Ohio University Online Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT)

Ohio University's online Doctor of Athletic Training is a post-professional doctorate for athletic trainers who already hold the credential and work in the field. It isn't an exercise science degree. You take 42 credits in asynchronous courses, start in three terms a year and never visit campus. The posted rate is $571 per credit for Ohio residents and $593 for everyone else. Without athletic trainer certification, you can't enroll.

Ohio University is a public university in Athens, Ohio, and this degree sits in the Department of Athletic Training in the College of Health Sciences and Professions. The school describes it as a 100% online program for practicing athletic trainers, aimed at clinical skills, data-driven practice and research.

You choose between a Clinical Practice Track, which ends in a capstone project, and a Clinical Research Track, which ends in original research and a manuscript suitable for a professional journal. Ohio's own Dublin-based Athletic Training Residency graduates can apply their residency credits to the DAT.

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

Ohio posts $571 per credit in state and $593 out of state. The bursar's 2026-27 table shows where that comes from: $533 resident or $555 non-resident online graduate tuition, plus a $32 program fee and a $6 technology fee for the DAT. Forty-two credits comes to $23,982 in state or $24,906 out of state.

The bursar page also lists a student information and network fee, $4 per credit hour for 1 to 8 hours and $33 for 9 to 18 hours.

The 15% incentive scholarship applies to tuition, so confirm whether it reaches the program fee. Ohio's scholarship page describes partner-employee eligibility in terms of first-time enrollment in 2025-2026, so ask what applies now.

42 credits at $593 a credit comes to $24,906 in tuition, before fees. At the in-state rate of $571, the same 42 credits come to $23,982.

Who It Fits

• You're a working athletic trainer with a master's degree who wants a doctorate without leaving your job. The program requires proof of athletic training employment every semester, so it's designed around people who are already in clinics, schools, teams or research posts.
• You want a specialty on top of the degree. Four optional certificates are available: Performing Arts Medicine at 11 credits, Clinical Informatics, Healthcare Leadership, and Health Policy at 12 credit hours.
• You're a veteran, an Ohio University graduate or an employee of a corporate partner. Ohio says all three groups are automatically eligible for a 15% incentive scholarship toward tuition.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if you're not an athletic trainer. Admission requires Board of Certification (BOC) status or the equivalent, a state credential and a National Provider Identifier (NPI) number.
• Skip it if you want exercise science, personal training or strength coaching. This degree is about athletic training practice, and the ACSM and NSCA credential rules attach to a bachelor's or master's, not to this doctorate.
• Skip it if your work might lapse. You need employment evidence each semester except summer, and gaps require a justified waiver request, such as family medical leave.

The 42 credits break into 17 core, 13 in the track and at least 12 in electives. The core is AT 6120 Leadership and Professionalism in Athletic Training, AT 6160 Patient-Oriented Outcomes, AT 6222 Statistics for Advanced Athletic Training Practice I, AT 6310 Neuromechanics of Sports Injury Rehabilitation, AT 6350 Sport Injury Risk Assessment, and IHS 5513 Health Informatics for the Health Professions.

The Clinical Practice Track adds HLTH 6100 Evaluation and Quality Improvement in Health Care, AT 6360 Psychosocial Issues in Athletic Training, AT 6400 and AT 6410 Evidence-Based Care I and II, and PT 7150 Imaging in Rehabilitation.

Electives come from a short list that includes health information systems, program planning and evaluation, special topics and academic writing. If you haven't taken research methods, EXPH 6080 is required. Students placed with professional baseball organizations normally take Medical Spanish.

Courses the School Names

• AT 6120 Leadership and Professionalism in Athletic Training
• AT 6160 Patient-Oriented Outcomes in Athletic Training
• AT 6310 Neuromechanics of Sports Injury Rehabilitation
• AT 6350 Sport Injury Risk Assessment
• AT 6400 Evidence-Based Care in Athletic Training I
• AT 6410 Evidence-Based Care in Athletic Training II
• IHS 5513 Health Informatics for the Health Professions
• PT 7150 Imaging in Rehabilitation

Standout Features

• Four optional certificates: Performing Arts Medicine, Clinical Informatics, Healthcare Leadership, Health Policy
• Core coursework includes Neuromechanics of Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Sport Injury Risk Assessment
• Students placed with professional baseball organizations normally take Medical Spanish

Classes are asynchronous with no required residencies, and the curriculum page states that no campus visits are required. The school says 42 credits can be finished in as few as four semesters. That's 10.5 credits a term on top of a full or part-time athletic training job, which is a heavy load.

You can start in fall, spring or summer. The admissions page still shows an August 4, 2025 fall deadline, so confirm current dates with an advisor. Your electives and track decide the shape of the last stretch: the capstone project, or research with data collection and a manuscript.

Ohio University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, an institutional accreditor. The DAT pages name no programmatic accreditor for the doctorate itself. The admission standard points to CAATE, the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, because applicants must be graduates of a CAATE-accredited master's program or credentialed athletic trainers with a related master's.

The degree doesn't qualify you for a new credential. You already hold the BOC certification. From August 15, 2027, ACSM exercise physiologist candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program, and from January 1, 2030 the CSCS needs a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program. Neither rule is about a doctorate in athletic training.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

• The audience is narrow. Only credentialed athletic trainers who keep working as athletic trainers can enroll and stay enrolled.
• It's a scope stretch for an exercise science site. Core courses like neuromechanics and injury risk assessment overlap with exercise science, but the degree is athletic training from start to finish.
• The pace is demanding. Four semesters means about 10.5 credits a term while you're employed.
• Some pages are dated. The fall deadline on the admissions page is from 2025, and the scholarship page's first-time-enrollment language points at 2025-2026.

• What are the current application deadlines for the next fall, spring and summer starts?
• Does the 15% incentive scholarship apply to the whole $571 or $593 rate or only to the tuition portion, and can I qualify under more than one category?
• How many transfer credits will you accept from a prior doctoral or graduate course besides the residency credits?
• How are capstone or research advisors assigned, and how do I choose between the practice track and the research track before I pick electives?
• If I change jobs or leave athletic training work for a term, how does the employment waiver work?
• Which electives can I take to count toward one of the four certificates without adding credits?

Ohio University is a public university in Athens, Ohio, whose College of Health Sciences and Professions houses departments of Athletic Training and Exercise Physiology. Its online offering in this field is a post-professional Doctor of Athletic Training for credentialed athletic trainers.

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