2027 Best Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Maine

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a May 2025 national median annual wage of $59,350 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors. The figure covers an occupation, not graduates of a particular Maine program, and includes workers at different experience levels and in different settings. It should not be read as an expected first salary or a Maine-specific wage.

For an investment decision, request recent program-level employment information and compare actual job postings in the part of Maine where you intend to work. Check the credential required and whether the advertised pay is for an employee or a contractor. Then compare plausible earnings with your current income, borrowing, and the time you may spend completing supervised experience after graduation.

The clearest distinction between these options is how students access coursework and clinical preparation. Their published program structures offer useful starting points, but prospective students should confirm current requirements and placement support directly with each school.

• University of Southern Maine: Its Master of Science in Counseling offers a clinical mental health counseling concentration within a counselor-education program, with a published 63-credit curriculum (University of Southern Maine). This is a useful option to investigate if you want a concentration-based counseling degree and access to the university's southern Maine academic community; ask how courses and approved field placements are scheduled before choosing a commute or study plan.
• Husson University: Its online Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling is published as a 60-credit program (Husson University). Online coursework may better suit a working student or someone living far from a campus, but it does not remove in-person clinical training; ask Husson how it approves Maine placement sites and supports students seeking supervision near home.

Neither credit count establishes a better outcome on its own. Compare current catalogs, total charges, accreditation status, and written answers about licensure preparation alongside the ranking.

A clinical mental health counseling master's commonly takes about two to three years of full-time study; part-time study generally takes longer. The schedule depends on course sequencing, whether summer terms are available, and when a student can complete supervised practicum and internship work. Published credits describe academic workload, not a guaranteed graduation date.

If you plan to keep working, ask for a term-by-term part-time schedule and the expected weekly placement commitment. An accelerated academic schedule offers little advantage if required courses or an acceptable clinical site will not be available when you need them. Degree completion and Maine's post-degree licensure process are separate timelines.

Delivery format mainly changes where and when you take classes - not whether you must develop clinical skills under supervision. This comparison focuses on the constraints most likely to affect a Maine student's completion plan.

Do not assume that "online" means self-paced, entirely remote, or automatically acceptable for Maine licensure. Request the program's residency requirements, placement policy, and a written explanation of how its curriculum addresses the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure's current education rules.

There is no single reliable price for this degree without specifying the institution, credit load, residency status, and academic year. A current Maine-wide average specific to clinical mental health counseling master's programs is not established here; substituting a general undergraduate tuition average would mislead applicants. Institutional tuition and fee information reported through NCES/IPEDS is useful context, but your program's current published graduate charges are the better basis for a budget.

Calculate the full cost from required credits and applicable per-credit charges, then add mandatory fees, books, travel or campus visits, placement-related expenses, and any income you expect to give up. Public-university resident and nonresident rates can differ, so confirm which rate applies to you. The most affordable clinical mental health counseling programs can help you identify options to price out; the lowest listed tuition is not necessarily the lowest total cost.

Start with the FAFSA and each school's graduate-aid office. Depending on eligibility, options may include federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, institutional scholarships or assistantships, employer tuition support, and placement-related support. Federal Student Aid rules govern federal borrowing; a school must also confirm a student's eligibility and applicable limits. Do not assume that aid advertised to Maine undergraduates extends to graduate counseling students.

Graduate PLUS has changed for new borrowers. Under federal rules effective July 2026, students beginning graduate borrowing generally cannot take out new Graduate PLUS loans. A limited transition provision may apply to students who had a qualifying loan for their current program before the change, subject to federal conditions (Federal Student Aid). Ask your aid office to calculate a funding plan under the rules that apply to your enrollment history before committing to a program.

If you expect to work in an eligible underserved setting after licensure, investigate federal service-based loan repayment programs separately; eligibility depends on the credential, employer site, and program rules. Compare aid packages by net cost and likely debt, not scholarship size alone.

Applicants generally need a bachelor's degree and the materials specified by the individual graduate program. Schools may also request transcripts, recommendations, a statement of purpose, an interview, or evidence of readiness for clinical work. A psychology undergraduate major should not be assumed mandatory unless the program says so; likewise, admission to a degree program should not be mistaken for admission to a clinical placement.

Before applying, compare each school's current admissions page with the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure's education rules. If you have prior graduate credits, obtain a written transfer-credit evaluation showing which courses count toward this specific degree. Transferred credits can shorten a plan only if the school accepts them and the resulting curriculum still supports your intended licensure route.

Expect study in counseling theories and techniques, assessment and diagnosis, ethics, human development, group counseling, research, and cultural responsiveness, followed by supervised practicum and internship. Course titles differ, so a similarly named class is not proof that two programs cover identical competencies. Program catalogs and the Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure are the appropriate sources for checking current curriculum and education requirements.

Read the sequence, not just the course list. A student hoping to finish quickly should find out when clinical courses begin, which prerequisites must be completed first, and whether a delayed placement would postpone graduation. Ask how the program teaches documentation, confidentiality, and telehealth practice, since those skills affect work across modern behavioral health settings.

Clinical mental health counseling is itself a professional focus, but electives and placements may let students develop experience with substance use, trauma, children and families, or integrated behavioral health. Availability varies by school and approved site. A stated interest area is not necessarily a formal concentration or an additional credential; verify what appears on the transcript and what supervised experience is actually available.

Choose a focus based on the work you want to do in Maine, then ask whether the program has recently approved placements in that setting. If your primary goal is to become a school counselor or a marriage and family therapist, compare those distinct educational and licensing pathways rather than assuming a clinical mental health counseling concentration substitutes for them.

The strongest choice is the program you can complete affordably that supports your intended credential and gives you a realistic route to supervised training. A ranking can narrow the field, but it cannot decide whether a particular course schedule, placement location, or aid offer works for you. Use this sequence to test your shortlist:

1. Identify the Maine credential and type of counseling work you want, then check the current Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure requirements.
2. Verify institutional eligibility for federal aid and check any claimed CACREP programmatic accreditation directly with CACREP; ask the school how its curriculum addresses Maine's rules.
3. Get a written degree plan, including course availability, transfer-credit decisions, required campus visits, and placement approval procedures.
4. Request a complete cost estimate and aid offer; compare likely debt, time away from earnings, and your realistic completion timeline.
5. Ask for recent program-specific completion, placement, and licensure-exam information where available, including the reporting period and number of students represented.

Common mistakes are choosing on tuition alone, treating online study as fully remote clinical training, or assuming accreditation and graduation automatically confer a license. The most valuable clinical mental health counseling programs offer another comparison lens, but your return depends on aid, debt, completion probability, earnings before and after the degree, and how long you expect to work in the field.

A graduate may seek an appropriately supervised counseling role while working toward Maine clinical licensure, then consider positions with greater clinical responsibility as credentials and experience permit. Potential directions include community mental health, addiction treatment, hospital or integrated-care teams, and eventually private practice. The Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure determines license requirements; employers determine the qualifications for individual jobs.

This path is most compelling if you want to provide counseling and are prepared for supervised clinical work beyond the classroom. If your goal is a nonclinical human-services role, compare its actual job requirements before paying for a licensure-oriented master's. If you want to teach or conduct research at an advanced level, investigate doctoral requirements separately rather than assuming this degree covers them.

National demand offers a positive signal, but it does not measure openings in a particular Maine county. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% U.S. employment growth from 2025 to 2035 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors. That projection supports investigating the field; it does not guarantee a position, a placement, or a particular salary where you live.

Test the local market before enrolling: review Maine postings in the settings you prefer, note whether they accept graduates working under supervision or require an independent license, and ask prospective programs where students have completed recent placements. The most popular clinical mental health counseling programs can broaden your shortlist, but program popularity is not evidence of local hiring. Placement access and the credential employers request should carry more weight.

Investing in a counseling degree is a consequential decision. Research.com's team developed the ranking to help readers compare programs using outcomes, recognized credentials, and cost rather than promotional claims alone. The team draws on the following sources to support the ranking's quality, credibility, and accuracy:

• IPEDS database: institutional reporting on enrollment, completions, and costs.
• Peterson's database: program and institutional information.
• College Scorecard database: federal information on institutions and student outcomes.
• National Center for Education Statistics: federal education data and definitions.

For the Best ranking, a graduate-outcomes-and-accreditation score combines program completion (40%), employment or doctoral admission (20%), licensure exam pass rate where applicable (20%), CACREP programmatic accreditation (16%), and federal Title IV eligibility (4%). Shares are renormalized when a criterion does not apply. Program cost then contributes about 7% of the final score. The same approach applies to online and on-campus programs; other rankings order programs by the dimension named in their title. Readers can use the results to build a shortlist, then confirm current tuition, placement arrangements, and Maine licensure fit with each school. More detail is available in Research.com's methodology.

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• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Counselors
  Used to verify salary, employment outlook, and typical education requirements.
  https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/
• CACREP - Directory of Accredited Programs
  Used to verify CACREP accreditation status of specific programs.
  https://www.cacrep.org/directory/
• O*NET OnLine - Clinical Mental Health Counseling (21-1014)
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/21-1014.00
• University of Southern Maine - Master of Science in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling Concentration
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://usm.maine.edu/counselor-education/master-of-science-in-counseling-clinical-mental-health-counseling-concentration/
• Husson University - Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.husson.edu/online/online-degrees/master-of-science-in-clinical-mental-health-counseling