology is CAAHEP accredited and built toward the ACSM-CEP, ACSM's Clinical Exercise Physiologist certification, with a 600-hour internship. It costs $789 per credit, $26,037 for 33 credits. It isn't fully remote. You'll travel to Annville, Pennsylvania for three residency weekends and do the internship in person at an approved site, so it suits people who can plan around both.

Lebanon Valley College is a private nonprofit college in Annville, Pennsylvania. CAAHEP accredits the master's on the recommendation of CoAES, the Committee on Accreditation for the Exercise Sciences, and CAAHEP's list, which we pulled September 29, 2026, shows initial accreditation dating to May 2022. LVC says it's one of only 19 accredited clinical programs in the country.

The degree is 33 credits. Coursework runs in seven-week terms and takes about a year, and then you move into the clinical internship. Applications are rolling, admitted students begin in August, and the next start is August 2027. Clinical exercise physiology means designing exercise programs for patients with heart disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes and cancer, usually on a physician's referral.

Courses are online in seven-week terms, and Fall 1 packs two courses into its first term, so the start is fast. Add three required residency weekends in Annville, where you practice the skills you'll use in your internship on real equipment.

The internship is in person. LVC says its faculty and career coaches can connect you with regional healthcare networks or research institutions. The requirements page places it in the fall of year two, so the whole degree runs longer than the 12 months on the page's summary card. Working full time, 600 hours is the equivalent of fifteen 40-hour weeks, so ask how part-time placements work.

Who It Fits

• Healthcare workers and exercise science graduates heading into cardiac or pulmonary rehab. The program page names cardiac rehabilitation specialist, pulmonary rehabilitation specialist and clinical exercise physiologist as common roles, and the coursework includes two ECG interpretation courses and a pharmacology course.
• People who want hands-on practice without living near Annville. Three residency weekends in the Lewis Human Performance and Exercise Physiology labs cover stress tests, resting EKGs and blood pressure. One graduate quoted on the page finished the coursework remotely from Utah while supporting a growing family.
• Applicants with a 3.00 GPA and an exercise physiology course. That course is the one required prerequisite. Fitness testing and exercise prescription and patient or client experience are recommended. GRE scores aren't required, and applicants under 3.00 are considered case by case.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who needs to start soon. LVC admits for August only, and the next start is August 2027, in the Fall 1 term.
• Anyone who can't travel or line up an in-person placement. The three weekends in Pennsylvania are required, and the internship happens at approved sites. If you need something fully remote, see our 100 percent online exercise science degrees.
• Career changers without exercise physiology. The prerequisite is required. If you're missing it, LVC tells you to contact the program director before you apply.

The degree is 27 credits of coursework plus a 6-credit internship. Fall 1 starts with EXSC 710 Advanced Exercise Physiology and EXSC 714 Client and Patient Assessment, which covers physical, behavioral and psychological criteria and how to spot a patient's barriers to change. ECG Interpretation I follows in Fall 2, Pharmacology in winter, then EXSC 715 Clinical Exercise Physiology and ECG Interpretation II in Spring 1.

Spring 2 is EXSC 717, a four-credit course on advanced sport and clinical exercise testing methods. Summer 1 is Management and Leadership in Clinical Exercise Programs, and Summer 2 is Foundations of Rehabilitation Science. The pharmacology course has you classify medications as ergogenic or ergolytic and revise exercise and nutrition advice to match.

EXSC 900 Internship comes in the fall of year two. It's graded pass/fail, and you need a 3.0 GPA and EXSC 730 first.

Courses the School Names

• Advanced Exercise Physiology
• Client and Patient Assessment
• ECG Interpretation I
• ECG Interpretation II
• Pharmacology
• Clinical Exercise Physiology
• Applied Methods in Human Performance
• Foundations of Rehabilitation Science
• Management and Leadership in Clinical Exercise Physiology
• Internship

Standout Features

• One of only 19 CAAHEP-accredited clinical programs in the country (school claim)
• Residency weekends practice stress tests, resting EKGs and rehab program design in the Lewis Human Performance and Exercise Physiology labs
• Outcomes: 100% internship completion, graduation, and employment within one year for recent cohorts (school-reported)
• Two ECG Interpretation courses and a Pharmacology course

LVC's 2026-27 rate is $789 per credit, and 33 credits come to $26,037. Its tuition page says online and hybrid graduate programs carry no additional technology, online learning or student services fees. The 6-credit internship sits inside the 33, so the 600 hours don't cost extra tuition. Books, supplies and travel to Annville do.

LVC's Valley Merit Scholarship takes 5 percent off tuition for eligible applicants, which would make the total about $24,735. LVC alumni and family members can get 15 percent off, about $22,131. These can't be combined with each other or with partner discounts. LVC also hires graduate assistant lab instructors for this program.

33 credits at $789 a credit comes to $26,037 in tuition, before fees.

CAAHEP accreditation is the point of this program. From August 15, 2027, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program or one that has started the process, and LVC's master's already qualifies. ACSM's master's route to the CEP also asks for 600 hours of clinical experience, which matches the internship's length. You still have to apply for and pass the ACSM exam yourself.

LVC reports 100 percent internship completion every year from 2020 to 2025, and says 100 percent of recent-cohort graduates were employed within a year. Those are the school's numbers. The page also cites a $91,000 median salary for clinical exercise physiologist roles, which is well above the BLS wage figure on our exercise physiologist salary page, so read it as marketing.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Physiologist Careers, ACSM Exercise Physiologist Certification.

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

• Admission is August only. There's no January or summer start, so a missed deadline costs you a year.
• The time commitment is bigger than the summary card suggests. Coursework takes about a year, then the 600-hour internship follows, and three weekends in Pennsylvania are required.
• At $789 per credit it costs noticeably more than Lander's program or Lenoir-Rhyne's, though neither of those is CAAHEP accredited.
• The outcome figures and the salary claim come from LVC's own page. Ask for the numbers behind them.

• Can I take exercise physiology after admission if my transcript lacks it, or must it be complete before August?
• When are the three residency weekends scheduled, and are the dates set before I enroll?
• How does LVC place students in 600-hour internship sites near me, and can my employer count?
• Can I complete the 600 hours part-time over a longer stretch, and does that delay graduation?
• Do the 600 hours meet ACSM's documentation for the master's route, and who signs the hours?
• Which scholarship applies to me, given that they can't be combined with partner discounts?
• How heavy is the two-course first term in seven weeks if I'm working full time?

Private college in Annville, Pennsylvania whose Lewis Human Performance and Exercise Physiology labs in the Arnold Health Professions Pavilion host the on-campus residencies for its clinical exercise physiology master's.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 43 of 99, master's
• Best Online Master's Programs Rank 43 of 99, master's
• Best Online Exercise Physiology Degrees Rank 7 of 19, master's
• Best Clinical Exercise Physiology Master's Rank 9 of 15, master's
• Accelerated Online Programs Rank 21 of 46, master's
• No-GRE Online Master's Programs Rank 22 of 44, master's
• Best for Healthcare Workers Rank 7 of 20, master's
• Best Certification-Ready Programs Rank 4 of 13, master's
• Best Online Programs in Pennsylvania Rank 3 of 5, master's

• King's College

  Master of Science in Performance and Sports Science (MSPSS)

  Pennsylvania $765 per credit Score 56.0

• 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

• Hardin-Simmons University

  Master of Science in Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation (Exercise Science and Human Performance concentration)

  Texas $595 per credit Score 56.8