University of Louisiana at Monroe Online Master of Science in Exercise Science (Sport Management Concentration)

ULM's online master's carries the name Exercise Science, but the only online version is the Sport Management concentration, and most of its courses are about running sport organizations. At $500 per credit and about $16,500 for 33 credit hours, it's inexpensive, and it doesn't ask for the GRE.

Choose it if you want to manage athletics, facilities or events. If you want to prescribe exercise or coach athletes, the science concentrations are on campus only, and this degree won't take you there.

The University of Louisiana at Monroe is a public university in northeast Louisiana, and its kinesiology department sits in the College of Health Sciences. The department offers a Master of Science in Exercise Science in three concentrations: Sport Performance, Applied Exercise Science and Sport Management. Only Sport Management is offered online. The other two use campus courses, and Sport Performance is a 36-hour program that mixes face-to-face and online classes.

Regular admission asks for a 2.5 undergraduate GPA, and conditional admission starts at 2.4. ULM stopped requiring the GRE beginning Fall 2025. If your bachelor's isn't in exercise science, kinesiology or sport management, you must earn a B or higher in your first 12 hours, and a C or lower in any of them gets you dismissed from the program.

ULM charges $500 per credit hour for graduate online students, and the rate includes tuition and mandated fees. Over 33 credit hours that's $16,500. ULM's online pages give the rate, not a program total, so check the number with the bursar.

Course and professional program fees can apply on top, and so can textbooks. The internship and thesis are both six hours, so the price doesn't change with the choice. That places ULM among the cheaper online master's degrees in our data, though you'd be buying sport management rather than exercise science.

33 credits at $500 a credit comes to $16,500 in tuition, before fees.

Who It Fits

• Athletic department staff, recreation directors and coaches who want to move into administration. Courses cover finance, legal issues, governance and ethics, leadership and facility and event management, and ULM's own list of careers includes athletic director, business manager and program or facility director.
• Career changers from business or marketing. ULM doesn't require an exercise science bachelor's, and courses like Marketing and Public Relations in Sport and Finance and Economics in Sport use skills you may already have.
• Working adults on a budget who want a public university's name. The $500 rate includes mandated fees and tuition, and ULM bills no other university fees except course and professional program fees.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who wants exercise physiology, cardiac rehab or personal training expertise. ULM teaches those subjects, such as EXSC 5038 Cardiovascular Physiology and EXSC 5039 Cardiac Rehabilitation, but they aren't part of the online Sport Management worksheet. Look at our online clinical exercise physiology master's programs instead.
• Strength and conditioning coaches who want a degree for the CSCS. One course, EXSC 5009 Advanced Strength and Conditioning, is available, and it's the only one aimed at that job.
• Students who want lab-based research. The thesis option exists, but ULM's science concentrations and their labs are campus programs.

ULM's Sport Management worksheet lists 14 courses, and you choose nine of them, or 27 credit hours. EXSC 5007 Research Methods in Exercise Science and EXSC 5027 Statistical Methods in Exercise Science are required.

The rest are mostly business of sport: Sport Sociology, Legal Issues in Sport, Finance and Economics in Sport, Leadership and Administration in Sports, Governance and Ethics in Sport, Marketing and Public Relations in Sport, Sport Safety and Risk and Facility and Event Management.

Four options touch exercise science: Advanced Strength and Conditioning, Motor Learning and Control, Sport Nutrition and Sport Psychology. You then pick six hours of either a Professional Internship of 400 clock hours or a thesis, which brings the total to 33 hours.

Graduate online students follow ULM's traditional semester schedule, generally fall and spring, two summer sessions, and short intensive sessions in December and late spring. ULM says online courses can run in 8-week sessions or full-term sessions depending on the program, so ask for your course calendar.

Its graduate course list labels several sport management courses Online, and others Lecture/Online or Lecture/Hybrid, so ask whether any class meets in person. The worksheet suggests three courses per semester, which is a heavy load if you work full time. ULM lists a program coordinator you can call before you apply.

ULM's kinesiology page says its undergraduate and graduate programs hold CAAHEP certification. The online concentration is Sport Management, which isn't an exercise physiology curriculum, and none of ULM's online pages say the accreditation covers it. Nothing on ULM's pages ties this concentration to the ACSM-EP or ACSM-CEP, and from August 15, 2027 those candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program or one in the process.

The NSCA rule starting January 1, 2030 is about the bachelor's behind your CSCS, not this master's. Ask ULM which program the CAAHEP status belongs to before you enroll.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

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

• The online option is Sport Management only. The exercise science concentrations that hold the lab and physiology courses aren't online.
• ULM's online program page still says Apply today for Fall 2016, so parts of the online pages are out of date.
• The worksheet's course names differ from the course catalog in a few places, for example Sport Nutrition versus Nutrition and Wellness.
• The worksheet is a planning form, not a catalog page, so confirm the requirements with an advisor before you register.

• Does the online Sport Management concentration total 33 hours, and which version of the catalog applies to me?
• Does ULM's CAAHEP status apply to any online course, or only to the campus exercise science concentrations?
• Which courses use 8-week sessions, and do any online courses require a campus visit or proctored exam?
• How do internship placements work for online students, and can my current job supply the 400 clock hours?
• Can an online student take EXSC 5038, EXSC 5039 or the physiology courses as electives?
• What is my total bill after course and professional program fees?

ULM is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. Its Kinesiology program sits in the College of Health Sciences, offers concentrations in exercise science, pre-physical therapy and sport management, and states that its undergraduate and graduate programs hold CAAHEP certification.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 42 of 99, master's
• Best Online Master's Programs Rank 42 of 99, master's
• No-GRE Online Master's Programs Rank 21 of 44, master's
• Best for Career Changers Rank 14 of 24, master's
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 34 of 78, master's
• Best Online Programs in Louisiana Rank 2 of 3, master's

Also at University of Louisiana at Monroe, but not counted here because they are not fully online: Master of Science in Exercise Science (Sport Performance and Applied Exercise Science concentrations) (master's, hybrid); Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, Exercise Science Concentration (bachelor's, on campus).

• Lebanon Valley College

  Master of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology

  Pennsylvania $789 per credit Score 56.1

• Hardin-Simmons University

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

  Texas $595 per credit Score 56.8

• Lander University

  Master of Science in Exercise Science

  South Carolina $545 per credit Score 56.8

• King's College

  Master of Science in Performance and Sports Science (MSPSS)

  Pennsylvania $765 per credit Score 56.0