Grand Canyon University - Master in Addiction Counseling

I just talked to a counselor at Grand Canyon University and they told me that they are not offering this online degree to people who live in Illinois. He did not know why, he just said this degree is excluded for people who live in IL. Now what possible reasons could there be for this?

http://my.gcu.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/POS/COHS/MSAddictionCounselingPOS.pdf

 

Hi Msioni,

Welcome to Degree Info. I hope you find the information you are looking for and that you enjoy your time on the board.

About the delay in seeing your posts: http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/35100-new-users-ask-where-did-my-posts-go.html

 

And the magic 8-ball says . . . (shaking little black ball) . . . "Ask again later."

Seriously, I don't know. It's not likely to be an accreditation thing because that wouldn't be restricted to just one state. So maybe some kind of state licensure snafu?

 

While I am not sure of why this happened, I do know that Strayer University, which has satellite campuses in North Carolina, where I live, at one time could not offer its Masters of Education programs in the state. Apparently this was due to not receiving state approval for the program. Various states have their quirks about which programs they will and will not accept. There is also the issue of states at time protecting degrees of their state supported institutions and denying certain degrees from other states from being approved. A current example is the Ed.D program from Capella with a Reading Specialization. This program is currently not approved in North Carolina and its pending approval in two other states:
Literacy and Reading Degree - Literacy Learning Degree - Online Degree in Literacy

 

The reason and upcoming change

Hi Msioni,
GCU currently does not enroll students in Illinois because it's program is missing one competency that is unique, and specific to that state for licensure. GCU is in the process of revising it's curriculum and will include this competency in the new version that should be available in the next month or two. Enrollment counselors will be alerted to this change once it is official and they can begin to enroll students in that state.

KMW

 

Thank you, I figured that, except I was not planning on taking the program for licensure in my state since I already have my masters, I just thought it was odd that I could not even enroll.

 

The problem is that people who don't complete research would enroll, complete the program, and then blame the school for "allowing" them to enroll in the first place. It is a good move on their part. I was reading a post from someone in the last few months that had completed a program and went to get licensed only to find out after the fact that they were now not eligible after spending a large amount of money and time. They were asking about things they could do to make it work.....

 

I had the same problem with GCU only for their Master's In Counseling degree and I live in Missouri! I am not really sure why honestly because even if they don't meet the state's requirements they could still let those in that state enroll. Liberty does this with their Master's in Counseling even though they clearly state they do not meet requirements in some states....

 

I know it sounds a bit awful, but if you don't do the research, you don't deserve the license anyways. Might be my personal bias, but you should have a bit more critical thinking than that if you want to be a therapist.

 

Check Liberty. I saw that they offer a similar course.

 

From my understanding if you're after licensure/certification that it really comes to down to each individual state and the requirements they have in place. Where I live a person can become a certified substance abuse counselor without even a master's degree. All they need is the required work related hours, practicum experiences and pass the exam. Based on my exposure to GCU the only thing I would caution people is that the practicum coordinators can be very "picky" on where you perform your practicum hours. I've heard people say that they've completed 90% of the degree requirements but they had difficulty locating a suitable practicum site or the coordinator was putting up resistance on where the work was being performed. I think that even before one starts this program do some groundwork and locate a couple of social service agencies that are willing to take you on as a practicum student and start planning for this well in advance.