2027 Best Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in New Jersey

Pay depends more on the position, employer, experience, and license than on the degree title. The U.S. median annual wage for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors was $59,350 in May 2025; the comparable national median for postsecondary teachers in the counseling-related career data used here was $75,350 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). These are occupation-wide medians, not New Jersey doctoral starting salaries or evidence that completing a PhD increases pay by their difference.

For a useful personal estimate, compare actual job postings for your target role and location with what you earn now. Ask prospective programs for career outcomes specific to their doctoral graduates, including whether reported jobs are faculty, supervisory, or clinical positions.

The most useful comparison between these two New Jersey options is how each program's stated focus fits the work you want to do. Neither degree title alone establishes a clinical license, a particular placement outcome, or a funding offer. The following program-specific distinctions are starting points for questions to put to faculty (Montclair State University; Kean University).

• Montclair State University - PhD in Counseling: Montclair presents counseling as the degree's central field, making it a relevant option to investigate if your intended research concerns counseling theory, training, or practice. Ask which faculty can supervise your proposed topic and what teaching or research work doctoral students actually undertake; those details will matter more than the broad degree name.
• Kean University - PhD in Counseling and Supervision: Kean explicitly names supervision alongside counseling in its degree, a useful distinction for applicants aiming to develop or evaluate how counselors are trained. Compare its required supervision coursework and applied opportunities with Montclair's before treating the title as evidence of deeper preparation for a supervisory role.

Neither highlight substitutes for a current catalog, accreditation check, or written funding offer. Ask both programs for those documents and for recent doctoral completion and placement information before deciding.

Plan for approximately four to six years of doctoral study, with the actual timeline determined by required credits, enrollment pace, research progress, and dissertation approval. A student working full time may need longer; a program's advertised minimum is not a reliable estimate of when every student will finish.

Ask each department for its recent time-to-degree distribution, whether courses rotate annually, and how long students usually spend after coursework on the dissertation. If you already have graduate coursework, request a written transfer-credit review: accepted credits do not necessarily waive residency, research, or dissertation requirements.

Online coursework can reduce commuting and make continued employment easier. Campus study may make regular faculty collaboration, teaching assignments, and research participation more accessible. Neither format removes doctoral research obligations or, where applicable, supervised in-person training.

For an online option, ask where required meetings occur, whether approved supervisors and placements are available where you live, and how dissertation advising works at a distance. Check the New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee's requirements if licensure is part of your plan; do not assume that an online doctorate or an out-of-state institution satisfies them automatically.

There is no single dependable statewide doctoral counseling price to apply to both programs. Published tuition may be quoted per credit or term and may omit fees, required enrollment during dissertation work, books, travel, and lost earnings. Public-university residency classification can also change a student's bill. Use each school's current tuition schedule and required-credit plan rather than an institution-wide undergraduate price (Montclair State University; Kean University; National Center for Education Statistics).

For a comparison, request an estimated total through graduation under your expected full- or part-time schedule, then subtract funding you are actually offered. The most affordable counseling programs comparison can help narrow options, but the lowest advertised tuition is not necessarily the lowest net cost.

Start with program-specific assistantships, tuition remission, fellowships, and research or teaching employment. Ask whether awards cover every funded year, include fees, require work hours, and continue during dissertation enrollment. Institutional aid may make a higher-priced offer cheaper than one with a lower tuition rate.

Eligible graduate students may also consider federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans after submitting the FAFSA, subject to current federal rules and borrowing limits (Federal Student Aid). Verify current federal loan options directly before relying on borrowing to cover a multi-year doctorate. State aid and employer tuition benefits have their own eligibility rules; do not assume an award available for an undergraduate or master's degree extends to doctoral study.

Expect a doctoral program to assess prior graduate education, academic preparation, professional goals, and fit with faculty research or supervision interests. Schools may request transcripts, recommendations, a statement of purpose, a résumé, and an interview; requirements and any expected counseling experience must be checked in the current program admissions materials (Montclair State University; Kean University).

If your master's is in an adjacent field, ask whether it satisfies the program's entry requirements and whether additional counseling coursework would be necessary. Separately ask the New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee whether your education supports the license you want. Admission to a PhD and eligibility for an LPC are different decisions.

Doctoral study commonly combines advanced counseling theory, research design, quantitative or qualitative methods, counselor teaching, supervision, ethics, and dissertation research. The exact sequence matters: a student seeking a faculty role should look for substantial research and teaching preparation, while an aspiring supervisor should scrutinize supervised supervision practice and feedback, not just a course title.

Request a current degree map. It should show which courses are required, when they are offered, how research milestones are assessed, and whether electives allow you to pursue your intended population or setting (Montclair State University; Kean University).

Students may shape doctoral research around areas such as clinical mental health, addiction, school counseling, counselor supervision, or rehabilitation. A research interest is not necessarily a formal concentration, however. Confirm whether a school offers a named track, relevant faculty adviser, appropriate coursework, and access to participants or practice settings before building an application around it.

Specialization also changes credential planning. School counseling in New Jersey involves state educational certification, whereas independent clinical counseling follows the professional counselor licensing route (New Jersey Department of Education; New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee). Choose the program and prior qualifying degree with the intended role in mind.

Start with the job you want after graduation, then test each program against requirements you cannot easily fix later. Rankings can identify candidates for closer review; the most popular counseling programs comparison is less important than verified fit for your goals.

Use this sequence when speaking with admissions staff and faculty:

1. Specify whether your goal is faculty research and teaching, supervision, clinical practice, or another role; ask what recent graduates actually do.
2. Check institutional accreditation and the program's current CACREP status, where relevant, with the accreditor; confirm educational eligibility with the New Jersey board or certification authority rather than assuming accreditation alone confers a credential.
3. Compare written requirements for credits, residency, research, placements, transfer credit, and dissertation progress against your work and family commitments.
4. Request an individualized net-cost and funding estimate, then weigh likely completion time, foregone earnings, debt, and career opportunities against your current earnings.

Common mistake: choosing a doctorate because it sounds more advanced than a master's. If your target job requires an LPC but not a PhD, first establish whether a qualifying master's offers a shorter, less costly route (New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee).

A doctorate can support applications for counselor education faculty roles, research positions, clinical or training leadership, and supervision. Clinical work still depends on the appropriate license; university hiring may depend heavily on research output and teaching experience. A school counseling role follows its own certification requirements rather than arising automatically from a counseling PhD (New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee; New Jersey Department of Education).

To judge whether the degree is worth the investment, compare a realistic post-degree role with the role available to you now. Include years of study, funding, borrowing, completion probability, foregone income, and the length of time you expect to work afterward. The most valuable counseling programs comparison is a starting point, not a substitute for that personal calculation.

National demand is stronger for some counseling occupations than for the narrower set of doctoral-level faculty jobs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% employment growth for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors during 2025-2035, compared with 2.5% for the counselor-education-related teaching category used in this guide. These projections describe national occupations, not New Jersey openings reserved for PhD holders.

That difference should shape your search. If you want clinical work, investigate local employers and licensing requirements before assuming a doctorate will improve your prospects. If you want an academic appointment, ask programs about teaching, publication support, and graduate placements, then review actual vacancies in the locations where you would accept a job (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Montclair State University; Kean University).

Investing in a doctorate is an important decision, so Research.com designed its ranking to help readers compare programs on evidence rather than reputation alone. Its team evaluates graduate outcomes, applicable licensure exam results, accreditation, eligibility for federal student aid, and cost; readers can use those measures as a starting point, then verify details that matter to their own goals.

The Best ranking first combines program completion (40%), employment or doctoral admission (20%), licensure exam pass rates where applicable (20%), CACREP programmatic accreditation where applicable (16%), and institutional Title IV eligibility (4%). Inapplicable criteria are excluded and the remaining shares renormalized. Program cost then contributes about 7% of the final score. The method applies to both online and on-campus programs; other Research.com rankings order programs by the dimension named in each ranking. An aggregate score cannot establish an individual applicant's licensure eligibility or likely return on investment.

Research.com uses the following sources to check institutional characteristics, outcomes, and costs:

• IPEDS database - institutional enrollment, completions, and reported price information.
• Peterson's database - program and institution information used in comparisons.
• College Scorecard database - federal institutional and student-outcome information.
• National Center for Education Statistics - education data and definitions used to assess comparable measures.

See Research.com's methodology for more on how its rankings are created. Before applying, confirm current program requirements and prices with each university.

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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
• Montclair State University - Ph.D. in Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.montclair.edu/academics/programs/phd-counseling
• Kean University - Ph.D. in Counseling and Supervision
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.kean.edu/academics/programs/counseling-and-supervision-phd