2027 Best Master's in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Louisiana

The latest national figures used here are May 2025 occupational median wages, not starting salaries or Louisiana-specific graduate outcomes. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports $59,350 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors and $64,330 for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors. The second occupation includes roles beyond K-12 school counseling, so neither median should be read as the pay attached to a particular master's degree.

For a realistic Louisiana estimate, compare current postings in your intended parish and setting, including whether pay is based on a school-year schedule, whether a position requires full licensure, and what benefits are offered. Use occupational medians as context - not as a forecast of what you will earn immediately after graduation.

The programs below warrant different follow-up questions because they emphasize different credentials, locations, or degree structures. Their descriptions identify verifiable program distinctions, not a claim that any concentration automatically qualifies a graduate for licensure or certification; confirm current requirements directly with each program and the relevant Louisiana authority.

• Southeastern Louisiana University - M.S. in Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling concentration: This named clinical concentration offers a direct starting point for applicants pursuing mental health practice rather than a school role. Ask how its current course sequence and placements map to Louisiana LPC education requirements (Southeastern Louisiana University).
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette - Mental Health Counseling: This is the university's mental health program option, making it the relevant Lafayette choice for applicants targeting clinical work. Compare its approved internship sites with where you can realistically commute or relocate (University of Louisiana at Lafayette).
• Southeastern Louisiana University - M.S. in Counseling, School Counseling concentration: Unlike its clinical concentration, this option explicitly centers school counseling. It is the more pertinent starting point for prospective K-12 counselors, who should confirm current educator-certification alignment before applying (Southeastern Louisiana University).
• Northwestern State University of Louisiana - M.A. in Counseling: The Master of Arts degree is worth examining for applicants who want to compare a counseling-focused curriculum with M.S. and M. Ed. alternatives. Request the current track-specific plan of study rather than assuming the degree title identifies a licensing pathway (Northwestern State University of Louisiana).
• Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College - Counselor Education: LSU places its graduate counselor education offerings within its School of Education. Applicants interested in studying counseling in that academic setting should identify the exact degree and specialization before comparing requirements with practice-focused alternatives (Louisiana State University).
• Nicholls State University - M. Ed. in School Counseling: Its education-degree structure and explicit school counseling focus make it a targeted option for applicants seeking a school-based role. Ask how field placements and the current curriculum support Louisiana school counselor certification (Nicholls State University).
• Xavier University of Louisiana - Graduate Education and Counseling: Xavier presents counseling within its graduate education offerings, a useful distinction for applicants comparing education-based preparation with stand-alone counseling degrees. Verify the specific degree and concentration offered for your intended job before comparing prices (Xavier University of Louisiana).
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette - School Counseling: This separate school counseling option allows applicants in the Lafayette area to compare a K-12-oriented path with the university's mental health offering. The choice should follow your intended credential, not simply a preference for the same campus (University of Louisiana at Lafayette).
• Northwestern State University of Louisiana - M.A. in Counseling: Applicants considering a school-based career should request this program's current school-counseling coursework and placement details specifically. Those details, rather than the shared M.A. title, determine whether it fits their certification plan (Northwestern State University of Louisiana).
• Louisiana State University - New Orleans - Counseling Graduate Programs: The program's New Orleans location makes local placement arrangements a particularly important point of comparison for applicants who plan to remain in the city. Confirm the institution's current program identity, available degree, and placement options directly before treating it as interchangeable with LSU's Baton Rouge offering (Louisiana State University - New Orleans).

Program pages can change. Ask for the current catalog, a written explanation of credential alignment, and recent program-level completion and exam results before making a final comparison.

Plan on roughly two to three years of full-time study for a counseling master's; part-time study often takes longer. The precise timeline depends on required credits, course sequencing, and when practicum and internship placements are available. This is a planning range, not a completion promise from any school.

Ask for a semester-by-semester plan that includes fieldwork. An accelerated classroom schedule may not shorten a required internship, while a part-time schedule may let you keep working but delay entry into a credentialed role. Postdegree supervised experience for the LPC is additional to the master's timeline (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners).

Online delivery changes how you attend classes; it does not remove supervised practice or Louisiana credential requirements. A campus program may make it easier to build relationships with nearby placement sites. An online option can reduce commuting, but you should establish who secures and approves a site in your area, when live meetings occur, and whether any campus visits are required.

Neither format is inherently more suitable for licensure. Before paying a deposit, request confirmation that the specific concentration satisfies the educational rules for your intended Louisiana credential. If you might practice in another state, check that state's board separately; an online program's availability to Louisiana residents does not establish nationwide license eligibility (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners; Louisiana Department of Education).

There is no single reliable statewide price for a counseling master's: published tuition may be charged per credit, per semester, or by residency, and a program's required credits and fees determine the total. The National Center for Education Statistics' IPEDS data report institutional graduate tuition and fees, but those figures are not automatically the price of a particular counseling concentration. Use each school's current graduate tuition schedule and program plan for an individual estimate (NCES/IPEDS).

Build an all-in comparison that includes tuition, mandatory fees, books, travel to placements, potential lost wages during fieldwork, and the cost of any extra semesters. A public university's resident rate may help eligible Louisiana students, but compare actual aid offers before assuming a public, private, or nonprofit institution has the better net price. The most affordable counseling programs ranking can help you begin that comparison.

Graduate students should start with the FAFSA and ask each financial aid office about federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, assistantships, scholarships, and any employer tuition benefit. Confirm whether an award renews during internship semesters and whether its work duties conflict with placement hours. Federal aid eligibility and borrowing limits depend on the student and program (Federal Student Aid).

Do not budget on the assumption that new Graduate PLUS borrowing will be available in 2027. Federal Student Aid's rules restrict Graduate PLUS access for new graduate borrowers beginning July 1, 2026, while certain students who borrowed earlier for an eligible program may qualify under transition provisions. Ask your aid office to assess your individual eligibility and provide a year-by-year financing plan (Federal Student Aid).

Louisiana residents should also ask schools which state, institutional, or workforce awards actually accept graduate counseling students; a scholarship advertised for undergraduates may not apply. Compare the net cost and expected debt - not just the advertised tuition - when reviewing the most valuable counseling programs.

Programs generally require a bachelor's degree and an application that may include transcripts, recommendations, a statement of purpose, and an interview. A prior counseling degree is not necessarily required, but individual schools may specify prerequisite coursework or additional admissions conditions. Check the current catalog rather than assuming requirements are identical across concentrations (Louisiana counseling program admissions pages).

Applicants changing careers should ask whether prerequisite courses can be taken before admission and whether previous graduate coursework can transfer. Transfer acceptance is a school decision; it does not waive a licensing board's educational requirements. If independent clinical practice is your goal, ask the program to identify how its curriculum addresses Louisiana LPC education rules before you enroll (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners).

Common subjects include counseling theories and techniques, ethics, human development, assessment, group counseling, multicultural counseling, and research. Clinical plans may add diagnosis and treatment coursework; school plans may emphasize K-12 student development, school systems, and consultation. Supervised practicum and internship apply classroom skills in settings relevant to the concentration (Louisiana counseling program catalogs).

Compare course content and sequencing, not just course names. Ask which classes must precede fieldwork and whether electives leave room for your intended population or setting. A compelling elective cannot compensate for missing coursework required by the credential you plan to seek.

Clinical mental health counseling and school counseling are the clearest alternatives among the programs discussed here. Clinical training is the logical starting point for prospective mental health or substance-use counselors; school counseling better fits applicants who want to support students within K-12 systems. Some programs may offer further electives or emphasis areas, but their availability varies by catalog and does not necessarily create a separate credential (Louisiana university program pages).

If your goal is marriage and family therapy, rehabilitation counseling, or another regulated specialty, check that profession's requirements before treating a general counseling concentration as equivalent. The safest comparison is between the actual curriculum and the rules for the exact role - not between similar-sounding degree titles.

Start with the job and credential you want, then compare programs that can plausibly support that route. The most popular counseling programs may offer useful shortlist ideas, but popularity does not establish licensure fit, affordability, or accessible internships.

Use this sequence when speaking with admissions staff and program directors:

1. Identify your intended role - such as LPC-track clinician or K-12 school counselor - and check the relevant Louisiana board or education agency's current rules.
2. Confirm the exact concentration, institutional accreditation, any applicable CACREP status, and how required courses and supervised training align with that credential.
3. Request a written degree plan and ask who arranges placements, including placements near your home if you will study online.
4. Calculate total net cost and a realistic completion date using fees, aid, borrowing, commuting, and likely changes to your work hours.
5. Ask for recent program-level completion, exam, and employment information, noting what each measure includes.

A degree is more likely to be worth the investment when its credential fit and achievable completion plan support a career change you actually want. For a return-on-investment estimate, weigh aid and debt against your current earnings, potential postdegree earnings, time out of work, completion probability, and the years over which you expect to use the credential. A common mistake is choosing the cheapest or fastest offer before checking whether its placement schedule and coursework are workable.

A clinical graduate may seek an entry role under appropriate supervision, then pursue LPC licensure for positions requiring independent professional practice. A school counseling graduate may pursue school roles after meeting Louisiana educator-credential requirements. Related opportunities can include behavioral health agencies, substance-use services, or further doctoral study, depending on the position and the graduate's qualifications (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners; Louisiana Department of Education).

A master's is not itself a license. Louisiana's LPC process includes educational review, examination, and supervised postdegree experience; school counselor certification follows a separate route. Check the current requirements with the appropriate authority before assuming a job title is available immediately on graduation. If your main goal is a role that does not require graduate clinical training, compare the cost of this degree with a less intensive credential first.

National demand offers context, not a Louisiana hiring guarantee. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% employment growth from 2025 to 2035 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors, compared with 3% for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors. These are national occupational projections covering workers with varied credentials; they should not be interpreted as placement rates for Louisiana master's graduates.

For a local decision, review postings from Louisiana schools, health systems, and treatment providers in the parishes where you would work. Note the credential and experience each employer requests, then ask prospective programs whether recent internship sites and graduates entered those kinds of settings. That check is more useful than relying on a national growth figure alone.

Investing in graduate education is a consequential decision. Research.com designed its counseling rankings to make program comparisons more transparent, using multiple sources and checking outcomes, accreditation, and cost rather than relying on institutional reputation alone. The ranking is a starting point for your own review of curriculum, licensure eligibility, and net price.

The Best ranking first 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%). Shares are renormalized when a criterion does not apply. Program cost then accounts for about 7% of the final score. The method applies to online and campus programs; other Research.com rankings order programs by the dimension named in the ranking.

The ranking draws on these data sources:

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

These measures can help you identify programs to investigate, but a score cannot establish that a particular concentration satisfies Louisiana's licensing or school-certification rules. See Research.com's methodology for more about how the rankings are created.

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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
• Southeastern Louisiana University - Counseling, MS - Clinical Mental Health Counseling Concentration
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.southeastern.edu/majors-and-minors/counseling-ms-clinical-mental-health-counseling-concentration/
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette - M.S. in Counselor Education - Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://counselor.louisiana.edu/programs/mental-health-counseling
• Southeastern Louisiana University - M.S. in Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.southeastern.edu/majors-and-minors/counseling-ms-school-counseling-concentration/
• Northwestern State University of Louisiana - Master of Arts in Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.nsula.edu/program/master-of-arts-in-counseling/
• Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College - Master of Education in Counseling - School Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.lsu.edu/chse/education/academics/graduate/counselor-ed/index.php