2027 Most Popular Master's in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Chicago

Pay depends on the occupation, employer, experience, and license - not simply the master's degree title. The following U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are national occupational medians for May 2025, paired with national employment projections for 2025-2035. They are useful for comparing career directions, not for estimating a first job offer in Chicago.

These occupations do not all have identical licensing paths, and a national median blends early- and later-career workers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook and Employment Projections). For an investment decision, compare realistic local job postings and their credential requirements with your expected debt and the time needed to qualify for those jobs.

The programs below stand out for different career-path choices, not for an assumed difference in quality. Published program descriptions establish their degree and specialty, but applicants should request current credit totals, placement rules, outcomes, and accreditation status before comparing a feature that may change (institutional program and catalog pages).

• The Chicago School at Chicago - MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Its Chicago-based clinical mental health degree is a direct option for applicants seeking counselor training rather than a school-focused credential. Compare its clinical placement arrangements with other city programs if commuting and supervision will determine whether you can finish.
• National Louis University - MS in Counseling: The Illinois MS in Counseling gives applicants a different degree format to examine alongside the MA options. Confirm the specific track on your proposed study plan and obtain a written explanation of the Illinois credential it is designed to support.
• Northeastern Illinois University - MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: This is a specifically named clinical mental health pathway at a public university. It merits a net-price comparison with private options for applicants who need that specialty and are eligible for its applicable tuition rate.
• Chicago State University - Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Its separately identified clinical mental health pathway lets applicants compare a public-university route without assuming the university's school counseling pathway has the same professional outcome. Ask for track-specific fieldwork and graduate-outcomes information.
• Roosevelt University - MA in School Counseling: The dedicated school counseling master's is relevant to applicants aiming for school-based practice rather than independent clinical counseling. Request the program's current explanation of Illinois educator-license eligibility and school-placement support.
• Northeastern Illinois University - MA in Couple and Family Counseling: Its explicit couple-and-family focus differs from a general clinical mental health title. It is worth closer review if relational work is your goal, but verify which Illinois license or licenses its coursework and supervised training satisfy.
• Chicago State University - School Counseling: This distinct school counseling pathway gives applicants another public-university option for an education-setting career. Compare its educator-licensure guidance and internship scheduling with Roosevelt and DePaul rather than comparing tuition alone.
• DePaul University - Counseling MA/MEd, School Specialty Area: The catalog identifies school counseling as a specialty area within its counseling degrees. That structure may appeal if you want to understand how shared counseling coursework connects to school-specific requirements; confirm which degree and study plan you would actually enter.
• Adler University - MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Adler presents clinical mental health counseling within its broader emphasis on social justice. If community-oriented practice motivates you, ask how that emphasis appears in required coursework and actual placements, rather than treating a mission statement as an employment outcome.

For any program, ask for its current course sequence, total credits, expected completion time, full attendance cost, site-approval process, and the specific license for which it prepares Illinois graduates. Those answers make the program descriptions genuinely comparable.

A full-time counseling master's commonly takes about two to three years; part-time enrollment can take longer. The meaningful comparison is not the advertised fastest finish but whether the sequence leaves room for required practicum and internship, prerequisites, and your work schedule (institutional program catalogs; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs).

Ask for a term-by-term plan showing when fieldwork begins and whether required classes are offered every term. A program with fewer classroom trips may still delay graduation if a placement is available only during weekday hours. Also ask whether prior graduate credits can transfer: acceptance, credit limits, and whether a transferred course meets a licensing-related requirement are separate decisions made by the school.

Online delivery can reduce trips to class, but it does not remove supervised fieldwork or Illinois credential requirements. Campus study may make in-person faculty contact and local placement coordination easier; online study may suit a working adult who can attend classes remotely and complete an approved practicum near home.

Before choosing either format, ask whether any classes require scheduled attendance, whether the school approves Chicago-area sites, who finds supervisors, and which state's licensing requirements the curriculum addresses. An online program based elsewhere should not be assumed to meet Illinois LPC, LCPC, LMFT, or school counselor requirements merely because Illinois residents can enroll (Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; Illinois State Board of Education).

There is no single reliable Chicago-wide price for these programs: schools charge by credit or term, require different credit totals, and apply different tuition and fee policies. Rather than treating an institution-wide graduate tuition figure as the counseling degree's total, multiply the published rate by the current program requirements and add required fees, books, commuting, and costs associated with unpaid fieldwork (institutional tuition and program pages; NCES IPEDS).

Public versus private status alone does not settle affordability; a private nonprofit award can change the net price, while residency rules can change a public university's rate. Use the most affordable counseling programs as a shortlist, then request an individualized total-cost estimate and check whether tuition can rise before you graduate.

Eligible graduate students can submit the FAFSA to be considered for federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans and any institution-administered aid that uses it. Assistantships, scholarships, employer tuition assistance, and payment plans vary by school; ask whether an award continues during internship terms and whether it requires full-time enrollment (Federal Student Aid; institutional financial-aid offices).

Federal financing needs particular attention for a 2027 entrant. Under rules effective July 2026, new graduate borrowers generally cannot take out Graduate PLUS loans; a limited exception may apply to certain students who previously borrowed for the same program before the change. Confirm your own eligibility and remaining borrowing options with the school's aid office rather than building a budget around Graduate PLUS (Federal Student Aid).

To reduce borrowing, compare written net-cost offers, ask about paid or employer-supported placements where permitted, and budget for semesters when fieldwork limits paid working hours. A low first-year bill is not necessarily a low total bill if an award expires before the placement year.

Applicants generally need a bachelor's degree, an application, and materials that let the department assess readiness for graduate study and supervised interpersonal work. Specific GPA rules, prerequisite courses, recommendations, interviews, and background-check timing differ by program; rely on the current admissions page for the track you want, not a university-wide graduate checklist (institutional admissions and program pages).

Before applying, identify your intended Illinois credential and ask admissions to connect you with the program director about curricular eligibility. Check both institutional accreditation and any claimed programmatic accreditation directly with the relevant accreditor; they are different forms of recognition. CACREP recognition can be relevant to counseling-program comparison, but neither admission to nor graduation from an accredited program automatically grants an Illinois license (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation).

Expect counseling theory and techniques, ethics, human development, assessment, research or evaluation, multicultural counseling, group work, and supervised practicum and internship. Track-specific coursework is the deciding detail: clinical mental health students may study diagnosis and treatment planning; school counseling students need school-setting preparation; couple and family students should examine relational and family-systems training (institutional program catalogs).

Request the actual required-course list rather than judging a degree by its title. If you already hold graduate credit, ask whether the program accepts it and whether using it preserves the course sequence and credential preparation you need.

Chicago program options in this guide include clinical mental health, school counseling, and couple and family counseling. Clinical mental health is the more direct comparison set for someone seeking mental health treatment roles; school counseling is for someone targeting students and schools; couple and family training is most relevant when relationships and family systems are central to the intended practice (institutional program pages).

Do not confuse a specialization, elective, certificate, and license. An addiction-focused elective, for example, may strengthen preparation for a setting without creating a separate credential. Ask the department which qualification its graduates pursue and check that answer against Illinois licensing or educator-certification requirements (Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; Illinois State Board of Education).

Start with the job and credential, then narrow the best counseling programs to tracks that plausibly meet that goal. A ranking can introduce candidates; it cannot decide whether you can attend required fieldwork or afford the full degree.

Use these checks to turn a shortlist into a defensible choice:

1. Write down your target role and state, then verify the degree, coursework, examination, and supervised-experience rules with the relevant Illinois authority or destination-state board.
2. Confirm institutional and claimed programmatic accreditation with the accreditor, and ask the program to explain how its curriculum supports your intended credential.
3. Request a term-by-term plan, including placement location, supervisor approval, daytime commitments, and realistic time to completion.
4. Compare total net cost, likely borrowing, lost work hours, completion likelihood, and plausible earnings over the years you expect to work - not tuition or a salary median in isolation.
5. Ask for recent track-specific completion, exam, and placement results, including their reporting years and the number of students represented.

A common mistake is choosing the shortest or most popular option before checking credential fit. Another is treating an institution-wide outcome as proof of results for a particular counseling track. If a school cannot clarify licensure preparation or fieldwork arrangements in writing, pause before paying a deposit.

A clinical mental health path may begin in a supervised counseling role and progress toward independent clinical practice after the applicable Illinois requirements are met. School counseling centers on student support in educational settings and follows the educator-credential route. Couple and family work calls for particular attention to the intended professional license; rehabilitation and addiction settings may have different employer and credential expectations (Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; Illinois State Board of Education).

Graduation, supervised post-degree experience, an examination where required, and state licensure are separate milestones. Compare potential earnings against debt and the time to each milestone; the most valuable counseling programs can help frame that investigation, but your existing earnings and financing terms also affect whether the degree pays off for you.

The national outlook is strongest among the counseling paths shown here for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% employment growth from 2025 to 2035. That signals a broader occupational opportunity, not a forecast of openings for new graduates in Chicago or a promise of employment.

For a local decision, review current Chicago-area postings by setting and record which require an Illinois license, accept candidates working toward one, or require school credentials. Then compare those requirements with each program's placements and completion schedule. This is especially important for career changers: a promising long-term occupation may still involve a supervised transition period before they qualify for their preferred role.

Investing in graduate education is a consequential decision. Research.com's team developed its counseling rankings to give prospective students a more consistent way to compare programs, checking multiple education and outcomes sources rather than relying on a school's description alone. Popularity is useful for discovering options, but it should not be mistaken for evidence that a program is the best fit or offers the strongest return.

Research.com evaluates counseling programs using graduate completion, employment or doctoral admission, applicable licensure-exam results, CACREP accreditation, federal Title IV eligibility, and cost. For its Best ranking, the graduate-outcomes-and-accreditation score weights completion at 40%, employment or doctoral admission at 20%, applicable exam results at 20%, CACREP recognition at 16%, and Title IV eligibility at 4%; inapplicable criteria are reweighted. Cost contributes about 7% of the final Best score. Online and campus programs use the same approach; other rankings order programs by the dimension named in the ranking.

The ranking draws on these data sources to help readers compare programs and investigate the measures behind a result:

• IPEDS database: institutional reporting on programs, enrollment, completions, and costs.
• Peterson's database: supplemental program and institution information.
• College Scorecard database: federal information on institutions, costs, aid, and available outcomes.
• National Center for Education Statistics: federal education data and definitions used to interpret institutional information.

Measures can have different reporting years, and institution-level outcomes may not describe an individual counseling track. Confirm current tuition, accreditation, field placements, and licensure eligibility directly with each school. Research.com explains its broader approach on its methodology page.

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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
• The Chicago School at Chicago - M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Chicago Campus
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.thechicagoschool.edu/programs/counseling/clinical-mental-health-counseling/ma-chicago/
• National Louis University - M.S. in Counseling: Illinois
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://nl.edu/college-of-psychology-and-behavioral-sciences/programs/ms-in-counseling-illinois/
• Northeastern Illinois University - Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://catalog.neiu.edu/education/counselor-education/master-arts-clinical-mental-health-counseling/
• Chicago State University - M.A. in Community Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.csu.edu/psychology/clinical_mental_health.htm
• Roosevelt University - Master's in School Counseling, MA
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.roosevelt.edu/programs/masters-school-counseling-ma