Top Online Programs for a Bachelor’s Degree in Counseling

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With a Bach­e­lor’s degree in either coun­sel­ing or psy­chol­o­gy, stu­dents will be ready to obtain their Mas­ter’s in Coun­sel­ing. Many coun­sel­ing employ­ers, such as schools and clin­ics, require their employ­ees to hold a Mas­ter’s degree in coun­sel­ing, but there are still career options avail­able to stu­dents who only hold a Bach­e­lor’s in coun­sel­ing or psy­chol­o­gy. This career path is an excel­lent choice for indi­vid­u­als who wish to pos­i­tive­ly impact the lives of oth­ers. Because this career path is a noble cause and due to the fact that many employ­ers in this field will want you to obtain your Mas­ter’s, we feel that stu­dents should obtain the best pos­si­ble edu­ca­tion when they enroll in a Bach­e­lor’s in Coun­sel­ing program.

We have picked the Top Ten Best Online Pro­grams for a Bach­e­lor’s Degree in either Coun­sel­ing or Psy­chol­o­gy with a Coun­sel­ing focus in an effort to pro­vide you with pro­grams that will grant you a sol­id foun­da­tion in coun­sel­ing through rig­or­ous course­work, but with the added flex­i­bil­i­ty and cus­tomiza­tion that comes from obtain­ing your degree online.

Methodology

We have used the fol­low­ing cri­te­ria to rank these programs:

50% How Well These Pro­grams Will Pre­pare You to Seek a Master’s in Coun­sel­ing
25% How Flex­i­ble the Pro­gram is
25% How Inno­v­a­tive the Pro­gram is

We believe with this rank­ing method­ol­o­gy we will help you to choose a pro­gram that will give you the best pos­si­ble chance to have a suc­cess­ful career in coun­sel­ing and coun­sel­ing services.

1. University of Massachusetts at Lowell

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The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts System–comprised of UMass Amherst (the flag­ship cam­pus), UMass Boston, UMass Dart­mouth, UMass Low­ell, UMass Med­ical School, and UMass Online–is the five-cam­pus pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem of the Com­mon­wealth of Mass­a­chu­setts. The sys­tem includes four uni­ver­si­ties, a med­ical school, and a satel­lite cam­pus locat­ed in Spring­field, Mass­a­chu­setts. The sys­tem is ful­ly accred­it­ed by the New Eng­land Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges. The UMass sys­tem was ranked 57th in the World in 2015 for its Inno­v­a­tive Achieve­ments accord­ing to Reuters and was ranked 91–100 in the world by rep­u­ta­tion in 2015 by Times High­er Edu­ca­tion World Uni­ver­si­ty Rank­ings. The UMass Sys­tem is over­seen by a Uni­ver­si­ty Pres­i­dent and a board of trustees who elect and hire the Uni­ver­si­ty President.

The online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy degree pro­gram offered through the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts Low­ell’s UMass Online school is a com­plete­ly online, asyn­chro­nous, and accred­it­ed pro­gram. This psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram is taught by UMass Low­ell’s high­ly qual­i­fied and expe­ri­enced fac­ul­ty and is a high-qual­i­ty and well-round­ed pro­gram, with numer­ous coun­sel­ing-relat­ed elec­tives avail­able to stu­dents to choose from. Stu­dents enrolled in this pro­gram will gain access to the UMass col­lec­tion of psy­chol­o­gy the­o­ries, resources and research. Enrolled stu­dents will also gain access to the vast net­work of pro­fes­sion­al and work­ing UMass alum­ni, help­ing to forge a pro­fes­sion­al net­work. The Bach­e­lor of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy offered online at UMass Low­ell will more than pre­pare grad­u­at­ing stu­dents to either start their careers or to con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion with a Mas­ter’s in Coun­sel­ing degree pro­gram. UMass can be a great choice for stu­dents who wish to obtain their Mas­ter’s in Coun­sel­ing from the same school as their Bach­e­lor’s in Psy­chol­o­gy, as the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts Sys­tem offers a Mas­ters of Sci­ence in Men­tal Health Coun­sel­ing through UMass Boston’s online program.

Areas of Focus: Social Psy­chol­o­gy; and Com­mu­ni­ty Psychology

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts at Low­ell’s Online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­gram here.

2. Southern New Hampshire University

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South­ern New Hamp­shire University–formally and infor­mal­ly known as SNHU–is a pri­vate, non­prof­it, coed­u­ca­tion­al and non­sec­tar­i­an uni­ver­si­ty sit­u­at­ed between the cities of Man­ches­ter and Hook­sett, New Hamp­shire. The uni­ver­si­ty is accred­it­ed by the Com­mis­sion on Insti­tu­tions of High­er Edu­ca­tion (CIHE) of the New Eng­land Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges, and also has spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion for var­i­ous schools under the uni­ver­si­ty and for var­i­ous pro­grams offered through these schools. The uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1932 as the New Hamp­shire School of Account­ing and Sec­re­tar­i­al Sci­ence. In 1961, it was incor­po­rat­ed and renamed New Hamp­shire Col­lege of Account­ing and Com­merce. The state of New Hamp­shire grant­ed the col­lege its char­ter in 1963, which gave the school degree-grant­i­ng author­i­ty. The school has been known by its present-day name since 2001. The school absorbed some of the pro­grams of Fran­co­nia Col­lege, which closed in 1978 and some of the pro­grams of Notre Dame Col­lege when that school closed in 2002.

The online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy offered by SNHU is ful­ly online and asyn­chro­nous, allow­ing for a great amount of flex­i­bil­i­ty. This pro­gram has six spe­cial­iza­tions avail­able for stu­dents to choose from, or they can choose to stick with the core psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram. These spe­cial­iza­tions are: Addic­tions; Applied Psy­chol­o­gy; Child and Ado­les­cent Devel­op­ment; Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy; Men­tal Health; and Social Psy­chol­o­gy. These for­mats also have numer­ous elec­tives for stu­dents to take, some of which are coun­sel­ing-spe­cif­ic. All high-achiev­ing stu­dents are invit­ed to join Psi Chi, the Inter­na­tion­al Hon­or Soci­ety in Psy­chol­o­gy, and stu­dents enrolled in South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty’s psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram will be invit­ed to join the school’s online SNHU Psy­chol­o­gy Club, allow­ing them to tap into the school’s nation­wide net­work of alum­ni for intern­ship and career oppor­tu­ni­ties. Stu­dents grad­u­at­ing from this pro­gram will be pre­pared to con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion by enrolling into a Mas­ter’s of Coun­sel­ing degree program.

Areas of Focus: Addic­tions; Applied Psy­chol­o­gy; and Gen­er­al Psychology

Learn more about South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­gram here.

3. Grand Canyon University

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Grand Canyon University–commonly referred to as GCU–is a for-prof­it Chris­t­ian research uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Phoenix, Ari­zona. The school also has a cam­pus in Albu­querque and has var­i­ous satel­lite cam­pus­es across Ari­zona. The school was found­ed in 1949 as a non-prof­it lib­er­al arts col­lege, and the uni­ver­si­ty was pur­chased by Grand Canyon Edu­ca­tion, Inc. in Feb­ru­ary of 2004 chang­ing the school’s sta­tus from a non-prof­it school to a for-prof­it school. Region­al­ly accred­it­ed by the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion, the uni­ver­si­ty offers under­grad­u­ate, grad­u­ate, and doc­tor­al degree pro­grams in the fields of edu­ca­tion, lib­er­al arts, busi­ness, sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, math, Chris­t­ian the­ol­o­gy and health care across its eight col­leges. The Carnegie Foun­da­tion for the Advance­ment of Teach­ing clas­si­fies GCU as a research uni­ver­si­ty with mod­er­ate research activ­i­ty. The uni­ver­si­ty is also the first–and only for-profit–to par­tic­i­pate in NCAA Divi­sion 1 ath­let­ics and the uni­ver­si­ty has var­i­ous ath­let­ic teams such as Men’s and Wom­en’s Lacrosse and Rugby.

The online Bach­e­lor’s pro­grams offered at Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty that will sup­port stu­dents in start­ing a career in coun­sel­ing are numer­ous and var­i­ous spe­cial­iza­tions avail­able to stu­dents. The Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Coun­sel­ing has an empha­sis on Addic­tion, Chem­i­cal Depen­den­cy and Sub­stance Abuse. The Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy is a gen­er­al psy­chol­o­gy degree pro­gram with numer­ous coun­sel­ing-relat­ed elec­tives to choose from. The Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Behav­ioral Health Sci­ence is avail­able with the fol­low­ing spe­cial­iza­tions: Child­hood and Ado­les­cence Dis­or­ders, Fam­i­ly Dynam­ics, and Trau­ma. All of these degree pro­grams are avail­able com­plete­ly online and are in an asyn­chro­nous for­mat. These pro­grams are also ful­ly accred­it­ed by The High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion. These pro­grams are taught by Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty with a faith-inspired approach empha­sis­ing the spir­i­tu­al side of psy­chol­o­gy as much as the ana­lyt­i­cal side, and will pre­pare stu­dents both mind and soul to make pos­i­tive changes in the world and in their communities.

Areas of Focus: Chris­t­ian-Based Coun­sel­ing; Addic­tion, Chem­i­cal Depen­den­cy, and Sub­stance Abuse; Fam­i­ly Dynam­ics; and Trauma

Learn more about Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Coun­sel­ing Degree Pro­gram here.

4. Florida Institute of Technology; Bachelor of Science in Psychology

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The Flori­da Insti­tute of Technology–commonly referred to as Flori­da Tech or FIT–is a pri­vate doc­tor­al and research uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Mel­bourne, Flori­da. Flori­da Tech has six aca­d­e­m­ic divi­sions includ­ing sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, math­e­mat­ics (STEM) and avi­a­tion. The uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in the year 1958 as Bre­vard Engi­neer­ing Col­lege by Dr. Jerome P. Keu­per and has been known by its present name since 1966. The Flori­da Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy has 132 dif­fer­ent active stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions on cam­pus. The uni­ver­si­ty-spon­sored stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions, such as Stu­dent Gov­ern­ment Asso­ci­a­tion, Cam­pus Activ­i­ties Board, and Home­com­ing Com­mit­tee oper­ate pri­mar­i­ly with uni­ver­si­ty fund­ing, while some orga­ni­za­tions are run by mem­ber­ship dues, such as the many fra­ter­ni­ties and soror­i­ties on cam­pus, as well as cer­tain pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions such as the Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Civ­il Engi­neers. Flori­da Tech also offers spe­cial­ized grad­u­ate degree pro­grams through satel­lite loca­tions in Huntsville, Alaba­ma, Fort Eustis, Vir­ginia, Fort Lee, Vir­ginia, Alexan­dria, Vir­ginia, Quan­ti­co, Vir­ginia, Dover, New Jer­sey, Naval Air Engi­neer­ing Sta­tion Lake­hurst, Lex­ing­ton Park, Mary­land, Aberdeen Prov­ing Ground, Kennedy Space Cen­ter, Rock­ledge, Flori­da and Orlan­do, Florida.

The online Bach­e­lors of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy offered by the Flori­da Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy’s School of Psy­chol­o­gy and Lib­er­al Arts is com­plete­ly online and asyn­chro­nous and is accred­it­ed by the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges. This degree in Psy­chol­o­gy can be spe­cial­ized with the fol­low­ing areas of spe­cial­ty: Ani­mal Behav­ior, Applied Behav­ior Analy­sis, Child Advo­ca­cy, Clin­i­cal Psy­chol­o­gy, Foren­sic Psy­chol­o­gy, Indus­tri­al-Orga­ni­za­tion­al Psy­chol­o­gy, Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy, Social Cul­tur­al Psy­chol­o­gy and Sports Psy­chol­o­gy. The psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram offered at FIT also allows stu­dents to choose from many dif­fer­ent minors, a great amount of flex­i­bil­i­ty and a high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, pro­vid­ing stu­dents with a sol­id under­stand­ing of the core areas of psy­chol­o­gy. Stu­dents enrolled in this pro­gram will have access to FIT’s psy­chol­o­gy resources and research and to the school’s vast net­work of work­ing alum­ni from which they can forge new pro­fes­sion­al networks.

Areas of Focus: Indus­tri­al Orga­ni­za­tion­al Psy­chol­o­gy; Work­place Coun­sel­ing; Child Advo­ca­cy; and Gen­er­al Psychology

Learn more about Flori­da Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy’s Online Bach­e­lors of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­gram here.

5. Baker College

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Bak­er Col­lege is a pri­vate not-for-prof­it col­lege in Flint, Michi­gan. Orig­i­nal­ly found­ed in 1911 with just one loca­tion, Bak­er Col­lege now has thir­teen loca­tions through­out the Low­er Penin­su­la of Michi­gan. Bak­er Col­lege is a career col­lege, fea­tur­ing more than 150 career pro­grams spread across its thir­teen loca­tions. The school offers cer­tifi­cates, asso­ciate, bach­e­lor, mas­ter, and doc­tor­al degree pro­grams in var­i­ous fields such as busi­ness, health­care, human ser­vices, edu­ca­tion, and tech­nol­o­gy. The school main­tains a right-to-try admis­sions pol­i­cy (which means stu­dents are auto­mat­i­cal­ly accept­ed), and cou­ples that pol­i­cy with an exten­sive finan­cial aid office to allow for a very broad base of both tra­di­tion­al and non­tra­di­tion­al stu­dents. Bak­er is part of the Michi­gan Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­le­giate Reg­is­trars & Admis­sions Offi­cers (MACRAO) Trans­fer Agree­ment which allows stu­dents to quick­ly and eas­i­ly trans­fer up to 30 semes­ter cred­it hours to meet many (in some cas­es all) of the gen­er­al edu­ca­tion require­ments at the many par­tic­i­pat­ing Michi­gan four-year col­leges and universities.

The online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy degree offered at Bak­er Col­lege is ful­ly accred­it­ed by The High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion, a Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion rec­og­nized accred­i­tor, and is offered in a ful­ly asyn­chro­nous for­mat. This asyn­chro­nous for­mat means stu­dents will be able to take their class­es wher­ev­er and when­ev­er they choose, which affords a great amount of flex­i­bil­i­ty. Stu­dents enrolled in this pro­gram, just like all of the oth­er pro­grams Bak­er Col­lege pro­vides online, will begin their online expe­ri­ence with a three-week online class designed to ori­ent them to the Bak­er Online class­room, and to review the expec­ta­tions and require­ments of Bak­er Online stu­dents. This online Psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram has many elec­tives avail­able for stu­dents. Elec­tives per­tain­ing to both tra­di­tion­al psy­chol­o­gy and to coun­sel­ing-spe­cif­ic areas are avail­able, and are designed to give stu­dents a sol­id foun­da­tion on which to build a suc­cess­ful career in counseling.

Areas of Focus: Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Coun­sel­ing; Drug and Alco­hol Addic­tion Counseling

Learn more about Bak­er Col­lege’s Online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­gram here

6. University of the Southwest

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The Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­west is a pri­vate inter­de­nom­i­na­tion­al four-year uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Hobbs, New Mex­i­co. The uni­ver­si­ty was orig­i­nal­ly known as Hobbs Bap­tist Col­lege and was char­tered as a two-year junior col­lege in 1956, and the school’s name was changed to New Mex­i­co Bap­tist Col­lege when the school became a four-year col­lege in 1958. In 1962, to reflect the fact that the sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ty had embraced the small col­lege as its own, New Mex­i­co Bap­tist Col­lege changed its name to Col­lege of the South­west and trans­formed into an inde­pen­dent, non-denom­i­na­tion­al, four-year lib­er­al arts col­lege to bet­ter serve the South­east­ern New Mex­i­co and West Texas region, an approx­i­mate­ly 21,000 square-mile area of ser­vice. In 2008, the Board of Trustees vot­ed to change the name of Col­lege of the South­west again, this time to Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­west to bet­ter com­mu­ni­cate the type of aca­d­e­m­ic com­mu­ni­ty into which the insti­tu­tion was evolving.

The online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy offered at the Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­west is a com­plete­ly online and asyn­chro­nous pro­gram that is ful­ly accred­it­ed by The High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion and the North Cen­tral Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, both of which are rec­og­nized accred­i­tors by the Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion. The Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­west­’s Depart­ment of Psy­chol­o­gy is com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing stu­dents with a high-qual­i­ty and well-round­ed gen­er­al psy­chol­o­gy edu­ca­tion by ensur­ing that they ful­ly under­stand the fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples of psy­chol­o­gy both con­cep­tu­al­ly and in-prac­tice. This online pro­gram will equip enrolled stu­dents with every­thing they need to become skilled pro­fes­sion­als and will allow them to enroll into a Mas­ter’s of Coun­sel­ing pro­gram for fur­ther career advance­ment in this field. With many coun­sel­ing-relat­ed elec­tives avail­able to stu­dents, this pro­gram is an excel­lent way to get a jump­start on a coun­sel­ing career by fast-track­ing your edu­ca­tion so by the time you’re ready to enroll into a Mas­ter’s of Coun­sel­ing pro­gram, you will already have an under­stand­ing of some of the coursework.

Areas of Focus: Inter­view­ing and Coun­sel­ing; Group Dynam­ics; and Gen­er­al Psychology

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of the South­west­’s Online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­gram here.

7. Liberty University

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Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, non-prof­it Chris­t­ian uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Lynch­burg, Vir­ginia, and it is clas­si­fied as a doc­tor­al research uni­ver­si­ty. Found­ed in 1971 when Pas­tor Jer­ry Fal­well Sr. chal­lenged his con­gre­ga­tion at Thomas Road Bap­tist Church in Lynch­burg, Vir­ginia to estab­lish a Chris­t­ian col­lege whose stu­dents would “go out in all walks of life to impact this world for God.” The col­lege achieved full accred­i­ta­tion in 1980, and by 1985 the school was rec­og­nized as a fully­ accred­it­ed uni­ver­si­ty, and had pio­neered a dis­tance learn­ing pro­gram, launch­ing what is now known as Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty Online. Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is also the largest pri­vate, not-for-prof­it uni­ver­si­ty in the nation, the largest uni­ver­si­ty in Vir­ginia, and is the largest Chris­t­ian-affil­i­at­ed uni­ver­si­ty in the entire world. Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is accred­it­ed by the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges to award Asso­ciate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, Spe­cial­ist, and Doc­tor­al degrees to stu­dents. The school has 357 build­ings and struc­tures and 215 class­rooms and offers over 547 unique pro­grams of study, some of which are avail­able both res­i­den­tial­ly and online.

The online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy offered at Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty will allow stu­dents to obtain a foun­da­tion-pro­vid­ing degree for future enroll­ment into a Mas­ter’s of Coun­sel­ing pro­gram. Stu­dents enrolled in this pro­gram can choose between obtain­ing the stan­dard non-con­cen­tra­tion Psy­chol­o­gy degree or they can choose to obtain a Psy­chol­o­gy degree with a spe­cial­iza­tion. The spe­cial­iza­tions avail­able are: Addic­tions and Recov­ery, Chris­t­ian Coun­sel­ing, Crim­i­nal Psy­chol­o­gy, Cri­sis Coun­sel­ing, Devel­op­men­tal Psy­chol­o­gy, Life Coach­ing and Mil­i­tary Resilience. This com­plete­ly online, asyn­chro­nous pro­gram is ful­ly accred­it­ed by the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and the Coun­cil for Accred­i­ta­tion of Coun­sel­ing and Relat­ed Edu­ca­tion­al Pro­grams. Stu­dents that grad­u­ate from Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty will be well-equipped to pro­vide Christ-cen­tric ser­vice to var­i­ous indi­vid­u­als deal­ing with numer­ous issues through the use of gospel-inspired coun­sel­ing techniques.

Areas of Focus: Chris­t­ian-based Coun­sel­ing; Addic­tions and Recov­ery; Life Coach­ing; Mil­i­tary Resilience; and Cri­sis Counseling

Learn more about Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy and Chris­t­ian Coun­sel­ing Degree Pro­gram here.

8. Crown College

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Crown Col­lege is a pri­vate Chris­t­ian col­lege locat­ed in St. Boni­facius, which is an exurb of the Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul met­ro­pol­i­tan area in Min­neso­ta. It is affil­i­at­ed with the Chris­t­ian and Mis­sion­ary Alliance and is accred­it­ed by the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion of the North Cen­tral Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools and the Com­mis­sion on Col­le­giate Nurs­ing Edu­ca­tion. The school is also a mem­ber of the Coun­cil for Chris­t­ian Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties (CCCU). Crown Col­lege has had a lega­cy, since the year 1916, of prepar­ing stu­dents to serve their com­mu­ni­ties and to cre­ate a pos­i­tive impact on the world. The core tenets of the Chris­t­ian faith are inter­wo­ven into the very fab­ric of stu­dent life at the school, from class­es to activ­i­ties and social events. The school atmos­phere is full of prayer, ser­vice, stu­dent min­istries and sup­port­ive faith-inspired friend­ships that build up the stu­dent body of believ­ers at Crown and pre­pare stu­dents for a life­long jour­ney of walk­ing with Christ and a life­long jour­ney in a Christ-cen­tric career.

The Crown Col­lege offers two dif­fer­ent online Bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams that will give stu­dents the skills and knowl­edge need­ed to enroll into a Mas­ter’s degree pro­gram for coun­sel­ing. These online pro­grams are a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy and Coun­sel­ing and a Bach­e­lors of Sci­ence in Drug and Alco­hol Coun­sel­ing. These pro­grams offered at Crown Col­lege are ful­ly online, asyn­chro­nous pro­grams that are both accred­it­ed by The High­er Learn­ing Commission–a ful­ly-rec­og­nized accred­i­tor that demands schools to meet and main­tain their high-qual­i­ty and rig­or­ous standards–which is backed by the Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion. The online Psy­chol­o­gy and Coun­sel­ing Bach­e­lor’s pro­gram and the online Drug and Alco­hol Coun­sel­ing Bach­e­lor’s pro­gram are both Christ-cen­tric and will give enrolled stu­dents not only the sol­id foun­da­tion they will need for a Mas­ter’s of Coun­sel­ing pro­gram but also the sol­id foun­da­tion need­ed to coun­sel indi­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies with a gospel-backed spir­i­tu­al­ly-lift­ing approach to men­tal health.

Areas of Focus: Chris­t­ian-based Coun­sel­ing; Drug and Alco­hol Counseling

Learn more about Crown Col­lege’s Online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Psy­chol­o­gy and Coun­sel­ing and Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Drug and Alco­hol Addic­tion Degree Pro­gram here.

9. Brandman University

brandmanuniver

Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, not-for-prof­it insti­tu­tion that pro­vides edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for work­ing adults. There are over 25 cam­pus­es through­out Cal­i­for­nia and Wash­ing­ton and a vir­tu­al cam­pus online. The uni­ver­si­ty offers more than 50 degree, cer­tifi­cate, cre­den­tial, and pro­fes­sion­al pro­grams in the fields of busi­ness, arts and sci­ences, and health and edu­ca­tion avail­able through the uni­ver­si­ty’s five schools. Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty offers a cur­ricu­lum mod­el known as iDE­AL (Instruc­tion­al Design for Engaged Adult Learn­ing). Accord­ing to a study con­duct­ed by the Lumi­na Foun­da­tion, iDE­AL includes both the flex­i­bil­i­ty and learn­ing method­ol­o­gy pre­ferred by adult stu­dents by meld­ing tra­di­tion­al class­room instruc­tion and lec­tures with a selec­tion of rel­e­vant inter­net-based learn­ing activ­i­ties. Through the use of iDE­AL, Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty has seen great suc­cess when it comes to pro­vid­ing work­ing adults with a post­sec­ondary education.

The online Bach­e­lors of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram offered at Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty’s School of Arts and Sci­ences is an online and asyn­chro­nous pro­gram that is ful­ly accred­it­ed by the region­al accred­i­tor West­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Schools and Col­leges (WASC), an accred­i­tor that is rec­og­nized by the Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion. This psy­chol­o­gy pro­gram offered by Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty is avail­able with the fol­low­ing spe­cial­iza­tions: Child Psy­chol­o­gy, Com­mu­ni­ty Psy­chol­o­gy, Industrial/Organizational Psy­chol­o­gy, and Pre­clin­i­cal Psy­chol­o­gy. Stu­dents grad­u­at­ing from this online Bach­e­lor’s pro­gram will have the skills and knowl­edge required to either start a career or to fur­ther their edu­ca­tion. Some careers avail­able to stu­dents at the time of grad­u­a­tion are: Case Man­ag­er, Psy­chi­atric Tech­ni­cian, Career Coun­selor and Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Spe­cial­ist. How­ev­er, many stu­dents choose to fur­ther their edu­ca­tion by obtain­ing a Mas­ter’s degree in Coun­sel­ing, fur­ther open­ing up career options. Out of the pro­gram spe­cial­iza­tions, Com­mu­ni­ty Psy­chol­o­gy is the only one with course­work deal­ing with coun­sel­ing, so it might be a bet­ter choice for stu­dents who are wish­ing to lat­er obtain a Mas­ter’s in Coun­sel­ing degree.

Areas of Focus: Com­mu­ni­ty Psy­chol­o­gy (includ­ing an intro­duc­tion to coun­sel­ing); and Gen­er­al Psychology

Learn more about Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­gram here.

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