Trevecca Nazarene University Online Human Performance and Fitness

Trevecca's online master's in Human Performance and Fitness suits people who coach, train or plan to run a gym and want to study one course at a time. Tuition is $563 per credit, and Trevecca's own cost page puts the full price at $23,818. It leans toward strength and conditioning and adds nine credits of business coursework. It isn't a clinical degree, and no programmatic accreditation is listed.

Trevecca Nazarene University is a private Christian university in Nashville, founded in 1901 and tied to the Church of the Nazarene. This M.S. is fully online: 36 credits, one course at a time, in a cohort, over 18 months. Trevecca calls it a twist on the traditional exercise science master's, with practical application first and a business track built in.

There's no application fee and no GRE or GMAT. You need a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school with a 2.75 GPA, 12 credit hours of biology, physical science or upper-division science at C- or better, and a college English composition course. The one listed start is January 19, 2027.

Missing the science credits doesn't end your application. Trevecca offers conditional admission through an interview with the program coordinator and a 500-word essay. After eight credit hours, the coordinator reviews your work and decides whether you continue.

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

Trevecca lists 13 courses that add up to 36 credits. EXS 6000 Intro to Human Performance and Fitness is a 2-credit orientation to graduate writing, ethics and certification requirements. Then come Applied Anatomy and Kinesiology, Applied Exercise Physiology, and Biomechanics/Biomechanical Screening.

Programming fills the middle. Fundamental Aerobic/Anaerobic Program Development covers frequency, intensity, time, type and volume, and Advanced Aerobic/Strength Progression has you design a macrocycle. Assessment/Training for Special Populations handles cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic and neuromuscular conditions, and Fitness and Nutrition covers macronutrients, fluids and workout timing.

The Capstone is three credits and ends with your own training philosophy. Field Experience is one credit, either a formal internship or a project that builds an individualized program for a client. The three business courses, BUS 6210, 6220 and 6230, make up the last nine credits.

Courses the School Names

• Applied Anatomy & Kinesiology
• Applied Exercise Physiology
• Biomechanics/Biomechanical Screening
• Fundamental Aerobic/Anaerobic Program Development
• Advanced Aerobic/Strength Progression
• Assessment/Training for Special Populations
• Fitness and Nutrition
• Human Performance/Fitness Capstone
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation
• New Venture Creation

Standout Features

• MBA-level entrepreneurship track built into the degree (9 credits) to prepare graduates to manage a facility or open a practice
• Lab materials and books delivered to the student's home; one course at a time
• Faith-integrated cohort program; all professors working as clinicians in their field

Who It Fits

• Coaches and trainers who want the science behind their programming. The core covers biomechanical screening, aerobic and anaerobic program design, and progressions for novice and experienced athletes. Trevecca's career list names strength and conditioning coach, sports performance director, training manager and private gym owner.
• Future gym or studio owners. The nine business credits are Entrepreneurship and Innovation, New Venture Creation, where you write a modified business plan around an idea you choose, and Small Business Management, which touches marketing, finance, accounting and hiring.
• Working adults who do better with one thing at a time. Lab materials and books are delivered to you, and a graduate quoted on the program page says the workload let them keep a full-time job.
• Christian students who want faith in the classroom. Trevecca says the program views the fitness industry through a biblical lens.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone headed for clinical work with heart, lung or metabolic patients. One course, EXS 6120, covers testing and training people with chronic conditions, and no clinical hours are required. The online clinical exercise physiology master's programs are built for that job.
• Anyone who wants a research or doctoral path. The capstone is a personal training philosophy, and there's no thesis.
• Students who'd rather keep faith out of their coursework. It's part of how Trevecca designed the program, not an optional add-on.

Tuition is $563 per credit, or $20,268 for 36 credits, and Trevecca adds a $300 Student Resource Fee to every course. Its cost page also estimates about $150 in books per course, $300 in lab fees and a $10 ACSM membership, and it totals the program at $23,818. That's $3,550 above tuition.

The program page lists 13 courses, and 13 fees of $300 come to $3,900. Tuition plus those fees alone is $24,168, which is $350 above Trevecca's own estimate. Ask for a line-by-line bill, because the number of courses that carry the fee decides your real cost.

One discount is listed: 10% off through an alumni scholarship for Trevecca undergraduates who start within a year of finishing their B.S. Trevecca says 9 out of 10 students receive some financial aid.

36 credits at $563 a credit comes to $20,268 in tuition, before fees.

Everything runs online. You take one course at a time, and Trevecca sends lab materials and books to your door. Thirteen courses in 18 months works out to roughly one every six weeks, so the pace is steady and there isn't much room to fall behind.

You stay with the same cohort. Your program director is Mike Wilson, who holds the CSCS, and the page lists three adjunct faculty beside him. Ask who teaches biomechanics and special populations.

Trevecca is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The program lists no programmatic accreditation, and it isn't on the CAAHEP or CASCE lists we pulled September 29, 2026. CAAHEP is the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. CASCE is NSCA's Collegiate Accreditation for Strength and Conditioning Education.

Trevecca says the curriculum is geared toward preparing you to sit for the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). From January 1, 2030, U.S. candidates need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program. The rule names the bachelor's, so ask NSCA how it treats a master's like this one.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) requires graduates of a CAAHEP-accredited program for its exercise physiologist credentials starting August 15, 2027. This program isn't on that list.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

• Trevecca's cost numbers don't reconcile. A $23,818 total sits beside a $300 fee on each of 13 courses, and the two don't agree.
• Hands-on training is thin. Field Experience is one credit and the capstone is a written philosophy, so add real coaching hours yourself.
• The listed faculty is one program director and three adjuncts, so ask who'd mentor you.
• The science prerequisites come first, and only conditional admission gets you around them. Trevecca's federal graduation rate is 53 percent, a figure for the whole university.

• Can you send a line-by-line bill showing tuition, the $300 resource fee, books and lab fees for all 36 credits?
• How many of the 13 courses carry the $300 fee, and does the 1-credit Field Experience?
• Does Field Experience need an approved site, and can I use my current job or gym?
• Which courses use the lab materials you ship?
• Would my transcript cover the 12 science credits, or should I plan for conditional admission?
• Has the program applied for CAAHEP or CASCE accreditation, and would a graduate qualify for ACSM or NSCA exams after 2027 and 2030?
• How many students in the last cohort finished in 18 months?

Private Christian university in Nashville, founded 1901, that describes itself as a leader in online education for more than two decades. Its online master's in human performance and fitness pairs an exercise science core with an MBA-style entrepreneurship track.

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