A low-tuition counseling master's can become an expensive choice if its clinical placements, schedule, or coursework do not fit your path to licensure. This guide is for Arkansas students and working professionals comparing those trade-offs. It accompanies the 2027 Most Affordable Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Arkansas, created by the Research.com team of data scientists to help students make an informed choice about programs worth considering. You'll learn how to compare total cost, training, licensure preparation, and career prospects before committing.
Key findings about Clinical Mental Health Counseling degrees in Arkansas
Arkansas counseling licensure is a separate step after graduation: compare each master's curriculum and clinical placements against Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling requirements before comparing tuition alone.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a $59,350 national median annual wage in May 2025 and projects 18% national employment growth from 2025 to 2035 for the counseling occupation associated with clinical mental health work; neither figure predicts an individual Arkansas salary or job offer.
The lowest-priced program may not have the lowest total cost. Compare required credits, resident tuition eligibility, fees, travel to placements, aid, and time away from paid work.
What can I expect from a Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree in Arkansas?
A clinical mental health counseling degree is generally a graduate program that prepares students to assess mental health concerns, develop treatment plans, provide counseling under supervision, and work toward professional counselor licensure. It is distinct from a psychology bachelor's degree, a short counseling certificate, and a school counseling program focused on school-based credentials.
Expect coursework in counseling theory, assessment, ethics, diagnosis, research, and treatment, followed by supervised practicum and internship experiences. The degree is a good fit if you want to provide therapy and can accommodate client-facing clinical training. If your goal is solely school counseling, social work licensure, or a nonclinical wellness role, compare the credential required for that job before paying for a clinical counseling master's. The Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling, not the degree title alone, determines whether education satisfies its licensure rules.
Where can I work with a Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree in Arkansas?
Depending on the role and license held, graduates may seek work in community mental health agencies, hospitals, substance use treatment services, university counseling settings, or private practices. Arkansas's mix of metropolitan and rural communities makes placement geography important: a nearby graduate campus does not necessarily mean a nearby, suitable internship site or first job.
Ask programs where students complete supervised placements and whether sites can accommodate evening schedules or your home region. An agency role may offer an established supervision structure, while independent practice requires attention to the license and practice authority permitted by the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling. Do not assume that a practicum site will become an employer.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a $59,350 U.S. median annual wage for May 2025 for the counseling occupation associated with clinical mental health work. This national occupational figure is a benchmark, not an Arkansas graduate starting salary. Pay can differ by employer, location, experience, license level, and whether a position includes benefits or is paid through client billings.
For a useful personal comparison, examine actual Arkansas job postings for the credential you could hold immediately after graduation - not only postings for independently licensed counselors. Compare compensation with your current earnings and the cost of completing supervised post-degree experience.
The University of Arkansas and Harding University offer different starting points for a shortlist. Their program structures and educational settings matter more than a school's general reputation; confirm current curriculum, clinical-site arrangements, and price directly with each program before applying.
University of Arkansas: Its M.S. in Counseling distinguishes clinical mental health counseling from school counseling within the degree structure. That distinction is useful for applicants weighing two different credential paths: request the clinical mental health plan of study specifically, rather than assuming school-counseling courses meet Arkansas professional counselor requirements. Source: University of Arkansas, Counselor Education program.
Harding University: Its graduate offering is specifically identified as clinical mental health counseling within its mental health and wellness programs, in a Christian university setting. Applicants who value that educational context should ask how it shapes clinical instruction and placements, then compare the required clinical sequence and total price with the public-university option. Source: Harding University, Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
These are program comparisons, not claims that either school has a lower verified total price or produces a particular licensure outcome. If clinical training and outcomes are your primary criteria, compare the best clinical mental health counseling programs alongside the affordability ranking.
Plan on roughly two to three years of full-time study for a clinical mental health counseling master's; part-time enrollment can take longer. The exact timeline depends on the required courses, when they are offered, and how practicum and internship placements fit your schedule. Finishing the degree is not the same as finishing Arkansas's separate examination and supervised-experience requirements for licensure.
An accelerated schedule may reduce time out of the workforce but make paid work difficult during clinical training. Before choosing the fastest advertised path, ask for a term-by-term plan showing when fieldwork begins, how many hours you must be available at a site, and whether courses run every term.
Online delivery changes where you attend classes; it does not eliminate supervised clinical training. A program may teach academic courses remotely while requiring live skills sessions, scheduled meetings, or an in-person practicum and internship. Campus study can make regular faculty and peer interaction simpler, but it may require commuting or relocation.
The deciding question for an Arkansas resident is whether the program can support an approved placement where you intend to live and prepare you for the Arkansas license you want. Ask an online program to identify any campus visits, placement-search responsibilities, and state-eligibility disclosures in writing. A convenient format is not a substitute for confirming licensure fit with the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling.
There is no single Arkansas program price that reliably represents every applicant's bill. Institutions publish tuition using different residency categories and credit loads, while mandatory fees and clinical-training expenses vary. NCES IPEDS provides institutional price data, but institution-wide figures should not be presented as the cost of a particular counseling master's.
Calculate a comparable estimate using each school's current required credits multiplied by your applicable per-credit tuition, then add mandatory fees, books, travel or relocation for placements, and any additional terms. Subtract grants and assistantships you are actually eligible to receive. Public-university resident pricing may matter substantially if you qualify; a private nonprofit program should be judged by its net cost and fit, not its institution type alone. For another lens on outcomes relative to expense, review the most valuable clinical mental health counseling programs.
Eligible graduate students can complete the FAFSA to seek federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans and to establish eligibility for aid that a university may administer. Graduate assistantships, employer tuition benefits, institutional scholarships, and qualifying state or service-based programs may also reduce borrowing, but eligibility and availability vary. Federal Student Aid is the source for federal loan rules; each school's financial aid office controls its own award information.
Graduate PLUS rules are particularly important for a 2027 entrant. Under the federal changes taking effect for new graduate borrowers beginning July 1, 2026, Graduate PLUS is generally unavailable to new graduate students; limited transition provisions may apply to students who previously borrowed for the same program and meet the applicable conditions. Confirm your individual eligibility and current Direct Unsubsidized Loan limits with Federal Student Aid and the school before building a financing plan around either loan.
Ask each program for an aid estimate covering the entire course of study, including clinical semesters. A smaller first-term bill can conceal a larger eventual loan balance if placements reduce the hours you can work.
View the chart data as a table
Reported total program cost by program (Source: Research.com)
Category
Value
University of Arkansas
33,612
Harding University
43,190
Applicants generally need a bachelor's degree and the materials specified by the graduate program, which may include transcripts, recommendations, a statement of purpose, and an interview. A psychology major is not necessarily required, but a school may require prerequisite coursework or assess readiness for clinical work. Check the current University of Arkansas or Harding University admissions page for its actual requirements rather than applying a general rule to either school.
Before paying an application fee, ask whether your previous graduate coursework can transfer and whether accepted credits would replace required counseling courses or merely count as electives. Transfer approval does not automatically establish that the resulting degree meets Arkansas licensure education requirements; verify the complete proposed plan with the program and the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling.
Typical study covers counseling theories, helping skills, human development, assessment, group counseling, multicultural counseling, research, ethics, and the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions. Practicum and internship place those subjects in supervised clinical settings. The exact titles matter less than whether the course content and fieldwork meet the educational standards relevant to your intended Arkansas license.
A common mistake is to compare catalogs by course count alone. Ask for a licensure curriculum map showing how required content and clinical experiences are documented. CACREP programmatic accreditation can provide a useful standard for evaluating counselor preparation, but accreditation and graduation are not themselves state licenses. Sources: Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling.
Programs may offer electives or placements focused on substance use, trauma, children and adolescents, couples and families, or integrated behavioral health. Availability is school-specific, and an elective emphasis is not the same thing as a separate professional license or certification.
Choose a specialization only after checking the core clinical mental health curriculum. If you want to treat adults in community practice, a flexible general clinical sequence may be more useful than a narrow label. If you have a defined population in mind, ask whether faculty supervision and local placement sites actually support that interest. Comparing the most popular clinical mental health counseling programs can reveal additional options to investigate, but popularity does not establish specialization quality.
Start with the job and license you want, then eliminate programs that cannot document a suitable educational path. Among the remaining choices, compare total net cost and whether you can realistically complete clinical training. The cheapest tuition is not a bargain if the required schedule causes you to withdraw or relocate unexpectedly.
Use these questions when speaking with admissions and clinical-placement staff:
Does this specific degree and course sequence meet the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling's current educational requirements for my intended license?
Is the counseling program CACREP-accredited, and what does the program advise applicants to do if accreditation status changes?
Who finds and approves practicum and internship sites, and can students train near my home?
What will I pay across all required terms after confirmed aid, and what are the completion and licensure-exam results for recent cohorts?
To assess whether the degree is worth the investment, compare likely post-degree earnings with your current earnings over a realistic time horizon. Include aid, debt and interest, time away from work, the chance of completing the program, and the additional period before independent licensure. Rankings are useful for screening options, not substitutes for those personal calculations.
View the chart data as a table
Wage range - Mental Health Counselors in Arkansas (BLS OEWS, May 2025) (Source: BLS)
Category
Value
10th percentile
35,760
25th percentile
38,940
Median
51,580
75th percentile
67,240
90th percentile
100,270
A graduate may pursue supervised counseling work on the path toward Arkansas professional counselor licensure, then consider agency leadership, a specialized clinical role, or private practice as qualifications and applicable license permissions allow. Roles in substance use treatment or other specialties may have additional employer or credential requirements. Arkansas uses its own counselor licensing process; a degree alone does not authorize independent clinical practice. Source: Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling.
If you want to work directly with clients, prioritize a clinical placement network and a feasible route through post-degree supervision. If your preferred work is research, school counseling, or social services administration rather than therapy, compare degrees built for those outcomes before assuming clinical mental health counseling is the most efficient route.
View the chart data as a table
Median wage by U.S. state - Mental Health Counselors (BLS OEWS, May 2025) (Source: BLS)
State
Value
AK
80,770
AL
47,310
AR
51,580
AZ
65,300
CA
59,250
CO
62,390
CT
63,590
DC
60,450
DE
56,020
FL
56,790
GA
58,960
HI
60,090
IA
60,880
ID
63,360
IL
60,730
IN
53,760
KS
59,470
KY
54,190
LA
37,910
MA
59,890
MD
59,530
ME
59,970
MI
61,690
MN
58,780
MO
56,910
MS
46,990
MT
59,000
NC
55,490
ND
68,630
NE
63,770
NH
54,840
NJ
62,820
NM
74,100
NV
57,210
NY
59,450
OH
58,360
OK
59,350
OR
74,590
PA
52,010
PR
46,790
RI
65,120
SC
52,370
SD
53,650
TN
49,580
TX
62,630
UT
63,890
VA
59,880
VT
61,810
WA
68,910
WI
62,220
WV
49,430
WY
62,980
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% national employment growth from 2025 to 2035 for the counseling occupation associated with clinical mental health work. That signals demand at the national level, but it is not an Arkansas forecast and does not indicate how many openings will be accessible to a new graduate in a particular county.
For a local reality check, review Arkansas vacancies separately for supervised early-career roles and independently licensed roles. Note where positions are located, what license they require, whether supervision is available, and whether the pay is salary-based or tied to billable services. Those distinctions are more useful for choosing a placement and estimating return on investment than applying a national growth rate to your first job search.
2027 Most Affordable Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Arkansas
Investing in graduate education is a consequential decision, so Research.com evaluates counseling programs using multiple measures rather than treating advertised tuition as the whole story. Its counseling rankings consider graduate outcomes, licensure exam pass rates where applicable, accreditation and federal aid eligibility, and program cost. The Most Affordable ranking orders programs by cost; a lower-cost position does not, by itself, indicate stronger clinical training or better outcomes.
The Research.com team uses the following data sources to support the ranking and check program information:
IPEDS database - institutional enrollment, completions, and reported prices.
Peterson's database - program and institutional information used in comparisons.
For context, Research.com's Best counseling ranking first scores applicable completion, employment or doctoral admission, licensure exam, CACREP accreditation, and Title IV eligibility measures, then gives program cost a smaller role. Measures that do not apply are excluded and the remaining weights adjusted. Readers can use the affordability ranking to build a shortlist, then check program-specific requirements and published outcomes before enrolling. See Research.com's methodology for more detail on how the rankings are created.
# 1 position
University of Arkansas
Master
M.S. in Counseling – Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Delivery mode: campus
87.40
/ 100
Final score
Specialization
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Required credits
60 semester credits
GPA range
3.00 - 4.00
Program completion rate
99% (2024-25)
Employment or doctoral admission
100% (2024-25)
Licensure exam pass rate
100% (2024-25)
Application deadline
Fall: Jan 15; Spring: Sept 15
Application process
direct
GRE
no
Prerequisites
Minimum 3.00 GPA on all undergraduate and any graduate coursework; program application, three letters of professional recommendation, a writing sample, and a statement of professional goals; GRE not required; top applicants interviewed.
Additional requirements
Admission Checklist; Writing Sample and Statement of Purpose; Graduate School Application; Letters of Recommendation; On-campus interview
Accreditation
Accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), with institutional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
University of Arkansas earned a Research.com Affordability Score of 87.4/100, supported by $33,612 total cost (tuition and fees) and 60 semester credits. The program is CACREP-accredited, valid through 2029-03-31.
# 2 position
Harding University
Master
Master of Science in clinical mental health counseling
Delivery mode: hybrid
80.40
/ 100
Final score
Program length
Average Time to Degree: 2 years
Specialization
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Required credits
60 semester credits
GPA range
2.50 - 4.00
Program completion rate
86% (2022-23)
Employment or doctoral admission
86% (2021-22)
Application deadline
Summer: March 30; Fall: July 1; Spring: November 15
Application process
direct
GRE
yes
Prerequisites
The 2021 handbook specifies a cumulative GPA of at least 2.50, or 2.75 over the last 60 hours, or an earned master's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Current applicability is unconfirmed; no specific prerequisite courses are listed.
Additional requirements
Online application; official transcripts sent directly by previous institutions, with Harding transcripts already on file exempted; three recommendation letters; MMR immunization record; resume; faculty interview; signed limitations understanding.
Accreditation
Accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), with institutional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
Harding University earned a Research.com Affordability Score of 80.4/100, supported by $43,190 total cost (tuition and fees) and 60 semester credits. The program is CACREP-accredited, valid through 2031-10-31.
Frequently asked questions about Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree in Arkansas
What is the cheapest clinical mental health counseling degree in Arkansas?
The answer depends on your residency, required credits, fees, and aid. Use the affordability ranking to shortlist programs, then request a current, full-program cost estimate from each school; do not compare per-credit tuition alone.
Do I need a master's degree to become a licensed counselor in Arkansas?
Arkansas professional counselor licensure has graduate education requirements, along with other requirements that depend on the license sought. Check your proposed degree and course plan against current Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling rules before enrolling.
Will a CACREP-accredited degree automatically qualify me for an Arkansas license?
No. CACREP accredits programs; the Arkansas licensing board determines whether an applicant satisfies its education, examination, supervised-experience, and other applicable requirements. Source: CACREP; Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling.
Can I complete the degree online without visiting a clinical site?
No. Online academic coursework does not remove supervised practicum and internship requirements. Ask where placements may occur and whether the program requires any campus visits.
Is a cheaper program always the better investment?
No. Compare net cost with schedule, placement access, completion likelihood, borrowing, and the career path the degree supports. A program that fits your work and clinical-training needs may cost less overall even if its advertised tuition is higher.
University of Arkansas - M.S. in Counseling - Clinical Mental Health Counseling Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions). https://cned.uark.edu/ms/
