Best Low-Cost Online Master’s Degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy

Based in central Texas, Abilene Christian University offers a 60-credit marriage and family therapy master's degree through online learning. The degree prepares students for the national marriage and family therapy exam and incorporates Christian theory and perspectives in its curriculum.

This affordable online marriage and family therapy program allows students to choose between three concentrations: treatment of trauma, child and adolescent therapy, and medical family therapy. Students can also skip a concentration and take the general route. Course requirements depend on the specialization, but all enrollees take courses covering family theory and research.

MA candidates must complete 500 supervised work hours during internships over several semesters. To prepare for this experience, learners take a pre-internship course during which they role-play counseling with each other.

Courses Include

• Couples therapy
• Sexual therapy
• Systemic diagnosis and assessment
• Systemic trauma and violence
• Family therapy with children and adolescents

Unique Features

• Cost: $825/course credit; $470/internship credit
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

With a campus in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of Cleveland, Tennessee, Lee provides approximately 5,300 students with a private, nonprofit education. The school opened its doors in 1918 and maintains an affiliation with the Church of Christ, an evangelical denomination of the Christian church.

The school offers four graduate programs through online learning, which includes a 36-credit MS in marriage and family studies. The degree does not prepare students for state marriage and family licensure. Instead, it equips learners with the skills they need to work in family ministries or family services agencies.

Because this program does not consider licensure requirements, master's candidates in this program do not need to fulfill a certain number of internship or practicum hours. Instead, they can either carry out thesis research or take a comprehensive final exam. If a learner plans to pursue a Ph.D. in family studies, a thesis prepares them for this next step. Full-time students can complete the program in two years.

Courses Include

• Family life education methodology
• Parenting
• Family resource management
• Ethics, family law, and public policy
• Intimate relationships

Unique Features

• Cost: $785/credit
• Credits: 36
• Accreditation: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

Although it began as South Texas Bible Institute in the 1950s, MACU changed its name and moved to Oklahoma City over the next half-century. The school offers several faith-centered degrees, including the M.S. in counseling with an emphasis in marital, couples, and family counseling. Accelerated courses last five weeks, allowing professionals to pursue their degrees while continuing to work.

Students can pursue this low-cost master's in marriage and family therapy online. The curriculum starts with counseling core requirements covering human development and therapy techniques. If students complete 18 credits of these courses with a minimum 3.0 GPA, they can apply for the marital, couples, and family emphasis. By incorporating a practicum and internship, the degree prepares students to sit for a marriage and family therapy licensure exam.

Courses Include

• Interpersonal communication in counseling and relationships
• Marital and family treatment techniques
• Human sexuality in counseling
• Clinical issues of aging, death, and dying
• Child/adolescent psychopathology/counseling

Unique Features

• Cost: $642/credit
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission

At HBU, students can pursue an online master's degree in marriage and family therapy. The degree integrates a Baptist perspective into the program with courses in spirituality, theology, and counseling.

Overall, students take 60 credits of professional counseling core and marriage and family courses. The degree includes a relatively strict curriculum plan, but enrollees can choose between human sexuality or gender issues and differences as their electives. To qualify for state licensure, each degree-seeker should participate in at least 700 hours of supervised work in a practicum spanning three semesters.

To graduate, each student must earn a minimum 3.0 GPA and cannot receive a below a "C" in any course. They must also pass a written comprehensive exam and obtain a recommendation from the department.

Courses Include

• Human growth and development
• Spirituality, theology, and counseling
• Premarital counseling and counseling enrichment
• Assessment and counseling with couples and families
• Counseling children, adolescents, and families

Unique Features

• Cost: $575/credit; additional $250/semester for online courses
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

UMass Boston is a public research university with over 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled. The university's master of education in counseling primarily follows an online format, except for a two-week, on-campus orientation and study session at the start of the degree.

The curriculum begins with two intensive clinical courses. Students typically complete these classes within the first two weeks, in late June and early July. The curriculum then switches to a distance learning format and focuses on counseling services to children and adolescents.

During a two-semester internship in a school, students meet online every week for a three-hour seminar. Full-time learners typically graduate in two years. The degree equips students to obtain school counselor licensure in Massachusetts and several other states.

Courses Include

• Group counseling for children and adolescents
• Psychopathy and diagnosis
• Sociocultural considerations in counseling
• Trauma and crisis counseling
• Life span human development

Unique Features

• Cost: $575/credit
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: New England Commission of Higher Education

With about 11,000 students, Virginia Beach-based Regent University offers several degrees on campus and through distance learning, including an MA in marriage, couple, and family counseling.

Although students take the bulk of this marriage and family therapy master's program online, the program also requires two in-person components. MA candidates must participate in two weeklong residencies on campus, which include an orientation, intensive learning, and hands-on workshops.

In addition to the required courses and internship hours, students can choose from several electives to tailor their education to their career goals. Some of these electives include issues in sexual abuse, counseling of women, and treating PTSD. Before they graduate, all students need to pass a comprehensive exit exam. The program ultimately prepares students for marriage and family therapy licensure in Virginia.

Courses Include

• Addiction therapies for individuals and families
• Career and lifestyle development
• Marital and couple therapy
• Models of family therapy
• Theories of human sexuality

Unique Features

• Cost: $710/credit
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

Arizona-based Prescott College enrolls just under 1,000 students in its unique undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs. Its MS in counseling includes more than 20 electives, which allow students to opt for an emphasis in marriage, couple, and family counseling.

Learners complete most of the degree through online coursework. However, they must still participate in a few on-campus requirements to connect with their professors and classmates. Each enrollee must complete one practicum and a two-semester internship. They also need to pass a mandatory comprehensive exam before they can graduate and apply for state licensure.

Master's candidates can supplement their degrees by simultaneously pursuing postgraduate certificates in adventure-based psychotherapy, ecotherapy, expressive art therapy, or equine-assisted mental health.

Courses Include

• Psychopathology: diagnosis and treatment planning
• Research and program evaluation in mental health counseling
• Social justice in counseling
• Marriage, couple, and family counseling
• Mindfulness in clinical practice

Unique Features

• Cost: $825/credit
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission

Liberty operates as a private, Christian institution in Lynchburg, Virginia. The enormous institution reports an enrollment of over 100,000 students, many of them pursuing one of the school's 450 online degrees. This includes the MA in marriage and family therapy, which prepares students for licensure in Virginia.

Each enrollee takes 39 credits of core coursework before moving on to specialization courses, one practicum, and two internships. Courses follow an online format, but students also participate in weeklong intensive residencies on campus. At the end of the program, each MA candidate takes a comprehensive exam to evaluate their readiness for state licensure. On average, students complete the program in 2.5 years.

In addition to offering one of the more affordable online marriage and therapy programs, Liberty also provides considerable tuition discounts to military personnel, veterans, and first responders.

Courses Include

• Assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning in family counseling
• Advanced couple and marital counseling
• Human sexuality
• Counseling children, adolescents, and families
• Substance abuse: diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

Unique Features

• Cost: $565/credit for full-time students; $615/credit for part-time students
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

Located in Irvine, California, Brandman began over 150 years ago as a military institution. Today, the university offers degrees for everyone but still offers a steep tuition discount and many benefits to military personnel and veterans. The university features many online programs, including a master's in marriage and family therapy.

The curriculum mainly consists of core counseling and psychology courses, in addition to marriage, family, childhood, and adolescent therapy theory. However, students can also choose from electives covering topics like environmental mental health, sexual disorders, and substance abuse. Learners can pursue a hybrid option of the program to integrate on-campus courses into their education, as well.

Each student completes three practicums to fulfill the supervised work experience required by the state. The degree meets the requirements for marriage and family therapy licensure in California, along with 40 other states.

Courses Include

• Family therapy theories and techniques: a modern emphasis
• Family systems theories and techniques: a postmodern emphasis
• Marital systems and studies and domestic violence
• Clinical issues in human diversity
• Community and environmental mental health

Unique Features

• Cost: $660/credit
• Credits: 60
• Accreditation: WASC Senior College and University Commission

UWA opened its doors about 25 years before the Civil War, originally as a school for women only. Now the public university enrolls about 5,000 students -- men and women alike -- on its Livingston campus. UWA offers several programs through distance learning, including an MS in family counseling.

The degree does not prepare students for professional licensure, but it can train individuals like paraprofessionals or clergy who do not need licensure to practice. Courses focus on psychology theory, counseling techniques, and professional ethics. Each learner also completes a three-credit internship at the end of the program.

This family and marriage counseling online degree consists of eight-week courses, and students can take 1-2 years to graduate. However, applicants can transfer up to nine credits and graduate even more quickly.

Courses Include

• Lifespan development and learning
• Systems of psychotherapy
• The therapeutic relationship
• Advanced techniques in family counseling
• Marriage and family therapy

Unique Features

• Cost: $429/credit
• Credits: 33
• Accreditation: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges