2027 Best Master's in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in New Jersey

Salary depends on the occupation, employer, experience, and credential - not the degree title alone. The figures below are national occupational medians for May 2025, not estimates of pay immediately after graduation or New Jersey-specific wages (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook).

This comparison is most useful for choosing a career direction. Occupational categories can include workers with different credentials, so do not treat a row as a guaranteed return from a particular master's program.

A prospective student comparing offers should obtain current New Jersey job postings and employer salary schedules for the exact role. That is more informative for a personal budget than applying a national median to an entry-level offer.

The clearest distinctions among these programs are the professional pathway they emphasize and how their published degree options let students pursue it. The program-specific comparisons below are starting points, not claims that a school guarantees a credential; confirm current credits, placement arrangements, accreditation status, and eligibility directly with the institution (institutional program pages).

• The College of New Jersey, MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: This is TCNJ's clinical, rather than school-focused, counseling option. It merits attention from applicants whose priority is preparing for the counselor-licensure pathway; request its current course-to-board-requirement map before enrolling.
• The College of New Jersey, MA in School Counseling: The separately named school counseling degree gives education-focused applicants a clearer starting point than adapting a clinical curriculum. Ask how the program addresses New Jersey school counselor certification and arranges school-based fieldwork.
• William Paterson University, MEd in Professional Counseling - School Counselor Certification: Its published option explicitly identifies school counselor certification as the intended destination. That makes it a more direct comparison for future school counselors than William Paterson's clinical counseling option.
• Fairleigh Dickinson University, MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: FDU identifies this as a clinical mental health degree, making its licensure-oriented curriculum the relevant feature to evaluate. Applicants comparing private-university options should obtain a full cost estimate alongside its current clinical placement requirements.
• William Paterson University, MEd in Professional Counseling - Clinical Mental Health Counseling: This option separates the clinical mental health pathway from the university's school-certification pathway. It suits applicants who want to compare those career routes within one institution before deciding which credential to pursue.
• Monmouth University, MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Monmouth offers a specifically clinical MS rather than a general counseling degree title. For students targeting community or outpatient practice, the key comparison is its current supervised-training plan and total cost relative to other clinical options.
• Montclair State University, MA in Counseling: The broader counseling degree title makes its available pathways and current curriculum especially important to inspect. Students who have not settled on a setting should ask which option corresponds to their intended credential before comparing it with single-focus clinical programs.
• Montclair State University, MA in Counseling: Its published program information provides a useful starting point for comparing counseling study with a defined specialty track. An applicant with a specific practice goal should confirm the track recorded on their study plan rather than assume the general degree title determines eligibility.
• Kean University, MA in Counseling: Kean's general counseling degree title calls for a close look at its current concentration and course requirements. It is worth comparing if its available pathway matches your goal and its location makes recurring fieldwork feasible.
• Montclair State University, MA in Counseling - School Counseling: The school counseling catalog pathway specifies an education-setting focus within the counseling MA. Prospective school counselors can use its published course sequence to check certification preparation instead of assuming that any counseling concentration will qualify.

These descriptions do not establish that every program holds the same programmatic accreditation or meets every board requirement. Confirm those points for the specific degree and track you would enter (institutional program pages; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; New Jersey Department of Education; New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners).

Plan on roughly two to three years of full-time study for many counseling master's programs; part-time enrollment can take longer. The actual timeline depends on required credits, course rotation, internship scheduling, and whether a student can complete field hours while working. Treat a school's advertised duration as a schedule to verify, not a promise of your graduation date (institutional program catalogs).

Ask for a term-by-term plan showing when practicum and internship begin. An accelerated classroom schedule may save little time if required placements cannot be arranged on the same timetable; a slower part-time route may be more realistic if you need to retain full-time employment.

Online study changes where you take academic courses, not whether supervised clinical or school-based training is required. A campus program may simplify access to local faculty and placement contacts; an online option may reduce commuting for a working adult. Neither format is inherently a better route to a New Jersey credential.

The deciding question is whether the specific program and track meet the education requirements for your intended credential and can approve a reachable placement. Ask online programs whether they accept New Jersey residents, how they handle live sessions and site supervision, and who secures placements. Ask campus programs the same placement questions - physical attendance does not guarantee a convenient internship (New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education; institutional program policies).

There is no single useful statewide price for a counseling master's: tuition can differ by institution, residency status, enrollment load, and program, while fees and fieldwork expenses add to the bill. NCES IPEDS reports institutional graduate tuition and fees, but an institutional figure is not necessarily the total price of a particular counseling degree (National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS).

For a defensible comparison, request each school's current per-credit price and required credit total, then add mandatory fees, books, travel to placements, and any reduction in work hours. Compare that total - not a single semester's tuition - with aid offers from the most affordable counseling programs. At public universities, verify whether you qualify for a resident rate; at private nonprofit universities, compare the net price after institutional aid rather than assuming the published price determines affordability.

Eligible graduate students may use federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans and may qualify for institutional scholarships, graduate assistantships, or employer tuition assistance. File the FAFSA and ask each financial aid office for a program-specific offer. Do not assume that a New Jersey grant advertised to undergraduates will cover a master's degree (Federal Student Aid; New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority).

Check borrowing rules before using an older cost calculator. Under rules effective beginning July 2026, Graduate PLUS is generally unavailable to new graduate borrowers; a limited transition applies to certain students who borrowed for the same program before the change, subject to federal conditions and time limits. Ask the aid office whether that exception applies to you and how any remaining gap would be funded (Federal Student Aid).

For a working professional, a smaller scholarship is not automatically better than an assistantship or schedule that preserves earnings. Compare net tuition, interest-bearing debt, placement-related work interruptions, and the conditions for keeping each award.

Programs generally require a bachelor's degree and an application that may include transcripts, recommendations, a statement of purpose, and an interview; prerequisite courses and testing policies vary by institution. A bachelor's in psychology is not necessarily required. Check the current admissions page for your intended track rather than assuming requirements are shared across a university's clinical and school options (institutional admissions and program pages).

Admissions eligibility is separate from professional eligibility. Before accepting an offer, ask the program to identify the New Jersey license or certificate it is designed to support, its required coursework and supervised training, and any steps graduates must complete afterward. If you may move, check the destination state's rules too; another state need not accept an identical pathway (New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education).

Core study commonly covers counseling techniques, human development, group counseling, assessment, research, multicultural counseling, professional ethics, and supervised practicum and internship. Clinical tracks typically place more emphasis on diagnosis and treatment, while school tracks address counseling within educational systems and student development (institutional program catalogs).

Course titles alone are a poor eligibility test. Compare the actual syllabus and credit allocation with the New Jersey credential requirements that apply to your goal, particularly if you plan to transfer graduate credits. A school may accept transfer work toward its degree without that work satisfying every professional requirement (New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education; institutional transfer policies).

The consequential choice is usually between clinical mental health counseling and school counseling, because they lead toward different regulated roles. Programs may also offer addiction, rehabilitation, or other focused coursework. A named concentration can shape training, but its label is not proof of eligibility for a separate license or certification (institutional program catalogs; New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education).

Choose a focus by working backward from the position you want. If you want to provide clinical mental health services, investigate counselor-licensure preparation. If you want to counsel students in schools, check school certification. If your goal is marriage and family therapy, compare degrees expressly designed for that distinct profession rather than assuming a general counseling specialty is equivalent.

Start with credential fit, then compare the costs and conditions under which you could actually finish. A highly ranked program is a poor investment if its pathway does not match your intended job or its internship schedule is incompatible with your work.

Use these checks when speaking with programs; each resolves a different risk that a ranking or tuition figure alone cannot capture:

1. Confirm the endpoint: Name the New Jersey license or school certificate you want, then ask the program for its current written explanation of how the specific track addresses its education requirements.
2. Verify accreditation and eligibility: Check institutional accreditation and any claimed CACREP accreditation for the specific program; ask the relevant New Jersey authority about requirements rather than assuming accreditation alone confers a credential.
3. Test placement feasibility: Ask who finds sites, where recent placements were located, what schedules were required, and what happens if a site falls through.
4. Compare net cost and completion time: Obtain an itemized aid offer and term-by-term plan, including fieldwork expenses and income you may forgo.
5. Request relevant outcomes: Ask for the reporting period and denominator behind program completion, exam-pass, or employment figures, and whether they describe your intended track.

Use the most valuable counseling programs as another comparison point, not a substitute for a personal return-on-investment calculation. That calculation depends on aid, borrowing, time away from work, likelihood of completion, your current earnings, plausible post-degree earnings, and how long you expect to work in the new role. A certificate or shorter course is unlikely to replace a required master's for a regulated counseling role; for a job that does not require that credential, it may be the less costly choice.

A clinical graduate may seek a supervised counseling position and work toward New Jersey licensed professional counselor status; a school counseling graduate may pursue the state's school counselor certification route. Other possibilities include addiction-related services, rehabilitation settings, and student-support roles, depending on the curriculum and employer. Degree completion, supervised experience, examinations, certification, and licensure are distinct steps - not automatic outcomes of graduation (New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education).

Clinical practice is a better fit for someone willing to complete post-degree credential steps and work with clients experiencing mental health concerns. School counseling is a better fit for someone who wants to work within an educational calendar and student-support system. Someone primarily interested in therapy for couples or families should investigate New Jersey's separate marriage and family therapy requirements before choosing either route.

Nationally, employment of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors is projected to grow 18% from 2025 to 2035; the comparable projection for school and career counselors and advisors is 3% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections). These are U.S. occupational projections, not forecasts of openings for New Jersey graduates. They suggest different demand trajectories, but neither figure replaces a search for local, credential-appropriate vacancies.

To judge your likely market, review current postings in the parts of New Jersey where you can work. Record the credential required, supervision offered, client population, schedule, and pay range. That exercise can reveal whether a program's placements and coursework match real entry routes - and whether you can support yourself during the transition to independent practice.

Investing in graduate education is a consequential decision. Research.com designed this ranking to help readers compare programs using outcomes, professional preparation, accreditation, and cost rather than relying on reputation alone. Its team checks multiple data sources to improve the quality and credibility of the comparison; readers should still confirm current program details directly with schools.

The Best ranking first combines program completion (40%), employment or doctoral admission (20%), applicable licensure-exam pass rates (20%), CACREP programmatic accreditation (16%), and institutional eligibility for federal Title IV aid (4%). Inapplicable criteria are excluded and the remaining shares renormalized. Program cost then contributes a smaller component - about 7% of the final score. The method applies to online and on-campus programs; Research.com's other counseling rankings order programs by the dimension named in each ranking.

The ranking draws on these data sources:

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

These measures can narrow a shortlist, but no composite score can establish whether a particular curriculum satisfies your intended New Jersey credential. See Research.com's methodology for more on how its rankings are created, then verify licensure alignment, current tuition, and field placements with each program.

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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/
• Counseling Compact - Participating States
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://counselingcompact.org/
• The College of New Jersey - Clinical Mental Health Counseling, MA
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://programs.tcnj.edu/graduate/clinical-mental-health-counseling-ma
• The College of New Jersey - School Counseling, MA
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://programs.tcnj.edu/graduate/school-counseling-ma
• William Paterson University of New Jersey - M. Ed. in Professional Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.wpunj.edu/coe/departments/SE-PC-DS/degrees-offered/med-pc-scc.html
• Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus - MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.fdu.edu/program/ma-clinical-mental-health-counseling/
• William Paterson University of New Jersey - MEd in Professional Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Concentration
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.wpunj.edu/coe/departments/SE-PC-DS/degrees-offered/med-pc-cmhcc.html