Parker University Online Master of Science in Strength and Human Performance

Parker's online master's is 30 credits of 7.5-week courses for people who want advanced strength and conditioning study while they keep working. The optional internship track adds 6 credits and 300 in-person hours, and it's the piece NSCA's list ties to CASCE accreditation. At $871 per credit the degree runs $26,130, or $31,356 with the internship. It works best if you already hold the four prerequisite courses.

Parker University is a private nonprofit health-sciences school in Dallas, Texas, and this master's sits in its College of Health Sciences. Ten required 3-credit courses cover strength and conditioning, exercise and health, nutrition, sport psychology, research methods and a capstone. Parker offers no electives.

Admission needs a bachelor's degree plus four prerequisites passed with a C or higher: Exercise Physiology, Exercise Prescription and Application, and Biomechanics, each with a lab, and Kinesiology. That list is a real gate for career changers. Parker's federal graduation rate is 74 percent, and federal data counts 36 master's degrees in this field in its latest year.

Graduate courses run 7.5 weeks inside three four-month trimesters, and Parker says programs start several times a year. Parker's program card lists tutoring, mental health support and career services for online students, and says you can align with the Human Performance Center for research.

The 30-credit version takes 5 terms, which is about 20 months. The internship version takes 6 terms. The 300 hours are in person, in your final semester, and Parker calls the internship full time with assigned work schedules. You won't relocate to Dallas, but you will need a facility that takes you.

Who It Fits

• Strength coaches who want the accredited graduate track. The concentration adds a 300-hour internship at a training facility of your choosing anywhere in the country, with online coursework built around the CSCS exam. Parker's program director works with you to secure the site.
• Exercise science graduates who already hold the prerequisites. If your bachelor's covered exercise physiology, prescription, biomechanics and kinesiology, you can apply without catch-up courses and finish in 5 terms.
• Healthcare professionals. Parker's program card says the degree suits a healthcare professional expanding into performance.
• Active-duty and tactical students. Parker's master's rate for active military is $250 per credit, so 30 credits costs $7,500 and 36 costs $9,000. The career list includes human performance specialist roles for military, first responders and tactical training.

Who Should Skip It

• Career changers without the four prerequisites. Parker's own bachelor's plan includes each one, but taking them first adds time and cost before the 30 credits even start.
• Anyone who wants electives or a thesis. Parker offers no electives, and the capstone is a research proposal you design, not a study you run.
• Students who need a CAAHEP-accredited degree for the ACSM clinical exercise physiologist exam. CAAHEP is the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. See the online clinical exercise physiology master's programs instead.

Every required course is 3 credits. Principles of Strength and Conditioning covers testing and evaluation, exercise technique, training adaptations and program design for high school, collegiate and professional sports. Advanced Methods of Strength and Conditioning digs into the scientific literature on strength, endurance, agility, speed and flexibility in competitive athletes.

The health side is real too. Cardiovascular Health and Exercise looks at how aerobic and resistance training affect the heart and circulation. Exercise Prescription for Special Populations teaches you to evaluate fitness and design programs that change lifestyle behaviors. Exercise and Health, Nutrition and Exercise Performance, Advanced Nutrition and Metabolism, Applied Sports Psychology and Research Methods finish the core.

The capstone, HPER 5379, has you write an original research design ready for an institutional review board, with a literature review, hypothesis and methods, in your final term. The internship track adds Internship Experience I and II, 3 credits each.

Courses the School Names

• Principles of Strength and Conditioning
• Exercise and Health
• Research Methods
• Nutrition and Exercise Performance
• Exercise Prescription for Special Populations
• Applied Sports Psychology
• Cardiovascular Health and Exercise
• Advanced Methods of Strength and Conditioning
• Advanced Nutrition and Metabolism
• Strength & Human Performance Capstone

Standout Features

• CASCE-accredited graduate strength and conditioning curriculum; the school notes a CASCE-accredited degree will be required for CSCS certification by 2030
• Strength and Human Performance advisory board includes Dan John, Kelly Starrett and Brett Winchester
• Students can align with Parker's Human Performance Center for research
• Internship can be completed at a facility anywhere in the country, so online students do not relocate to Dallas

Tuition is $871 per credit for 2026-27, up from $846 in the 2025-26 catalog, and it's the same for every student. Thirty credits comes to $26,130. The internship track has 36 credits, so $31,356. Parker also charges a $64 student health fee each term, about $320 over five terms or $384 over six, plus $50 to apply, $45 for orientation and $60 to graduate.

Active military students pay $250 per credit, which is $7,500 for 30 credits or $9,000 for 36. If you're missing a prerequisite, Parker's tuition page lists non-degree prerequisite courses at $118 per course plus a $20 per-term fee. Parker budgets $400 a term for books and materials but doesn't bill it.

30 credits at $871 a credit comes to $26,130 in tuition, before fees.

Parker is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). On CASCE, the Council on Accreditation of Strength and Conditioning Education, the wording varies. The program page calls the master's CASCE-accredited. The program card says the master's with a Strength and Conditioning concentration holds it. NSCA's list shows a graduate Strength and Conditioning Concentration, and Parker's catalog names only the bachelor's-level program.

Read the 2030 rule closely. Starting January 1, 2030, NSCA says U.S. candidates for the CSCS exam need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program, and the current bachelor's-plus-CPR/AED rule stands until December 31, 2029. Parker's page says a CASCE-accredited degree will be required, but NSCA's wording names the bachelor's.

For the American College of Sports Medicine's clinical exercise physiologist certification (ACSM-CEP), the master's route asks for 600 clinical hours, and this internship is 300. From August 15, 2027, ACSM candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program or one that has started the process, and Parker isn't on our CAAHEP list.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs, CSCS Certification Requirements.

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

• Accreditation is worded three ways across Parker's pages, and the catalog's accreditation section names only the bachelor's-level program. Get the scope for your track in writing.
• The four prerequisites gate admission, so a missing one has to be finished before the graduate courses begin.
• Parker says the capstone must be completed in your final term, and the internship also happens in your final semester. Ask how the two fit together in a six-term schedule.
• It's a pricey master's. $871 per credit puts the base degree at $26,130 and the internship version at $31,356.

• Does CASCE accreditation cover the 30-credit path or only the 36-credit Strength and Conditioning concentration?
• Does this master's help with the 2030 CSCS rule if my bachelor's isn't from a CASCE-accredited program?
• What are the next start dates, and how are the 7.5-week courses sequenced across five terms?
• Do the $118 non-degree prerequisite courses cover all four prerequisites, and how are the labs done online?
• With the capstone due in the final term, how does the 300-hour internship fit into the same term?
• How does the program director find sites, and have online students placed in my area?
• Do internship hours count toward ACSM's 600-hour requirement, and is Parker pursuing CAAHEP?

Parker University is a small private health-sciences university in Dallas, Texas, best known for its Doctor of Chiropractic program and other health, wellness and business programs. Its Strength and Human Performance department offers online bachelor's and master's degrees with CASCE-accredited curricula and an in-person practicum or internship.

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