How to Pay for a Counseling Degree – College Affordability Guide
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Deciding to become a mental health counselor is a huge step, but how do you pay for it?
Cost varies depending on the type of school you’re attending, the type of degree you’re going for, and how long it takes to complete your academic journey.
Fortunately, there are many routes to earning your degree, meaning there are lots of ways to adapt your higher education goals to fit your financial situation.
Financial Aid and Scholarships
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is where everyone begins. The FAFSA provides federal student loans as well as financial aid packages you may be eligible for, including grants, scholarships, and work-study programs.
Your eligibility for a grant is typically assessed by your financial need. There are many grants available, including the Federal Pell Grant, which for 2024-2025 is $7395, as well as many State grants. While grants are free money you don’t have to pay back, some may be tied to a particular commitment.
For example, organizations like Psi Chi offer $1500 research grants to undergraduate students doing empirical research and even travel grants to present a paper or poster at a psychology-related convention. As there many people vying for grants, it’s important to apply to as many as you can.
To compare, scholarships are merit-based, which means you have to earn them through academic or personal achievements. To broaden your search, there are a number of scholarship databases to sift through, including ScholarshipOwl, Niche, and FinAid to name a few. These search engines will help you find scholarships for your major, at all levels of your academic career. You should also check out the American Psychological Association’s (APA) financial aid search engine, as it’s tailored for psych majors.
There are also many organizations dedicated to empowering and uplifting marginalized communities. Some specialized databases include Scholarships for Women; NativeForward and the American Indian College Fund; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the Hispanic Scholarship Fund; and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) LGBTQ+ Scholarship Search Engine.
Work-study is also a viable option. By setting you up with a job on campus, you not only pay off your tuition but also reduce your commute time and spend less on gas. While many jobs are on campus, certain work-study positions can also build up your resume. For psych majors, some great fits include working at your school’s counseling center, research lab, student services center, disability services center, Queer resource center, or campus library.
Regarding loans, there’s a lot to consider. Some students borrow enough to cover both their tuition and their cost of living so they can focus solely on their studies without having to work. Others decide to work while they attend school to borrow less or pay back their loan faster. Others must take out a full loan while also working because of the financial obligations they already have. Whatever situation you’re looking at, most universities have a financial aid office where you can talk with a financial aid officer about your options. Ultimately, those who decide to pursue their education typically come to the similar conclusion that debt, while scary, can be managed with a solid financial plan.
One solution is to look into Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) loan repayment program for mental health professionals. These programs will pay off your debt, if you agree to work with a specific population, or in a specific geographic location. For more on this, check out our Guide to Counselor Education Loan Forgiveness Programs.
Types of Degrees
Not only are their different undergraduate and graduate degrees to consider, they take different amounts of time to complete. In order to become a mental health professional, you will need either a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, or a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate. If you are a very determined and studious person, it is possible to earn an accelerated bachelor’s, or an accelerated doctorate degree, shaving off a few years. So how long will it take you to earn a degree? Let’s look at some possibilities.
- A bachelor’s degree (four years) plus a master’s degree (two years) equals six years of school
- An accelerated bachelor’s degree (three years) plus a master’s degree (two years) equals five years of school
- A bachelor’s degree (four years) plus a doctorate (four years) equals eight years of school
- An accelerated bachelor’s degree (three years) plus an accelerated Doctorate (three years) equals six years of school
Which is right for you depends on many factors and personal goals. Accelerated programs pack in a lot, demanding a lot of time and focus. Yet saving time isn’t the only way to save money regarding your education.
In-State vs. Out-of-State Tuition
The most obvious way to save money is to find a school close to home since out-of-state tuition is often much higher than in-state tuition. Reviewing trends in pricing, CollegeBoard found that the 2024 average for a public four-year in-state tuition was $11,610 a year, whereas a public four-year out-of-state tuition was $30,780 a year.
But what if the school of your dreams is in another state? Playing the long game, you may want to move there to become a resident; just don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If you decide to move to another state for residency, apply to multiple schools in that state. Most universities require 12 consecutive months in their state to be considered a resident, so the trick is to move quickly after graduation. A psych major graduating with their bachelor’s in May of 2025 could be a resident in a new state by June of 2026, which means they could apply in the late summer to begin school in the Spring Semester of 2027. While this does add more time to your academic journey, it can provide both a well-needed break from school, a year to work and replenish your coffers, as well as more affordable tuition in the long run.
Per Credit-Hour vs. Flat Rate
Per credit-hour vs. flat rate is just another way of saying part-time student vs. full-time student. As a part-time student, the cost of tuition is calculated using the credit hour for each course. In 2024, the Education Data Initiative, using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, reported that the average cost per credit at a four-year, in-state public school was $406. Since most courses are about three credits each, that equates to $1218 per class, not including housing, textbooks, transportation, or anything else.
Now, depending on your situation, paying for school one class at a time may be advantageous. Though it takes longer for part-time students to get their degrees, it may be necessary if you also have to work or have family obligations to consider. Financially, there are some pros and cons to being a part-time student. Paying per credit hour can cost more in the long run, but for some students, that may be more comfortable than taking out a huge amount of debt all in one go.
One of the benefits of becoming a full-time student is that you’re charged a flat rate, which means taking more classes won’t cost you extra. Since it usually takes 12 credits to be considered full-time, and since each class is three credits, this is a bit like saying: “If you buy four classes, you get your fifth and sixth class for free!” Because of this, some highly motivated students max out their class schedule to speed up their education— even if it’s not, technically, an accelerated program. This is most often observed with undergraduate students knocking out their prerequisites.
Community College
While community colleges do not offer master’s or doctorate programs in counseling psychology, they can be a helpful way to save money during your undergraduate years. Since community colleges generally have cheaper tuition, students may take their prerequisite classes at a community college for the first two years, before transferring to a university for the second two years. However, it’s important to make sure that the community college and the university in question have a transfer agreement, also called an articulation agreement, to make this possible.
Online Schools
Online schools offer a similar option, and some students will complete their prerequisites online to save both time and money before transferring to a brick-and-mortar university. This may be an excellent option for students who need a more flexible schedule or who wish to begin their journey but don’t have the ability to be a full-time student at this juncture.
Some students may even decide to earn their entire bachelor’s degree online because it’s more affordable. Online schools like Capella University offer both a Guided Path, where you attend online classes led by a teacher, or a Flexpath, where you watch pre-recorded videos and complete the curriculum at your own pace. Taking advantage of this Flexpath, some students speedrun their education, packing a four-year bachelor’s into two years of self-directed study. This approach has many pros and cons, as some may argue it saves time by costing you a comprehensive education.
Some students even go on to complete their master’s degree online. If this sounds appealing to you, make sure the online counseling program is both accredited and meets your state’s licensure requirements.
Public vs. Private School
Before enrolling in a university, ensure you know what you’re applying to. Public universities receive funds from the state and federal governments, often subsidizing in-state tuition and making it more affordable to students. The University of Hawaii, the University of California, and the University of Oregon are all prime examples.
Private universities, like Harvard or Stanford, favor donations and endowments from wealthy benefactors, and their tuitions are often very expensive. Because of this, they do not differentiate between in-state or out-of state tuition. According to CollegeBoards review, in 2024, the average private nonprofit four-year school cost $43,350 a year.
How to Decide?
Even if you’re just curious about how much it costs to become a counselor, take a moment to validate your desire to invest in yourself, your career, and your willingness to help people. It can be intimidating to go back to school, especially when higher education is locked behind a paywall! The prospect of debt can make it hard to know which school is the right school for the right price, so let’s get honest about it.
Associating a high sticker price with prestige, some students believe expensive schools offer a better quality of education, yet this really depends on what it is you’re striving to learn, and from whom. The cost of a school is correlational to quality but not causal.
Consider that a good education is contextual, so ask yourself: Is this school the right fit for me? Setting aside tuition rates, does the classroom philosophy match your learning style? How much does the program focus on lecture halls, group discussions, or immersive experiences? Does the class schedule allow you to balance your work responsibilities or family life?
Also, if you’re studying to become a counselor, does the school in question focus on the demographic you want to work with or the mental health issues you’re interested in, or the modality you’re striving to learn? What good is an expensive diploma if the syllabus doesn’t cover your area of focus? If, for example, you want to work with inner-city LGBTQ+ youth, then it may be more valuable to study at a school that either specializes in LGBTQ+ mental health or is actually a part of a metropolitan community.
Pay attention to the faculty, too, and read their bios, as you may find a professor has an extensive history researching a particular subject that you have a shared passion in. Depending on your professional goals, an expensive private school may have the cutting-edge research you’re looking for, or you may be pleasantly surprised by the niche areas of focus at a more affordable public school.
At the end of the day, you’re investing in yourself, and you deserve a quality education tailored to your goals.
Alex Stitt, LMHC
Writer & Contributing ExpertAlex Stitt is a nonbinary author, queer theorist, and licensed mental health counselor living in Hawaii. As a proud Queer Counselor, they work to educate professionals in the mental health field interested in working with LGBTQ+ populations. Their textbook, ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide, demonstrates how to apply Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to gender self-actualization.