2027 Best Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Des Moines

Pay depends more on occupation, employer, experience, and licensure than on a degree's title. The table gives national occupational medians for May 2025 - not entry-level offers or Des Moines-specific wages - so use it to compare career directions, not to forecast your first paycheck (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook).

For a personal return-on-investment estimate, compare expected earnings with your current pay, then account for aid, borrowing, time away from work, the probability of finishing, and the years over which you expect to use the credential. National medians cannot resolve those individual trade-offs.

The clearest distinction among these Des Moines options is the professional direction of the degree. For the two clinical mental health choices, do not infer a difference in outcomes or flexibility without comparable, current program disclosures. These program-specific contrasts can help you decide what to verify next (Drake University; Grand View University).

• Drake University - clinical mental health counseling: This is Drake's option for students pursuing clinical mental health training rather than its rehabilitation counseling pathway. It belongs on a shortlist if your goal is mental health counselor licensure; ask Drake for its current clinical-placement process and Iowa eligibility documentation before comparing it with Grand View.
• Drake University - rehabilitation counseling: Its defining distinction within this group is a rehabilitation focus rather than a general clinical mental health program. Consider it if you want to work with disability-related adjustment, access, or vocational goals; confirm which Iowa credential, if any, your intended job requires.
• Grand View University - MS in clinical mental health counseling: Grand View offers a named master's route into clinical mental health counseling, making it a direct alternative to Drake's clinical option rather than to Drake's rehabilitation program. Compare written tuition estimates, scheduling, supervised-placement arrangements, and licensure disclosures side by side; the program titles alone do not establish which is the better value.

A counseling bachelor's degree typically takes about four years of full-time study; a counseling master's commonly takes roughly two to three years after a bachelor's degree, depending on course load and the sequence of practicum and internship. Part-time study can take longer. Ask for a term-by-term plan rather than relying on a headline completion time, particularly if required courses or placements are offered only in certain terms.

Graduation and independent practice are different milestones. Iowa may require supervised experience and an examination after the qualifying degree for a professional counseling license, so include the post-degree stage in your career timeline (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing). A shorter advertised program is not faster overall if its scheduling delays your placement or leaves you needing additional coursework.

Online coursework can reduce commuting and make study easier to combine with work, but it does not remove in-person or synchronous clinical-training requirements. On-campus study can make regular contact with faculty and nearby placement networks more convenient. Either format may suit a Des Moines student; the decisive questions are when classes meet and where required supervised work can be completed.

Before choosing an online program based outside Iowa, request written confirmation that its curriculum is intended to meet the educational requirements for your specific Iowa credential. Also ask whether the school can arrange or approve a placement near Des Moines. Institutional authorization, program accreditation, and Iowa licensure eligibility are related checks, not interchangeable approvals (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs).

There is no single reliable Des Moines counseling-degree price: programs differ in credits, tuition policies, fees, and time to completion. NCES IPEDS publishes institutional tuition and cost information, but an institution-wide figure is not necessarily the price of a particular graduate counseling program. Request the current per-credit rate and a complete degree budget from each school (National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS).

Include required fees, books, travel to placements, possible lost work hours, and interest on borrowing. If a lower-priced option requires a longer commute or makes paid work difficult during internship, tuition alone can misstate its cost. Use the most affordable counseling programs as a starting point, then compare written total-cost estimates for your enrollment plan.

Eligible students can submit the FAFSA to be considered for federal aid; the aid available depends on degree level and personal eligibility. Graduate students should compare institutional scholarships, assistantships, employer tuition support, and federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans before committing to borrowing. Aid offers and loan terms must be checked for the year you enroll (Federal Student Aid).

Ask both the financial aid office and the counseling department whether awards continue during internship terms, when paid work may be harder to maintain. If you are entering through undergraduate study, ask about transfer-credit evaluation before paying for courses elsewhere: credits that do not apply to your eventual degree may erase an apparent saving.

Master's applicants generally need a completed bachelor's degree, transcripts, and the materials specified by the program, which may include references, a statement of purpose, or an interview. A bachelor's degree in psychology is not automatically required; check each school's current admissions page for prerequisite coursework and whether deficiencies can be completed after admission (Drake University; Grand View University).

Before applying, ask admissions to distinguish entry requirements from licensure requirements. Admission to a graduate program does not prove that its coursework, accreditation status, or clinical hours satisfy Iowa's rules for your intended credential (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing).

Graduate clinical mental health programs commonly cover counseling theory, ethics, assessment, diagnosis, research, group counseling, and supervised practice. Rehabilitation counseling adds coursework relevant to disability and vocational or community participation. The exact curriculum matters because Iowa evaluates qualifications for specific credentials, not simply whether a diploma contains the word "counseling" (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing).

Request each program's current course sequence and identify when practicum and internship begin. This reveals whether you can keep your present work schedule and whether a missing course could delay graduation or a licensure application.

The most consequential choice locally is between clinical mental health counseling and rehabilitation counseling: both involve helping clients, but they prepare students for different kinds of work. School counseling is another distinct route, with credentialing through Iowa's education system rather than an automatic extension of a clinical counseling degree (Iowa Board of Educational Examiners; Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing).

Some schools may offer electives or placements related to addiction, youth, or other populations. Treat these as areas of experience until the school documents that they meet the requirements of a separate license or certification. If you already know the population you want to serve, compare required coursework and placement sites rather than specialization labels alone.

Start with the job and Iowa credential you want, then compare only programs that plausibly support that path. CACREP is programmatic counseling accreditation; institutional accreditation and federal aid eligibility are separate matters. Verify a school's current status and ask the relevant Iowa authority how the degree fits its requirements rather than assuming any one label settles eligibility (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing).

These checks turn a ranking into a decision you can defend:

1. Ask each program for written Iowa licensure or certification guidance for the exact career you want.
2. Compare current total cost after aid, expected time to completion, and how clinical placements affect your ability to work.
3. Request comparable program-level completion, licensure-exam, and placement information, including the reporting period and what each measure includes.
4. Check whether prior credits apply to degree requirements before counting on a shorter or cheaper path.

A common mistake is selecting the lowest tuition or highest rank without checking the credential it supports. The most valuable counseling programs can provide another comparison, but personal value also depends on debt, completion likelihood, foregone earnings, and your intended years in the profession.

A bachelor's degree can support applications for some human-services or behavioral health support roles, but it is not a substitute for the graduate education and other steps required for independent mental health counseling practice in Iowa. A relevant master's can form the educational foundation for clinical counseling, rehabilitation-focused work, or - through the appropriate education pathway - school counseling (Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing; Iowa Board of Educational Examiners).

For a career pivot, compare the work itself before comparing salaries. If you want ongoing clinical assessment and treatment, prioritize clinical mental health preparation. If disability access and employment participation are your main interests, examine rehabilitation counseling roles and their credential requirements. If you want to work primarily in K-12 schools, verify the Iowa school-counselor credential pathway first.

National employment for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors is projected to grow 18% from 2025 to 2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections). That points to demand in the broader field, but it is not a projection of openings in Des Moines or a promise of employment after graduation.

Local prospects depend on employer hiring, the populations you are trained to serve, and whether you have reached the credential level a role requires. Review current postings from Des Moines-area health providers, community agencies, schools, and vocational services before enrolling. Record the licenses they request and the supervision they offer; that is more useful for choosing a degree than applying a national growth rate directly to the local market.

Investing in education is a consequential decision. Research.com created its counseling rankings to help readers compare programs using evidence rather than promotional claims. The team reviews graduate outcomes, accreditation, licensure exam results where applicable, and cost, while recognizing that no score can determine whether a program fits an individual student's career goal.

For the Best ranking, a graduate-outcomes-and-accreditation score combines program completion (40%), employment or doctoral admission (20%), licensure exam pass rates where applicable (20%), CACREP programmatic accreditation (16%), and institutional Title IV eligibility (4%). Weights are adjusted 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 each ranking.

To check the quality and credibility of the underlying information, the ranking uses these data sources:

• IPEDS database - institutional enrollment, completion, and cost data.
• Peterson's database - program and institutional information.
• College Scorecard database - federal institutional and student-outcome information.
• National Center for Education Statistics - federal education statistics and definitions.

The ranking offers a starting point for a shortlist, not a substitute for confirming current tuition, placement arrangements, and licensure eligibility with a school. More detail about Research.com's approach is available on its methodology page.

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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/
• NBCC - NCE / NCMHCE
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://www.nbcc.org/exams
• Drake University - M.S. in Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.drake.edu/degree-programs/clinical-mental-health-counseling
• Drake University - MS in Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.drake.edu/degree-programs/rehabilitation-counseling
• Grand View University - Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.grandview.edu/academics/programs/ms-clinical-mental-health-counseling