School Counseling

Helping all students achieve their goals

Thinking about a career in school counseling? Consider Alfred University’s CACREP Accredited School Counseling program: a quality program that prepares and trains graduate students for this exciting and challenging career. School counselors hold a unique professional role in that they get to work with and help ALL students in the areas of academic achievement, social emotional learning, and post-secondary career development. At Alfred University, you will have opportunities to receive significant financial assistance, making an Alfred graduate degree in School Counseling more affordable than ever.

School/Division

School of Graduate & Continuing Studies

Campus Locations

Main Campus - Alfred, NY

Degrees

School Counseling (MS Ed, CAS)

Program Contact

Kevin Curtin

curtink@naysnm.com

607-871-2212

CACREP Accreditation

A CACREP accredited program like ours provides recognition that the quality of the program has been evaluated and meets standards set by the profession. Students can be assured that relevant professional knowledge and skills are included throughout the curriculum. As a result, graduates from Alfred University’s School Counseling program have easily been hired as school counselors in New York and other states throughout the country.

CACREP Official Website

The School Counselor's Role

School counselors design and deliver school counseling programs that improve student outcomes through individual, group, classroom, and whole school interventions. They lead, advocate, and collaborate to promote equity and access for all students by connecting their school counseling program to the school’s academic mission and school improvement plan.

Affordable Graduate Study

All full-time students are awarded a 5-hour graduate assistantship that provides a $3,000 reduction in tuition. Students may instead choose to apply for assistantships that provide even more financial benefits, such as monetary stipends and more than 50% tuition reduction. Through the recent Federal Department of Education award as well as a variety of other enhanced assistantships, most school counseling students take advantage of these significant financial benefits.

Graduate Assistantships

Full-Time Sequence

First Year

Fall Semester

COUN 602 Professional & Ethical Foundations of Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 605 Career Development and Life Planning - 3 credits
COUN 606 Human Development - 3 credits
COUN 636 Principles of Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 642 Multicultural Counseling - 3 credits
EDUC 621 Mandated Reporter Training - 0 credits

Spring Semester

COUN 604 Foundations of School Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 616 Mental Health, Exceptionality, and Disability - 3 credits
COUN 638 Advanced Counseling Theory & Practice - 3 credits
COUN 639 Group Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 657 Practicum in School Counseling - 3 credits
EDUC 620 School Violence Prevention - 0 credits
EDUC 622 DASA Workshop - 0 credits

Summer Session

COUN 671 Research and Statistics - 3 credits (summer session I)
COUN 619 Program Development - 3 credits (summer session II)

Second Year

Fall Semester

COUN 626 Assessment in Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 646 Consultation & Prevention - 3 credits
COUN 652 Techniques of Family Therapy - 3 credits
COUN 668 Internship in School Counseling I - 3 credits

Spring Semester

COUN 649 Evidence-Based Interventions in Schools - 3 credits
COUN 664 Internship in School Counseling II - 6 credits
COUN 681 College Counseling and Advising - 3 credits

Program Total: 60 credits

Part-Time Sequence

First Year

Fall Semester

COUN 602 Professional & Ethical Foundations of Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 606 Human Development - 3 credits
COUN 636 Principles of Counseling - 3 credits
EDUC 621 Mandated Reporter Training - 0 credits

Spring Semester

COUN 616 Mental Health, Exceptionality, and Disability - 3 credits
COUN 638 Advanced Counseling Theory & Practice - 3 credits
COUN 639 Group Counseling - 3 credits

Summer Session

COUN 671 Research and Statistics - 3 credits (summer session I)
COUN 619 Program Development - 3 credits (summer session II)

Second Year

Fall Semester

COUN 605 Career Development and Life Planning - 3 credits
COUN 626 Assessment in Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 642 Multicultural Counseling - 3 credits

Spring Semester

COUN 604 Foundations of School Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 657 Practicum in School Counseling - 3 credits
COUN 681 College Counseling and Advising - 3 credits
EDUC 620 School Violence Prevention - 0 credits
EDUC 622 DASA Workshop - 0 credits

Third Year

Fall Semester

COUN 646 Consultation & Prevention - 3 credits
COUN 652 Techniques of Family Therapy - 3 credits
COUN 668 Internship in School Counseling I - 3 credits

Spring Semester

COUN 649 Evidence-Based Interventions in Schools - 3 credits
COUN 664 Internship in School Counseling II - 6 credits

Program Total: 60 credits

Students in the School Counseling Program will complete 100 total hours (40 of which are direct service hours) in Practicum in School Counseling, at a select school working with students under the supervision of a permanently certified school counselor. Additionally, students provide school-based mental health counseling services in the Canisteo-Greenwood school district under the supervision of program faculty and the school counseling team.

During Internship in School Counseling I and Internship in School Counseling II, students continue at a select school working with students under the supervision of a permanently certified school counselor. Over the course of a minimum of two internship semesters, students must accumulate at least 600 total hours and 240 direct service hours.

Annual Assessment Report

Applying

To apply, students should select AU Campus MSEd Counseling as their degree program on the graduate application form. Students do not have to choose their counseling specialty (School Counseling or Mental Health Counseling) until the second semester, as this is when the specialization courses begin.

Students should submit the following to the Graduate Admissions Office:

the completed application form and fee;
three letters of recommendation;
official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework;
scores from the GRE general test if undergraduate GPA is less than a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
a brief personal statement of your program interest.

In addition, because of the high level of maturity, sensitivity, independence and flexibility necessary in the program, an on-campus interview is required. You'll be contacted for an interview once all application materials have been received.

Apply Today!

Financial Support

There are four types of assistantships that graduate students may be interested in

General graduate assistantships
Grant-based assistantships
Enhanced graduate assistantships
Athletic graduate assistantships

All full-time graduate students in the Division of Counseling & School Psychology are granted a general graduate assistantship, which requires the student to work 5 hours per week each semester for a professor or university division, reducing one’s tuition cost by $3,000.

Students may instead apply for one of three other competitive assistantships:

Grant-based assistantship
Enhanced assistantship, or
Athletic graduate assistantship

Grant-based assistantships are available through the division’s $4.64 million, U.S. Department of Education award for the Rural Mental Health Demonstration Project. This award funds two categories of assistantships:

Social Emotional Learning Graduate Assistantships (as many as four), which are available to any full-time first year counseling and school psychology student; and
Project Assistant, which is available to a select 2nd year School Counseling or Mental Health Counseling Student.

These assistantships provide over $15,000 in tuition reduction in exchange for working 15 hours per week. Other benefits include a stipend of $5,000, access to free training through Peaceful Schools, and up to $2,000 in assistance for professional conference travel. In addition, all school counseling interns receive up to $10,000 in tuition reduction, along with a $5,000 stipend.

Enhanced graduate assistantships are found through several university departments, including the Center for Student Involvement, the Pamela J. Bernstein Center for Advising, and the Judson Leadership Center. In exchange for working 15-20 hours per week, these assistantships cover 50% of tuition costs with some providing a stipend. Students may also be interested in an enhanced graduate assistantship with Scholes Library, which provides a $6,000 reduction in tuition in exchange for 10 hours of work per week.

Athletic graduate assistantships are for part-time counseling students and fully cover a maximum of 18 credits of tuition per academic year, along with a stipend in exchange for working 20 hours per week as a graduate assistant coach or athletic trainer.

Alfred University’s Masters of Science degree and Certificate of Advanced Study (MSEd/CAS) in School Counseling comprises 60 credit hours of coursework and supervised practicum and internship experiences. As a CACREP accredited program, Alfred’s coursework addresses the eight common core curricular experiences as well as several specialization areas including:

Foundations of school counseling
Exceptionality, mental health and disability
Evidence-based interventions in schools
Consultation and prevention
College counseling and advising

The practicum and internship courses, which occur across three semesters of training, provide students with over 700 hours of applied experiences in area elementary, middle and high school settings.

Alfred University’s school counseling program is registered with New York State’s Education Department. Upon completion of the program, students receive their provisional certification as a K-12 School Counselor, making them eligible for employment as school counselors immediately. Since Alfred’s program is 60 credits, students will have also completed all of the educational requirements for permanent certification in New York, needing only the two years of post-degree experience to gain permanent certification. And given our program’s CACREP accreditation and New York reciprocity, graduates have easily been hired for school counseling positions in other states throughout the country.

American Counseling Association

American School Counselors Association

New York State School Counselors Association

New York State Office of Teaching Initiatives

School counseling is listed among the top ten social service careers and, according to the Department of Labor, school counseling jobs are projected to grow 13% through 2026.

Since 2014, Alfred University's School Counseling graduates have a job completion rate of 95%. In addition, our graduate students boast a 96% exam pass rate for both the National Counselor Exam (NCE) and the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Exam (CPCE), exceeding the national average for both exams.

Recent Employers of our Graduates include: