NEW ORLEANS –The University of Holy Cross has expanded its counseling program with new online degrees for Master of Arts and doctorate candidates. The new online options were added in the 2020 fall semester as a way to give students more remote choices due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The new online options cover several programs within UHC’s counseling program and include:
- M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- M.A. in Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling
- M.A. in School Counseling
- Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision
Online counseling degrees will include 60 graduate credits for all M.A. degree programs and an additional 54 graduate credits for the Ph.D. program. Depending on the number of courses completed in each academic term, M.A. degree online options may be completed in three to four years and the Ph.D. option coursework may be completed in three to three and a half years with the addition of the dissertation.
The online counseling opportunities are in addition to UHC’s on-campus counseling programs, and all programs are accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.
“Personal connection with our students at the University of Holy Cross is very important so we started these online programs to give our students more control of when they access online material,” said Dr. Carolyn White, UHC dean of counseling, education and business. “This program works well for students who may have work and family responsibilities and it helps expand UHC’s reach to students outside of the New Orleans region.”
This fall, the online programs’ debut semester, UHC has 32 graduate students enrolled in the online counseling programs from states across the U.S. including Louisiana, Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, California, Colorado and Alabama. Registration for the spring semester will open in October and all applicants must complete a screening process prior to admission.
“As the COVID crisis continues to shift curriculum online, it’s important to our university to lead the way in offering students more online options and the counseling programs are a testament to that goal,” said University of Holy Cross President Stanton McNeely. “One of our long-term goals at UHC is to expand beyond the New Orleans region and these online programs have already proven successful in helping us do so.”
