2027 Most Valuable Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Mississippi

There is no single salary for a counseling degree. The clearest comparison is between occupations, and the figures below are national occupational medians, not Mississippi starting salaries or program-graduate earnings. They describe May 2025 wages; the growth projections cover 2025-2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook and Employment Projections).

The differences make specialization worth considering, but they do not make the highest-wage occupation the best investment for everyone. Compare likely earnings in the role and location you want with your current earnings, expected debt, and time out of the workforce. Licensing status, employer, and experience can also affect pay.

The clearest differences among the featured programs are their intended practice areas and, in Mississippi State's case, the named campus location. Those differences are more useful than treating every counseling master's as a route to the same job. Confirm current credit requirements, placements, accreditation, and credential alignment directly with each department before enrolling.

• Mississippi Christian University, M. Ed. in school counseling: Its school-counseling focus distinguishes it from the university's clinical and family-oriented degrees. It is the more relevant option to investigate if your goal is working in schools; verify its fit with Mississippi Department of Education certification requirements (Mississippi Christian University; Mississippi Department of Education).
• University of Mississippi, M. Ed. in counselor education: The program is housed in counselor education rather than presented as a stand-alone marriage and family therapy degree. Applicants should check the current track and fieldwork requirements against their intended credential instead of assuming the degree title establishes eligibility (University of Mississippi).
• Mississippi State University, Meridian clinical mental health counseling: The Meridian location is a concrete access distinction for students who can attend or arrange fieldwork in east-central Mississippi. It is the option to examine for that location and clinical focus, while confirming which activities require campus attendance (Mississippi State University).
• Mississippi State University, school counseling master's: Its school-specific pathway separates it from the university's Meridian clinical mental health option. Compare its placement arrangements and certification guidance if you intend to work in Mississippi schools rather than pursue clinical practice (Mississippi State University; Mississippi Department of Education).
• Mississippi Christian University, M.S. in mental health counseling: The mental health focus makes it the institution's more directly relevant offering for prospective professional counselors. Ask the program to document how its curriculum and supervised training align with Mississippi licensure rules (Mississippi Christian University; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors).
• Mississippi Christian University, M.S. in marriage and family counseling: Its relationship- and family-focused degree offers a different practice direction from the institution's mental health and school programs. Confirm which professional license its coursework supports before choosing it over a general clinical counseling route (Mississippi Christian University; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage & Family Therapists).

A full-time counseling master's commonly takes about two to three years; part-time study generally takes longer. The decisive variable is often the sequence of prerequisites, practicum, and internship rather than the number of classroom terms alone. Ask whether required courses are offered every term and whether placements can be completed near your home or workplace.

Accelerating coursework is not necessarily a financial win if it forces you to reduce paid work or delays placement. Conversely, part-time enrollment may protect your income while extending the period over which you pay fees and postpone entry into the new occupation. Request a term-by-term plan for your intended enrollment status before comparing completion dates.

Online study changes where you complete coursework; it does not remove supervised training or Mississippi credential requirements. A campus program may simplify access to faculty and established local placements, while an online option may let a working student remain employed. Neither format is inherently better for licensure if the curriculum, accreditation, and fieldwork arrangements meet the relevant requirements.

For an online program based outside Mississippi, get written answers about whether it accepts Mississippi placements, helps secure supervision, and meets the educational requirements for your intended Mississippi credential. Check any required campus visits and their travel costs. A program's general statement that it prepares students for licensure does not establish eligibility in every state (Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors; Mississippi Department of Education).

No single average reliably describes the cost of these different counseling pathways. Published tuition may be quoted per credit or term and may exclude fees, books, travel, and the costs of completing supervised placements. At a public university, residency classification can materially change tuition; at a private nonprofit university, compare the actual aid offer rather than assuming its published price will be your final price.

Build a program-specific total using the credits and terms you would need, including any prerequisite courses. Add placement-related travel and the earnings you might forgo, then subtract grants or assistantship support you can reasonably expect. Use the most affordable counseling programs as a shortlist, but request each school's current estimate for your residency and enrollment status. The lowest tuition is not the lowest total cost if completing its placement requires a move or extra terms.

Graduate applicants can submit the FAFSA to be considered for eligible federal aid and to support school-based aid decisions. Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans may be available to eligible graduate students, while assistantships, institutional scholarships, and employer tuition assistance depend on the school or workplace. Pell Grants generally support eligible undergraduates, not students pursuing a master's degree (Federal Student Aid).

Ask departments whether assistantships include a tuition benefit, whether part-time students qualify, and whether aid continues during internships. Check the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid for current state programs, but do not assume an undergraduate award applies to graduate study. Compare aid as net cost and borrowing, not merely as the size of an offer: a loan reduces the bill due now but still must be repaid.

Master's applicants typically need a bachelor's degree and must meet the individual program's academic and application requirements. Depending on the school, these may include a minimum GPA, references, a statement of purpose, an interview, or prerequisite coursework. Requirements can differ even between counseling tracks at the same university, so use the current department admissions page rather than a general graduate-school checklist (Mississippi Christian University; University of Mississippi; Mississippi State University).

Before paying an application fee, ask whether your undergraduate major qualifies, whether prior graduate credits can transfer, and how many credits the program will accept toward its degree. If your goal is licensure or school certification, also ask the program to identify the specific Mississippi credential for which it prepares students. Admission to a degree is not itself approval for a professional credential.

Expect a foundation in counseling theories, helping skills, ethics, assessment, human development, research, and multicultural counseling, followed by supervised practicum and internship. The specialized courses should reveal the program's intended destination: school programs emphasize educational settings, clinical mental health programs emphasize assessment and treatment, and marriage and family programs emphasize relational work (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy).

Compare course sequences, not just course names. A required assessment class or internship must occur at the right point for you to graduate on schedule. Request the current degree plan and ask how the school handles placement shortages or a missed course rotation.

The featured Mississippi options illustrate three important choices: school counseling, clinical mental health counseling, and marriage and family counseling. Related fields include addiction and rehabilitation counseling, but availability and credential alignment must be checked program by program. A concentration label is less important than the actual curriculum and the occupation it prepares you to enter.

Choose school counseling if you want an education-based role and are prepared to meet Mississippi educator-credential rules. Choose clinical mental health counseling if your goal is the professional counselor pathway. Investigate marriage and family counseling if relationship-centered practice is your priority, but verify the appropriate licensing board's educational rules before assuming a similarly named degree qualifies (Mississippi Department of Education; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage & Family Therapists).

Start with your target job and credential, then compare programs against that destination. The best counseling programs can help you identify candidates, but ranking position cannot answer whether a school has a workable placement near you or meets your particular licensing goal.

Use these checks to turn a shortlist into a decision:

1. Identify the Mississippi board or agency governing your intended role, and ask each program for written guidance on its curriculum's alignment with that credential.
2. Verify current institutional and, where relevant, programmatic accreditation with the accreditor; ask whether CACREP accreditation or another specified recognition matters to your chosen pathway (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs).
3. Request a complete cost and term-by-term completion plan for your residency, transfer-credit status, and full-time or part-time schedule.
4. Ask who arranges practicum and internship sites, where recent students completed them, and what happens if a local placement is unavailable.
5. Compare any published completion, exam, and employment outcomes using their reporting years and definitions; ask for clarification when outcomes are not disclosed.

A common mistake is selecting the fastest or cheapest degree before checking credential eligibility. Another is treating a national salary median as a personal return-on-investment estimate. A sound comparison includes aid, debt, completion probability, lost earnings during study, plausible post-degree earnings, and how long you expect to work in the new role.

A school-counseling pathway is designed for educational roles; clinical mental health training can lead toward professional counselor roles; and family-focused training can support a marriage and family therapy pathway when it meets the applicable requirements. Additional possibilities depend on coursework and employer expectations, but a counseling degree alone does not authorize independent practice (Mississippi Department of Education; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors; Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage & Family Therapists).

If you are changing careers, decide whether you want to provide therapy, work in schools, or support clients in another setting before choosing a master's. If you primarily want a nonclinical support role, compare its actual hiring requirements with the time and expense of graduate training. If you want independent practice, budget for the supervised post-degree steps as well as tuition.

National projections suggest different levels of demand across counseling occupations: mental health and addiction counseling employment is projected to grow 18% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3% for school and career counseling (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections). Those U.S. projections indicate where to investigate opportunities; they do not establish the number of openings in your Mississippi community.

Look at current job postings in the part of the state where you intend to live and note the required license, experience, schedule, and setting. Then ask programs about placements and employer relationships in that area. The most popular counseling programs offer another way to explore options, but enrollment popularity is not evidence of local hiring demand. A program is most valuable when its training and location fit the jobs you can realistically pursue.

Investing in a counseling education is a consequential decision. Research.com developed its rankings to make program comparisons more transparent and to help readers weigh outcomes, accreditation, and cost rather than relying on reputation alone. The team uses multiple education datasets and checks program information for quality, credibility, and accuracy.

The counseling rankings consider program completion, employment or doctoral admission, applicable licensure-exam pass rates, CACREP programmatic accreditation, federal Title IV eligibility, and cost. For the Best ranking, completion contributes 40% of the initial outcomes-and-accreditation score; employment or doctoral admission and applicable exam results contribute 20% each; CACREP accreditation contributes 16%; and Title IV eligibility contributes 4%. Shares are adjusted when a measure does not apply. Cost then contributes about 7% of the final Best score. The same approach applies to online and campus programs; rankings focused on another named dimension order programs by that dimension.

These sources help the team cross-check institutional and program information used to create the rankings:

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

A ranking is a starting point, not a finding that every listed degree meets your intended license requirements or budget. Use the comparisons to form a shortlist, then confirm current requirements and costs 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
• 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
• 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 State University - Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.meridian.msstate.edu/counselor-education-clinical-mental-health-counseling
• Mississippi State University - M.S. Degree in School Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.chef.msstate.edu/programs/grad/counseling/school/masters