2027 Most Popular Master's in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in New Orleans

Pay depends on the occupation, setting, experience, and credential - not the degree title alone. These national medians offer a comparison across career directions, but they are not New Orleans starting-salary estimates. The wage reference period is May 2025; the outlook covers 2025-2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

A higher national median does not establish that one local program offers a better payoff. Compare the occupation you actually intend to enter, then weigh likely debt, time out of work, and the supervised experience needed after graduation. The BLS categories describe occupations, not earnings attributable to particular schools.

The program pages point to different training priorities. The distinctions below are useful starting points, not substitutes for confirming current catalogs, fieldwork requirements, accreditation status, and Louisiana credential alignment directly with each school.

• Loyola University New Orleans - Clinical Mental Health Counseling: This is the clearer Loyola pathway for students whose goal is broad mental health counseling rather than a degree explicitly centered on couples and families. Ask how its clinical placements and required courses map to the Louisiana professional counselor application (Loyola University New Orleans).
• New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary - Mental Health Counseling: Its seminary setting distinguishes the learning environment from programs housed outside theological education. It may suit applicants who want to consider counseling alongside a faith-based academic setting; confirm how the curriculum and supervised training align with the professional credential you seek (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary).
• New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary - Marriage and Family Counseling: The degree's stated marriage-and-family focus offers a more specific direction than its mental health counseling option. Students interested in relationship-centered work should verify which Louisiana license the curriculum is intended to support rather than assuming that the degree name establishes eligibility (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary).
• Loyola University New Orleans - Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling: The named focus on couples as well as families makes this Loyola option worth comparing with its clinical mental health pathway. It is a stronger initial match for applicants drawn to relational practice, provided its coursework fits their intended credential (Loyola University New Orleans).
• Louisiana State University - New Orleans - Counseling Graduate Programs: Its counseling graduate-program overview is the place to compare available degree pathways within the same academic unit. Applicants should request the current requirements for their specific track; an overview of multiple programs cannot establish the cost or licensure fit of any one track (Louisiana State University - New Orleans).
• Xavier University of Louisiana - Graduate Catalog Program: The degree-specific catalog entry gives applicants a more precise basis for checking the named credential and curriculum than a general graduate-school description. Use it to identify required coursework and fieldwork before seeking a Louisiana credential review (Xavier University of Louisiana).
• Xavier University of Louisiana - Master's in Education and Counseling Overview: This graduate-school overview places the counseling option in the context of Xavier's education and counseling offerings. It is a useful starting point for educators considering a career change, but they should check the degree-specific catalog rather than assume an education pathway and a clinical counseling pathway have the same requirements (Xavier University of Louisiana).

Program names identify an area of study; they do not establish a particular accreditation, exam outcome, or license. Compare the best counseling programs alongside each school's current program disclosures, especially if professional licensure is your goal.

Plan on roughly two to three years for many licensure-oriented master's pathways; part-time enrollment or a delayed placement can extend that timeline. Coursework and supervised practicum or internship must fit together, so an advertised course schedule may not reflect the earliest feasible graduation date.

Ask for a term-by-term plan showing when fieldwork begins, whether required courses run every term, and how many hours of work students can realistically maintain during placements. For Louisiana professional counseling licensure, graduation and subsequent supervised experience are separate milestones (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners). Factor both into your career timeline rather than treating commencement as the date independent practice begins.

Online study can reduce commuting and make scheduled coursework easier to combine with employment. It does not eliminate supervised practice: a student living in New Orleans still needs acceptable placement arrangements and must meet the requirements of the jurisdiction where they seek licensure. Campus study may make face-to-face collaboration easier, but it is not automatically better preparation.

Compare delivery format by asking whether classes are live or self-paced, which activities require campus attendance, who approves local placement sites, and whether students receive help finding supervisors. An online degree marketed nationally may not meet every state's educational rules; check the Louisiana board's requirements and the school's state-specific disclosures before paying a deposit (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners; U.S. Department of Education).

There is no single reliable New Orleans price for a counseling master's. Programs differ in required credits, tuition basis, fees, enrollment pace, and placement-related expenses. Institution-wide graduate tuition figures from NCES/IPEDS can provide context, but they may not equal the price of a particular counseling program.

Request a written total-program estimate from each school: required tuition and fees through graduation, expected enrollment pace, and likely costs associated with fieldwork and commuting. Then subtract confirmed grants or employer support. The most affordable counseling programs are a useful shortlist, but the lowest advertised tuition is not necessarily the lowest total cost if a program takes longer or requires additional travel.

Start with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and each institution's graduate aid office. Depending on eligibility and the program, funding may include federal graduate loans, school scholarships, assistantships, employer tuition benefits, or service-linked support. Federal loan eligibility and borrowing limits are governed by current Federal Student Aid rules; do not assume an undergraduate aid package carries over to graduate study (Federal Student Aid).

Compare net cost and repayment exposure, not just an award letter's total assistance: loans are financing, not a discount. Ask whether a scholarship renews during fieldwork terms and whether an assistantship schedule conflicts with placement hours. A Louisiana resident should also ask each school which, if any, residency-based graduate discounts apply rather than assuming every state aid program covers master's study.

A completed bachelor's degree is the usual starting point, but schools set their own rules for prior coursework, academic records, references, essays, interviews, and any background checks connected to placements. A psychology major is not necessarily required; confirm prerequisites with the current admissions office rather than ruling yourself out based on your undergraduate field (institutional admissions offices).

Before applying, ask which track your application enters, whether prerequisite courses add time or cost, and whether previous graduate credits can transfer. Admission, transfer-credit approval, graduation, and licensure eligibility are separate decisions. Obtain written answers about all four if you are changing careers or bringing credits from another institution.

Common subjects include counseling theories, helping skills, human development, group counseling, assessment, research, and professional ethics, followed by supervised practicum and internship. Clinical mental health pathways may place more emphasis on diagnosis and treatment planning; school pathways on counseling in educational settings; and marriage-and-family pathways on relational work. Exact requirements belong to the degree catalog and applicable credential rules (institutional catalogs; Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners; Louisiana Department of Education).

When comparing syllabi, look beyond course titles. Check whether required content and field experiences meet the Louisiana rules for your intended credential and whether the catalog guarantees access to the courses you need in the term you plan to take them.

The most consequential choice is often the degree pathway, not an elective concentration. The New Orleans programs described here include clinical mental health and marriage, couple, and family options; students interested in schools should separately identify a program designed for the relevant educator credential. An addiction-focused elective or placement can build expertise, but it does not by itself create a separate license (institutional program descriptions; Louisiana Department of Education; Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners).

Choose the population and setting you want to serve, then work backward from that role's credential requirements. If you are undecided between clinical and school work, compare both sets of required field experiences before committing: a specialization label is less important than the qualifications the completed degree supports.

Start with the job and state credential you want, then test each program against that goal. Rankings can narrow the search, but a popular or highly rated program is the wrong investment if its coursework, placement arrangements, or total cost do not fit your plans.

1. Identify the Louisiana license or school certification associated with your intended role, and ask the school to document how its degree meets the educational requirements.
2. Confirm institutional accreditation and, where relevant to your comparison, the program's current CACREP status directly with the accreditor and school; do not infer programmatic accreditation from university accreditation (U.S. Department of Education; CACREP).
3. Request a term-by-term schedule, total-program price, placement policy, and any available program-level completion and licensure-exam results.
4. Compare net cost, likely borrowing, completion probability, foregone earnings while studying, and plausible post-degree earnings over a realistic time horizon.

For a financial comparison, the most valuable counseling programs can provide another perspective. Avoid the common mistake of treating a national occupational median wage as a school-specific return: your baseline income, debt, career direction, and time to licensure all affect the result.

Potential paths include clinical mental health counseling, addiction counseling, school counseling, and relationship- or family-focused counseling. They call for different combinations of degree content, supervised experience, state authorization, and employer expectations. Some graduates may enter agency roles while completing post-degree requirements; independent clinical work generally requires the appropriate license (Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners; Louisiana Department of Education).

This degree is most compelling if you want a counseling occupation and are willing to complete supervised training and any required licensing steps. If your goal is a nonclinical support role that does not require a counseling master's, compare that role's actual entry requirements first; taking on graduate debt for an unnecessary credential may be a poor trade-off.

National demand differs substantially by occupation. 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 indicates a stronger national growth outlook for this occupational group than for some other counseling paths, but it is not a forecast of openings in New Orleans.

Assess the local market while you study: review current job postings for required licenses and experience, and ask programs which metro-area organizations accept their interns. Employers' credential requirements are especially informative because a job labeled "counselor" may require anything from supervised eligibility to full independent licensure. Placement relationships can help you learn about settings, but no program can promise a job.

Investing in graduate education is a significant decision. Research.com created its counseling rankings to help readers compare programs using documented measures rather than promotional claims. Its team evaluates data quality, credibility, and accuracy across these sources:

• IPEDS database: institutional enrollment, completions, and cost information.
• Peterson's database: program and institutional information.
• College Scorecard database: federal institutional data and outcomes.
• National Center for Education Statistics: federal education statistics and context.

Research.com's counseling methodology considers graduate completion, employment or doctoral admission, applicable licensure-exam pass rates, CACREP programmatic accreditation, federal Title IV eligibility, and program cost. Rankings are ordered by the dimension named in each ranking; popularity should not be read as a measure of licensure readiness or return on investment. Readers can examine the approach in more detail on the Research.com 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/
• Counseling Compact - Participating States
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://counselingcompact.org/
• Loyola University New Orleans - M.S. in Counseling - Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  http://cnh.loyno.edu/counseling/clinical-mental-health-counseling
• New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary - MA in Counseling (Specialization in Clinical Mental Health)
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://catalog.nobts.edu/graduate/masters/degrees/arts/mentalhealthcounseling
• New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary - MA in Counseling (Specialization in Marriage and Family)
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://catalog.nobts.edu/graduate/masters/degrees/arts/marriagefamilycounseling
• Loyola University New Orleans - M.S. in Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  http://cnh.loyno.edu/counseling/marriage-couple-and-family-counseling
• Louisiana State University - New Orleans - Master of Education in Counseling (M. Ed.)
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.lsuneworleans.edu/academics/colaehd/ehd/counseling-graduate-programs