2027 Best Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in New Jersey

A degree does not set a salary. Specialty, credential, employer, experience, and hours worked all matter. The national BLS figures below use May 2025 median annual wages and 2025-2035 employment projections; they are not New Jersey wage estimates or starting-salary offers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook and Employment Projections).

These occupational comparisons are useful when weighing career directions, but they should not be treated as earnings attributable to a particular master's program.

A higher national median in one specialty does not mean its New Jersey entry-level jobs pay more than another specialty's. Before borrowing, compare current local job postings for the credential you plan to earn and distinguish positions open to graduates from those requiring independent licensure.

The program descriptions identify different decision-relevant routes, not verified differences in placement rates, prices, or licensure results. Published program pages establish the degree and focus named below; request a current curriculum, fieldwork handbook, and outcome report before choosing among similar options (institutional program pages).

• The College of New Jersey - MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: This is TCNJ's clinical, rather than school, counseling route. It merits a closer look if your target is clinical practice; confirm its current coursework against New Jersey professional counselor requirements.
• The College of New Jersey - MA in School Counseling: Its school-specific degree separates the education-setting pathway from TCNJ's clinical option. Ask how placements and coursework support New Jersey school counselor certification if K-12 practice is your goal.
• William Paterson University - MEd in Professional Counseling, School Counseling concentration: The school counseling concentration sits within a professional counseling degree. Compare its school-focused curriculum and field-placement arrangements with standalone school counseling degrees, rather than assuming the degree title determines certification eligibility.
• Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham Campus - MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Its named clinical mental health degree offers a direct match for applicants pursuing that specialty. Compare the current required credits, clinical placement support, and total charges with other clinical programs before committing.
• William Paterson University - MEd in Professional Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling concentration: This route pairs a professional counseling degree title with an explicitly clinical concentration. Students considering it alongside William Paterson's school concentration should verify which courses and placements differ.
• Monmouth University - MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Monmouth offers a clinical mental health counseling degree with an MS designation. If comparing it with MA or MEd options, focus on credential alignment, required training, and net cost - not the degree abbreviation alone.
• Montclair State University - MA in Counseling: The broader degree title makes track selection especially important. Request the current plan of study for your intended area before comparing its price or timeline with a program labeled specifically clinical or school counseling.
• Montclair State University - MA in Counseling: Applicants still deciding between counseling settings should investigate the degree's available routes and the credential associated with each. Do not assume that every course of study under a counseling MA leads to the same authorization to practice.
• Kean University - MA in Counseling: Kean's broadly titled counseling MA calls for a close look at its current specialization and fieldwork requirements. It is worth comparing with explicitly named clinical and school degrees if you want flexibility, but confirm the route before relying on that impression.
• Montclair State University - MA in Counseling, School Counseling: The catalog identifies a school counseling course of study within the MA. Use that specific curriculum - not general information about the MA - to assess your fit for New Jersey school counselor certification.

Program names alone cannot establish a measurable advantage. Where two options appear similar, ask both for the same figures: required credits, total estimated charges, placement hours, recent completion outcomes, and applicable examination results.

A full-time counseling master's commonly takes about two to three years; part-time study can take longer, particularly when required practicum or internship courses must follow a sequence. A counseling-related bachelor's generally takes about four years of full-time study. These are planning ranges, not published completion times for every New Jersey program.

Ask whether field placements run during the academic year, require daytime availability, or limit how many credits you can take alongside paid work. An accelerated classroom schedule may not accelerate a placement. For working adults, a predictable part-time plan can be more valuable than the shortest advertised timeline.

Online study can reduce commuting to class, but it does not remove supervised fieldwork or New Jersey credential requirements. Campus study may make face-to-face skills practice and contact with nearby placement coordinators easier. Neither format is inherently better for licensure: the deciding questions are curriculum fit, approved placements, supervision, and the program's ability to support your intended state credential (New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education).

If you live near a state border, clarify where you will complete fieldwork and where you intend to practice. An online program based elsewhere should be asked directly whether its curriculum meets New Jersey requirements; authorization to enroll students is not the same thing as eligibility for a professional credential.

There is no single dependable statewide price for a counseling master's: required credits, residency-based public tuition, private-institution charges, enrollment pace, and fees differ. National averages covering all graduate fields are a weak substitute for the cost of a specific counseling program. Compare each school's total estimated cost to completion, using its current tuition schedule and required credit count (institutional tuition schedules; NCES/IPEDS).

Include placement-related travel, materials, living costs, and any income you would give up by reducing work hours. Public in-state tuition may be attractive to eligible residents, while aid can change the net price of a private nonprofit program. Use the most affordable counseling programs as a shortlist, then obtain a personalized estimate; a low listed tuition rate does not establish the lowest total cost.

Start with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and each university's graduate aid application. Depending on eligibility and availability, funding may include federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, institutional scholarships, assistantships, employer tuition benefits, and aid administered through New Jersey programs. Graduate aid rules and award terms differ from undergraduate aid; confirm your eligibility with the school and Federal Student Aid rather than budgeting around an assumed award (Federal Student Aid; New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority).

Compare renewable aid with one-time awards, and ask whether funding remains available during internship semesters. A scholarship that covers classroom terms but not a required final placement can leave a substantial financing gap.

Master's applicants generally need a bachelor's degree and must meet the institution's academic and application requirements. Schools may also request references, a statement of purpose, interviews, or prerequisite coursework; requirements vary by program (institutional admissions pages). An unrelated undergraduate major need not end your search, but you should ask whether it adds preparatory courses or time.

Admissions eligibility and credential eligibility are different checks. Before accepting an offer, obtain the program's written explanation of how its courses and supervised training relate to the New Jersey credential you want. If you might practice in another state later, check that state's rules separately.

Expect graduate coursework in counseling theories, helping skills, ethics, assessment, research or evaluation, and work with diverse populations, followed by supervised practice. Clinical tracks commonly emphasize diagnosis and treatment; school tracks emphasize student development and counseling within educational systems. The exact sequence and requirements are program-specific (institutional program curricula; New Jersey Department of Education; New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners).

When comparing catalogs, look past course titles. Ask which classes satisfy your intended credential's subject requirements, when fieldwork begins, and whether a required course is offered often enough to keep you on schedule.

The most consequential distinction for many applicants is clinical mental health versus school counseling: it changes the setting, placement, and credential to investigate. Some counseling education also focuses on addiction, rehabilitation, couples and families, or advanced counselor education, but availability and authorization vary by institution and profession (institutional program pages; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

A concentration label is not a license. If your goal is addiction treatment or family therapy, ask whether the specific degree supports that occupation's New Jersey requirements rather than assuming a few related electives are sufficient.

Start with the job and credential, then compare programs on a common basis. Rankings can organize your search, but the best investment is a program you can complete, afford, and use for your intended work. The most valuable counseling programs offer an additional comparison lens; value for you still depends on aid, debt, completion likelihood, and career plans.

Use these checks before submitting a deposit:

1. Name your target setting and credential, then verify its current requirements with the New Jersey licensing board or Department of Education.
2. Confirm institutional accreditation and, where relevant to your goal, the specific program's current CACREP status directly with the accreditor and school.
3. Request a written plan showing required courses, credits, placement arrangements, and realistic full-time or part-time completion time.
4. Compare net total costs after renewable aid, including fees, travel, debt, and earnings forgone during fieldwork.
5. Ask for recent program-level completion and applicable licensure-exam results, with reporting periods and cohort sizes.

Two common mistakes are treating a school's accreditation as proof that every counseling track has programmatic accreditation, and assuming an online degree works for licensure everywhere. For return on investment, consider your current earnings, expected post-degree opportunities, completion probability, borrowing, and how long you expect to work in the field - not a national salary median alone.

Potential paths include clinical mental health counseling, school counseling, addiction counseling, rehabilitation counseling, and, with further education or experience, supervision or counselor education. These are distinct occupations rather than interchangeable outcomes of any counseling degree (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

If you want direct clinical practice, investigate the steps between graduation and independent practice, including supervised experience and examinations required by New Jersey's professional counselor regulator. If you want to work in a school, prioritize the state's school counselor certification route. Someone seeking immediate entry into the workforce without graduate study should also compare related support roles, while recognizing that their duties and advancement options differ from those of credentialed counselors (New Jersey State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners; New Jersey Department of Education).

National demand is not uniform across counseling specialties: BLS projects much faster 2025-2035 growth for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors than for school counselors. That difference may make clinical training attractive to someone open to multiple treatment settings, but a national projection cannot establish how many suitable openings will exist near a particular New Jersey campus (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections).

Local job searches should separate openings by required credential, setting, and experience. A posting for an independently licensed clinician may not be an appropriate first job for a new graduate completing supervised practice. Compare actual New Jersey postings and potential placement sites before deciding that a specialty's national growth rate makes its degree worthwhile for you.

Investing in a counseling degree is a consequential decision, especially when a program's price and credential alignment can affect your route into practice. Research.com designed the ranking to make program comparisons more consistent, using education and outcomes data rather than reputation alone. Readers can use it to identify programs for closer investigation - not as a substitute for confirming current requirements with each school and the relevant New Jersey authority.

The Best ranking begins with a graduate-outcomes-and-accreditation score: program completion accounts for 40%; employment or doctoral admission, 20%; licensure exam pass rates where applicable, 20%; CACREP programmatic accreditation, 16%; and federal Title IV institutional eligibility, 4%. Shares are renormalized when a criterion does not apply. Program cost contributes a smaller component - about 7% of the final score. On-campus and online programs use the same method; other Research.com counseling rankings order programs by the dimension named in each ranking.

The ranking draws on the following sources to check program characteristics and outcomes:

• IPEDS database: institutional enrollment, completions, 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 help narrow the field, but a ranking cannot establish that a particular curriculum satisfies your intended credential's requirements or predict your personal return on investment. See Research.com's methodology for more about how its 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/
• 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