Lionel University Online Master of Science in Exercise Science

Lionel's online master's is one of the cheaper graduate exercise science degrees you'll find. It costs $440 per quarter credit with digital books included, so tuition for all 45 credits is $19,800. You pick a strength and conditioning, fitness leadership or wellness track, finish with a 5-credit research project, and never travel.

It suits coaches and gym managers. It's not a route to a clinical credential, and its own pages disagree about how long it takes.

Lionel University is a for-profit school in Carpinteria, California, founded in 1988 and focused entirely on exercise science. The master's has three parts: a core, a 20-credit concentration and a capstone research project. There are no test scores to submit. You need a bachelor's degree, an online application, an essay (unless you earned a Lionel bachelor's), an official transcript and a photo ID.

The program page shows 45 credits, but it also says two years in the header and 9 to 12 months in the FAQ. Those are quarter credits, which matters when you compare it to semester-based programs.

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

Lionel is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, a national accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, since January 2009. The page also says the National Strength and Conditioning Association designates Lionel an Educational Recognition Program institution. NSCA no longer publishes an ERP list. Its current program is CASCE, the Collegiate Accreditation for Strength and Conditioning Education, so it isn't a program accreditation.

The master's page lists no certification prep. The CSCS, the NSCA's Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist exam, requires a bachelor's degree today, and from January 1, 2030 U.S. candidates need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program. A master's doesn't replace that bachelor's requirement. Check your bachelor's before you count on the CSCS.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Coaches and personal trainers who want a graduate degree in the work they already do. The strength and conditioning track covers advanced program design for youth, women and older adults, sport nutrition and coaching ethics, and you can study it around a training schedule.
• Gym managers and studio owners. The fitness leadership track has courses on human resources, membership management, finance and building an e-commerce site to sell services. Most exercise science master's degrees skip that business content.
• Employees who want to run wellness programs. The wellness track includes obesity prevention, epidemiology and designing school or workplace activity programs, which suits corporate wellness and community health jobs.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if you want to work with patients. There's no internship, no clinical hours and no clinical exercise physiology coursework. Our online clinical exercise physiology master's list shows programs built for that.
• Skip it if your goal is the ACSM-EP or ACSM-CEP credential. ACSM is the American College of Sports Medicine, and after August 15, 2027 those candidates must come from a program accredited by CAAHEP, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. Lionel isn't on our CAAHEP match.
• Skip it if you have graduate credit to transfer. Lionel takes only 5 of the 45 credits.

Every course is 5 credits and 10 weeks long. The core starts with XSCI501 Contemporary Issues in Exercise Science and XSCI502 Data Analysis in Exercise Science, which covers research design, test administration and statistics. XSCI503 Advanced Exercise Physiology looks at how body systems respond to training. XSCI504 Motor Learning covers skill acquisition. XSCI505 is Exercise Assessment and Prescription.

Next comes a concentration. Strength and Conditioning has SC501 through SC504, including Advanced Strength and Conditioning and Advanced Topics in Fitness Nutrition. Fitness Leadership has FL501 through FL504. Corporate, Clinical, and Community Wellness has CCCW501 through CCCW504.

The capstone, EXSC599 Research Project, has you carry out an independent research or applied performance project and write a professional report.

Here's a catch. Five core courses at 5 credits each is 25 credits, but the page says the core is 20. SC501 also repeats the title of XSCI505.

Courses the School Names

• XSCI501 Contemporary Issues in Exercise Science
• XSCI502 Data Analysis in Exercise Science
• XSCI503 Advanced Exercise Physiology
• XSCI504 Motor Learning
• XSCI505 Exercise Assessment and Prescription
• CCCW501 Industrial, Clinical, and Corporate Wellness
• CCCW502 Physical Fitness and Epidemiology
• CCCW504 Obesity Prevention and Management
• EXSC599 Research Project (Capstone)

Standout Features

• Three 20-credit concentrations plus a 20-credit core and 5-credit capstone
• Core includes Motor Learning and Data Analysis in Exercise Science
• Wellness concentration includes Obesity Prevention and Management and Physical Fitness and Epidemiology

Tuition is $440 per credit for everyone, including international students, and digital textbooks are built in. The 45 credits come to $19,800. Lionel adds a $45 technology fee and a $25 wellness fee each quarter, plus a one-time $500 research fee. Its published total for the whole degree is $20,580, which counts four quarters of fees ($180 and $100) and no transfer credit.

Quarter credits are worth two-thirds of a semester credit, so the $440 rate works out to $660 per semester credit, and 45 quarter credits equal 30 semester credits. It's still competitive, but it's not the bargain the per-credit number suggests. Transfer saves little, since 5 credits at $440 is $2,200.

45 quarter credits at $440 a credit comes to $19,800 in tuition, before fees.

Courses are 100 percent online with 24/7 access, and each runs 10 weeks. Lionel says they're designed for working adults. It also says 86 percent of its students work while enrolled. Quarters begin in early January, April, July and October, and the fall 2026 application deadline for a full quarter was September 14.

On timing, the two claims don't fit together on their own. Nine courses back to back at 10 weeks each is 90 weeks, about 21 months, which matches the two-year header. Nine to 12 months means taking two courses at once. Ask your advisor how many courses you can carry at once.

• Lionel's own pages disagree on length: two years in the header, 9 to 12 months in the FAQ. Nine 10-week courses in a row can't fit inside 12 months.
• The core is described as 20 credits, but five 5-credit core courses add up to 25. Together with the 20-credit concentration and the 5-credit capstone, that's more than the 45 credits you're paying for.
• Several courses list prerequisites, such as PTR482, PTR251 and EXSC503, that are missing from the 45-credit list. If they're required, they could add time and cost.
• It's for-profit and nationally accredited. Some employers and doctoral programs care about regional accreditation, so check how a school you might attend later treats it.
• Transfer is capped at 5 credits, and the pages list no internship, so you won't build clinical hours here.

• Does the core total 20 credits or 25, and which XSCI505 or SC501 course do I take if I choose Strength and Conditioning?
• What are PTR482, PTR251, PTR259, PTR375, EXSC501 and EXSC503, and will I need them if my bachelor's is from another school?
• How many courses can I take at once, and can I really finish in 9 to 12 months?
• Do the technology and wellness fees stay the same each quarter if I slow down to one course at a time?
• What does the capstone involve, and will I have a faculty mentor and a topic list ahead of time?
• Has any graduate gone on to a doctoral program, and which schools accepted the degree?
• What jobs did recent graduates of my track take?

Private for-profit, fully online university in Carpinteria, CA founded in 1988 by Dr. Fred Hatfield and Dr. Sal Arria and built exclusively around exercise science, with associate, bachelor's and master's degrees plus personal trainer certificates. Chancellor is fitness coach Martin Rooney.

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• Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science

  B.S., Bachelor's

  Fully Online $333 per quarter credit Score 69.3

• Associate of Science in Exercise Science

  A.S., Associate

  Fully Online $333 per quarter credit Score 66.3

• Trevecca Nazarene University

  Human Performance and Fitness

  Tennessee $563 per credit Score 61.7

• Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania

  Master of Science in Applied Exercise Physiology

  Pennsylvania $613 per credit Score 61.8

• Concordia University-Irvine

  Master of Science in Coaching and Exercise Sciences (MSCE)

  California $610 per credit Score 60.6

• Saint Xavier University

  Master of Science in Exercise Science - Strength and Conditioning (Accelerated, Traditional and 4+1 options)

  Illinois $530 per credit Score 62.2