University of the Cumberlands Online Master of Science in Health & Human Performance (MSHHP)

This is one of the cheapest online master's degrees in our exercise and fitness set. Cumberlands charges $355 per credit hour, books and fees included, and the whole 30-credit degree comes to $10,650. It fits a trainer, coach or wellness worker who wants a graduate credential and a leadership focus. It isn't a clinical exercise physiology degree, it has no internship, and it doesn't carry programmatic accreditation.

The Master of Science in Health and Human Performance comes from the same Department of Health, Exercise, and Sport Science that runs Cumberlands' online bachelor's. The school is a private nonprofit in Williamsburg, Kentucky, founded in 1888 by Baptist ministers.

You take 30 credits, which works out to 10 three-credit courses. Six are core courses, two are emphasis courses and two are electives. The page's aim is chronic disease prevention plus health promotion skills, and it names two concentration areas: Health and Fitness Promotion, and Coaching and Fitness Leadership. Applications generally need a bachelor's degree, with no GPA or GRE stated.

Tuition is $355 per credit hour, and Cumberlands says the rate includes technology fees, academic resources, library access, counseling and books. Thirty credits at $355 is $10,650. Active military and veterans pay $315 per credit, or $9,450.

You can transfer in up to half the degree, 15 credits, if the school approves the courses before they begin. If you use all 15 and pay for the other 15, tuition is $5,325.

The tuition page publishes these rates without an academic-year label and dates the One Price Promise to 2023, and it lists a $30 application fee for admissions in general. Confirm both figures before you apply.

30 credits at $355 a credit comes to $10,650 in tuition, before fees.

Who It Fits

• You're a personal trainer or fitness manager moving into program design. The core includes HHP 535 Exercise Testing and Prescription, HHP 534 Exercise Physiology and HHP 532 Applied Nutrition, and the emphasis courses focus on physical activity in health promotion.
• You coach, or you want to. The electives include HHP 537 Coaching and Fitness Leadership, HHP 631 Advanced Coaching and Fitness Leadership, HHP 634 Strength and Conditioning and HHP 635 Youth Health and Fitness.
• You're active duty military or a veteran. The tuition page lists a $315 rate, which brings the degree to $9,450. Cumberlands also tells service members to talk to their education officer before using tuition assistance.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if your target is the ACSM clinical exercise physiologist exam. That route asks for a master's in clinical exercise physiology or an equivalent, plus 600 hands-on clinical hours, and this program lists no clinical hours. Our clinical exercise physiology master's list is a better fit.
• Skip it if you want to become a physical therapist or an athletic trainer. The page's career list names both, but each needs its own accredited professional degree, and this master's isn't one.
• Skip it if you want a thesis or a research project. The page lists Research Methods and Applied Statistics, and no capstone or thesis.

The core is six courses: HHP 530 Research Methods, HHP 531 Applied Statistics, HHP 532 Applied Nutrition, HHP 533 Health and Fitness Psychology, HHP 534 Exercise Physiology and HHP 535 Exercise Testing and Prescription. Two emphasis courses follow, HHP 536 Foundations of Physical Activity in Health Promotion and HHP 630 Health Promotion through Physical Activity.

You then choose two electives from ten options. Besides the coaching and youth fitness courses, the list has HHP 632 Current Issues in Health Promotion, HHP 636 Plant Based Nutrition, HHP 637 Applied Sports Medicine, HHP 638 Administrative and Management Strategies and HHP 639 Special Topics.

The page names two concentrations but lists only one emphasis pair, both aimed at health promotion. Ask how a student picks the coaching path.

Courses the School Names

• HHP 530 Research Methods
• HHP 531 Applied Statistics
• HHP 532 Applied Nutrition
• HHP 533 Health and Fitness Psychology
• HHP 534 Exercise Physiology
• HHP 535 Exercise Testing and Prescription
• HHP 536 Foundations of Physical Activity in Health Promotion
• HHP 634 Strength and Conditioning
• HHP 637 Applied Sports Medicine
• HHP 635 Youth Health and Fitness

Standout Features

• Two concentration paths: Health and Fitness Promotion, and Coaching and Fitness Leadership
• Electives include HHP 634 Strength and Conditioning, HHP 637 Applied Sports Medicine and HHP 636 Plant Based Nutrition
• Rate includes books and fees under One Price Promise

The program is 100 percent online. Courses run in eight-week bi-terms, two per semester, and many classes are asynchronous with due dates instead of meeting times. The page says the degree takes about two years depending on pace and course load, which is roughly five courses a year.

Program faculty listed include Dr. Anita Bowman, professor and program director, Dr. Eric Stephens, professor, and Dr. Ann Livengood, adjunct faculty. Graduate admissions requires no GRE, and Cumberlands offers a free transfer credit evaluation.

Cumberlands holds regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The master's itself has no programmatic accreditation stated and doesn't show up on our CAAHEP list. CAAHEP is the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, and it accredits exercise physiology at the master's level.

From August 15, 2027, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates must graduate from a CAAHEP-accredited program or one that has started the process. The CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) 2030 rule from NSCA applies to the bachelor's degree behind the exam, not to this master's.

The program page doesn't name a certification it prepares you for. Treat the degree as a graduate credential for leadership, education and program roles.

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.

• There's no clinical or practical component. Exercise testing is a course, not supervised hours, so it won't build the hands-on record that ACSM's clinical route asks for.
• The two concentrations aren't clearly separated on the page. One emphasis pair and a shared elective list leave the coaching path unspecified.
• The page's career list includes physical therapist, and physical therapists need a doctoral degree of their own. Don't read that list as an outcome of this master's.
• Prior learning is unclear. The prior learning page allows graduate students up to 50 percent through prior learning, while the transfer page caps transfer at half of the degree, and the pages don't say whether the two add together.
• Cumberlands' federal graduation rate is 50 percent, and that figure covers the whole university.

• How does a student choose between the Health and Fitness Promotion and Coaching and Fitness Leadership concentrations, and does it show on my transcript?
• Does this degree meet ACSM's "or equivalent" wording for the clinical exercise physiologist route, and would the school put that in writing?
• Is there any supervised practicum, or can I arrange one where I work?
• Can transfer credit and prior learning credit be combined up to half the degree, or is half the total cap?
• Which electives run every term, and how often does HHP 634 Strength and Conditioning run?
• Is the $355 rate the same for every course in the degree, and does the military rate cover the full 30 credits?
• Is the application fee $30 for online graduate students?

Private university in Williamsburg, KY with a large online arm (UCumberlands Online) built on a flat One Price Promise rate. Exercise science sits in the Department of Health, Exercise, and Sport Science (HESS), which also runs the online M.S. in Health & Human Performance.

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