2027 Most Affordable Master's in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Mississippi

National occupation medians offer a benchmark, not a Mississippi salary quote or a starting-pay estimate. The May 2025 figures below describe workers in the corresponding U.S. occupations at different career stages; job title, credential, setting, and location all affect an individual offer (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook).

For an investment decision, compare a realistic Mississippi job offer with your current earnings rather than treating a national median as your likely raise. Account for foregone income during placements and any postdegree supervised work before independent practice.

The programs below differ most clearly by intended practice area, degree structure, and location. These distinctions help narrow a shortlist, but they do not establish that one program is cheaper or meets a particular license's requirements; verify current catalogs and board rules before enrolling.

• University of Mississippi - M. Ed. in Counselor Education: Its counselor-education degree sits in an education program rather than a degree explicitly named for one clinical specialty. Students considering it should confirm their intended concentration and map its courses and fieldwork to their target credential before comparing its price with specialty-specific programs (University of Mississippi, program page).
• Mississippi Christian University - M. Ed. in School Counseling: This is the institution's school-focused option, distinct from its clinical and family-oriented master's degrees. It is the more relevant starting point for applicants whose goal is school counseling rather than clinical private practice; confirm Mississippi educator-credential requirements and approved placements (Mississippi Christian University, school counseling program page; Mississippi Department of Education).
• Mississippi Christian University - M.S. in Mental Health Counseling: Its explicitly mental-health-focused degree gives prospective clinical counselors a clearer comparison point than the institution's school counseling M. Ed. Ask how its current curriculum and supervised experiences align with Mississippi professional counselor requirements (Mississippi Christian University, mental health counseling program page; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors).
• Mississippi Christian University - M.S. in Marriage and Family Counseling: Its family-systems focus distinguishes it from the institution's mental health and school pathways. It best merits a closer look if relationship and family work is your goal; check the credential required for the jobs you want rather than assuming the degree title alone establishes eligibility (Mississippi Christian University, marriage and family counseling program page).
• Mississippi State University - Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Meridian: The Meridian location is a practical differentiator for students who can reach that campus and nearby clinical sites more easily than options elsewhere in the state. Compare the actual course schedule and placement geography with your work commitments before treating location as a cost advantage (Mississippi State University, Meridian program page).
• Mississippi State University - School Counseling master's: This school-directed pathway should be compared with Mississippi Christian University's school counseling M. Ed. on current tuition, placement access, and Mississippi educator-credential alignment - not with clinical programs solely on sticker price (Mississippi State University, school counseling program page; Mississippi Department of Education).
• Reformed Theological Seminary - Master of Arts in Counseling: Its seminary setting is a substantive fit consideration absent from the university pathways above. Applicants who value that educational environment should still examine the current curriculum, supervised training, and Mississippi licensure alignment independently of the institution's religious identity (Reformed Theological Seminary, counseling degree page; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors).

Full-time counseling master's study commonly takes about two to three years; part-time study can take longer. Your actual schedule depends on required courses, when they are offered, and the availability of practicum or internship placements. A seemingly accelerated plan may not save time if clinical training cannot be completed on its proposed schedule (institutional program catalogs).

Ask each program for a term-by-term plan for your intended enrollment status. If you will keep working, identify the terms requiring daytime placement hours before deciding whether a faster program is financially realistic.

Online programs can reduce routine travel for coursework, while campus programs may make face-to-face classes and local placement contacts easier to access. Neither format removes supervised training requirements. For a Mississippi resident, the decisive questions are where fieldwork occurs, whether required campus visits are feasible, and whether the curriculum fits the intended state credential (Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors; Mississippi Department of Education).

Do not assume an online program based outside Mississippi qualifies you for Mississippi practice. Obtain written information about state-specific curriculum alignment and placement approval, then compare it with the relevant state authority's current rules.

There is no single price that responsibly represents every Mississippi counseling master's: published tuition can use different credit loads and exclude fees or fieldwork expenses. NCES IPEDS institutional tuition figures are useful context, but an institutional graduate average is not necessarily the price of a particular counseling program (National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS). Compare a current, program-specific total instead.

For each school, request the required credit count and tuition rate for your residency status, then add mandatory fees, books, travel, and any costs associated with placements. Subtract grants and confirmed employer support before comparing borrowing needs. A public university's resident rate may make it attractive, but neither public status nor a low per-credit rate establishes the lowest net cost. Readers weighing price against other outcomes can also compare the most valuable counseling programs.

Graduate students can submit the FAFSA to be considered for eligible federal aid and school-administered assistance. Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans do not require financial need, but eligibility, annual limits, and interest terms still apply (Federal Student Aid). Also ask programs about assistantships, institutional scholarships, and employer tuition support; an award that requires campus work may conflict with a clinical placement.

Do not build a 2027 financing plan on the assumption that a new graduate student can obtain a Graduate PLUS loan. Federal changes restrict new Graduate PLUS borrowing, while some students already borrowing for the same program may qualify under transition rules; confirm your individual status and current limits with Federal Student Aid and the school's aid office (Federal Student Aid). Borrow only after comparing the full attendance budget with realistic postdegree earnings.

Programs typically ask for a bachelor's degree, transcripts, an application, and materials explaining your interest in counseling. Prerequisite coursework, recommendations, interviews, and admission standards vary by school; check the current requirements for the specific track, not just the university's graduate admissions page (institutional program and admissions pages).

Before applying, request a written review of any proposed transfer credits. A school's willingness to accept prior graduate coursework does not establish that the resulting course sequence will meet Mississippi credential requirements or shorten the fieldwork schedule.

Expect work in counseling theories and techniques, human development, assessment, ethics, research, and supervised practice. School tracks add preparation tied to students and educational settings; clinical mental health tracks focus more directly on behavioral health assessment and treatment. Family-focused study emphasizes relationship and family systems (institutional program catalogs).

Compare course descriptions and fieldwork requirements with the state credential you seek. A course with a similar title at two schools may serve different program requirements, making the complete curriculum more useful than a short list of electives.

The options represented among Mississippi programs include clinical mental health, school, and marriage and family counseling (University of Mississippi; Mississippi Christian University; Mississippi State University; Reformed Theological Seminary, program pages). These are not interchangeable labels. Select a specialty by the clients and setting you want to serve and the credential those jobs require - not by which concentration has the fewest advertised credits.

Addiction-related work may be accessible through relevant clinical training, but an employer or credentialing body can impose additional requirements. Confirm those requirements before treating an elective or concentration name as a professional qualification.

Start with the job you want, then work backward through its Mississippi credential requirements. This prevents the costliest selection error: choosing an inexpensive degree that does not support the intended career. Use the best counseling programs as another comparison point, but verify each program's current details directly.

Ask shortlisted schools for answers to these questions before accepting an offer:

1. Which Mississippi credential is this exact track designed to support, and which requirements must graduates complete afterward?
2. What is the full estimated cost at my enrollment pace and residency rate, after confirmed aid?
3. Where can I complete supervised placements, and who is responsible for securing and approving a site?
4. What is the term-by-term completion plan, including any daytime clinical obligations?
5. What current program-level completion and credential-exam results can you share, with their reporting periods?

Judge return on investment using net cost, likely debt, time away from paid work, your current earnings, plausible postdegree pay, completion likelihood, and the time it may take to obtain a credential. A cheaper program is not automatically the better investment if its schedule makes completion less likely.

Possible paths include school counseling, clinical mental health counseling, substance-use counseling, and family-focused counseling. The degree can be an educational step toward a regulated role, not the credential itself. Mississippi applicants should distinguish degree completion from any required examination, supervised postdegree experience, certification, or license (Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors; Mississippi Department of Education).

If your preferred job is outside direct counseling - such as general program administration - ask whether that employer actually requires a counseling master's. That check can prevent paying for clinical training you do not need.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% employment growth for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors from 2025 to 2035. That national projection signals a growing occupational category, but it does not predict openings in a particular Mississippi town or guarantee a position for a new graduate (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections).

Search Mississippi postings for your target title before choosing a track. Note the requested credential, experience, work location, and whether supervised candidates are considered. The most popular counseling programs can show another way to explore options, but popularity is not evidence of local placement access or job demand.

Investing in a master's degree is a consequential decision, so Research.com evaluates more than an advertised tuition price. Its counseling rankings consider graduate outcomes, licensure exam pass rates where applicable, accreditation, federal aid eligibility, and program cost. The team uses multiple education datasets to check the quality and credibility of program comparisons.

The Best ranking first combines completion (40%), employment or doctoral admission (20%), applicable licensure exam pass rates (20%), CACREP programmatic accreditation (16%), and institutional Title IV eligibility (4%). Weights are adjusted when a measure does not apply. Cost then contributes about 7% of the final score. The same approach applies to campus and online programs; other rankings order programs by the dimension named in their titles. These are the data sources used to create the rankings:

• IPEDS database - institutional enrollment, completion, and price information.
• 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 context.

The ranking is a starting point, not a substitute for checking your intended program's current tuition, accreditation, placement arrangements, and licensure fit. For more detail on its construction, see Research.com's methodology.

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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/
• O*NET OnLine - Mental Health Counselors (21-1014)
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/21-1014.00
• University of Mississippi - M. Ed. in Counselor Education - School Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://olemiss.edu/programs/educ/master-education-counselor-education/
• University of Mississippi - M. Ed. in Counselor Education - Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://olemiss.edu/programs/educ/master-education-counselor-education/
• Mississippi Christian University - School Counseling, M. Ed.
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.mc.edu/academics/departments/counseling/graduate-programs/school-counseling-med
• Mississippi Christian University - Mental Health Counseling (M.S.)
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.mc.edu/academics/departments/counseling/graduate-programs/mental-health-counseling-ms
• Mississippi Christian University - Marriage and Family Counseling (M.S.)
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.mc.edu/academics/departments/counseling/graduate-programs/marriage-family-counseling-ms