Masters in Human Services?????????

My bad, didn't see it.

 

I'm sure these are fine schools, but why does CACREP choose accredit so few online programs? Perhaps, they should surf the web a little harder or stop publishing their incomplete list, which is becoming more incomplete as the sand passes through the hourglass (so does the days of lives...)

 

Hi Dave. CACREP does not discriminate against which programs to and not to accredit. They base their accreditation off of a set of regulations, site visits, and more. Schools also have to apply for the accreditation and prove that they can offer a certain student:teacher ratio. The only reason why I can imagine that so few online counseling courses are accredited by CACREP is because of the student:teacher ration... but I could be mistaken. For many schools (not just online programs), the fee for accreditation is one reason why they don't choose to have it. This was the case with my undergrad institution... and was why I chose not to go with them. They were "CACREP equivalent" (to keep the cost of the program low... although many state-funded programs are accredited and have low tuition) but my opinion was that if they didn't care enough about getting the accreditation, they didn't care about me as a professional. Probably not true, but I went in the direction that I thought was important... as we all should.

It would be nice hear to what it is like for students currently in both accredited and non-accredited online counseling programs.

Dear graymatter... I am not going to give in to your posting the same thing to my replies in every board. I am not a troll, and I did not come here for a specific reason. I joined over a year ago, and then posted here once I saw a number of people in my career field who were not informed.

Instead of copy-pasting, like you did... please see my answer to you here: http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/37144-liberty-university-masters-professional-counseling-2.html

Thanks.

 

I thought I saw that in Jersey you had to graduate from an CACREP accredited school. I also am looking into getting my license in family counseling. The way I would like to go about this is get my BA from TESC then go for my masters at Liberty. But I dont think I can go that route since Liberty is not CACREP accredited. So then I was thinking of getting my BS @ liberty and my masters at Capella.


I am new here and just starting on my journey any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Got this from the same site I referenced above:
New Jersey: "Master’s degree in counseling from a regionally accredited institution with at least 60 graduate semester hours (45 of which must be distributed in eight of nine defined course-content subjects)"

 

In doing my own research this is what I have found. If you want to get a Masters in Counseling for either Marriage and Family therapy or Professional Counseling from Liberty, some states will not license you. Its on their site. For NJ its because they are not CACREP accredited. But if you get your Masters in Human Services Liberty does not have to be CACREP certified. Thank you all for the information given. This is what caused my to rcheck everything.

 

There is a great publication put out by the ACA, which lists EVERYTHING that you need to know about every states' counseling licensure. EVERYTHING. I believe that it comes out yearly.

2010 is the current issue: Product Detail

If you don't have $20 to spend on it, ask me about whatever state that you want to know about, and I can hopefully let you know what you need to know.

 

Hehe. Yes, I have heard of "accreditation"... When you use it the way you have done above to exclude schools from consideration, be sure to cite specifics. Thanks.

 

Hey David... I'm really sorry, but you may have to clarify a bit more for me.

Whenever I have spoke about accreditation, I have specifically used the term "CACREP" along with the term "accreditation" so not to confuse anyone on this board about any other form, such as Regional/National accreditation. There are many schools who are regionally-accredited, but not CACREP-accredited (such as Liberty, and even schools like Columbia)... and although this means they went to a RA school, the program itself chose not to become CACREP-accredited. This does not mean they are bad programs. It does, however, mean that your professional options could be limited as a graduate... especially as states continue to change their state legislature regarding professional counseling licenses. Texas, for example, just changed their requirement to 60 hours from 48... but UNT still has a 48 hour counseling degree. This means that graduates will have to GO BACK TO SCHOOL for 12 credits in order to work with the degree that they had just earned.
Regarding CACREP... NBCC, ACA, AMHCA, and other professional orgs are working very hard to get states to include the accreditation as a requirement.

Graduating from a CACREP program also allows you to earn the NCC credential upon graduating and passing the NCE, instead of waiting 2 years/3,000 clinical hours as a grad from an non-accredited program. Not a license, but a credential raising your credibility beyond the MA/MS. I have seen some employers equate this to a MSW when hiring, and I have also seen Doctoral programs use this and CACREP as a requirement for acceptance into their programs.

So, as I was excluding schools from consideration for CACREP-accreditation, I was simply showing a list of the online schools that were accredited by the organization CACREP. I was not leaving anyone out, as far as I know.

If I understand you correctly (you are more than welcome to inform me otherwise!!! ), RA is an accreditation at institutional level. Accreditations like CACREP accredit programs for specific professions, and can mean a LOT in some circumstances. For instance, working as a GS employee (http://www.va.gov/vapubs/viewPublication.asp?Pub_ID=507&FType=2), furthering your education as a counselor educator, or getting your NCC Credential (http://www.nbcc.org/certifications/ncc/Eligibility.aspx).

 

One thing that I wanted to edit in, but ran out of time...

As a pre-professional, it is important to consider what is important for you. I would hope that people spending 40-50 Grand (or more in some cases) on a Masters would be considering all options possible! As graymatter pointed out, licensing in Virginia and many other states does not currently require a CACREP degree.

 

Hey Mommyof8. I just read through some literature, and looked at NJ's license requirements online, but I couldn't find where they require a CACREP degree. To be licensed as as a marriage and family therapist though, I did see that they require a degree accredited by COAMFTE (section 13:34-4.2 at http://www.nj.gov/oag/ca/laws/pcregs.pdf).

 

Hey again Momyof8... I read further and found this in that same document at http://www.nj.gov/oag/ca/laws/pcregs.pdf, linked to at NJ Professional Counselor Examiners Committee Home Page.

"13:34-11.2 (b) On or after October 5, 2012, in order to be elligible for licensure, an applicant shall submit an official transcript(s) clearly indicating that the applicant has obtained a master's degree or doctorate from a counseling degree program accredited, at the time of the applicant's graduation, by the Council on the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs (CACREP) or its successor." (p. 34-24)

So, it seems that you may want to seek out programs with the CACREP accreditation if you are going to earn your masters after Oct 5, 2012 and work toward your license as a professional counselor in NJ, you would want to have the degree from a CACREP program.

As stated before, if you want your license in marriage and family therapy like you said... your degree would need to be from a COAMFTE program. You can find a list of those here: List Page

 

Ok, be specific... Does that help?

 

Not really, since that is what you had said before when I asked for clarification. But by mentioning it twice, I realize now that I indeed was not specific enough for you.

I had assumed that "CACREP does not discriminate against which programs to and not to accredit" would have made it clear which accreditation I was referring to. Obviously CACREP can not accredit schools for WASC (etc), DETC, APA, and so fourth... because they are not WASC (etc), DETC, APA, and so fourth.

However, I will try harder to make sure that I do not confuse you or anyone else in the future. I realize that the word "accreditation" is one of those words that can cause quite a stir on this board.

What do you recommend that I write in addition to the type of accreditation that I am talking about, in order to make it more clear?

 

Off topic - Everytime I see that acronym, I initially think "CRAP-accredited" and that somebody should have came up with a better name/acronym.

Resume your conversation.

 

Awesome! WASC always make me think of WACK. Like, "THIS SCHOOL IS WACK!"