Lancaster Bible College

Lancaster Bible College Psychology and Counseling Programs

Lancaster Bible College appears in our ranking of the Top 25 Small Colleges for a Counseling Degree.

Lancaster Bible College offers six undergrad programs and five graduate programs in psychology or counseling. It offers both a Bachelor of Social Work program and five counseling programs designed for undergrads. The college's addiction counseling program can help students develop the skills necessary to help addicts overcome their addictions. Students will take classes that include Addiction Counseling and Group Counseling Leadership Skills.

The clinical mental health counseling undergrad program available from the college will help students understand what they will do in the field as they work in clinical positions. There are also Bachelor of Science degree programs available in professional school counseling, professional counseling, and marriage, couple and family counseling. Most of these programs require that students do an internship. This allows them to see what they will actually do in the field after they become licensed counselors.

Students who want to pass the requirements needed to get a counseling license in Pennsylvania can enroll in one of the college's graduate program. Lancaster Bible College offers Master of Science programs in addiction counseling, clinical mental health counseling, and marriage, couple and family counseling. Students can also earn a Master of Education in Professional School Counseling. There is also a clinical mental health counseling degree program available for students from Maryland. Though this program includes the same courses, it includes requirements that Maryland has in place for licensed counselors. Lancaster Bible College encourages students to take classes that teach them how to counsel others when working for their churches.

About Lancaster Bible College

Lancaster Bible College is a small private college located in Pennsylvania. Its Lancaster campus is also home to the Capital Seminary and Graduate School, which allows students to earn graduate degrees. Established as the Lancaster School of the Bible in 1933, it offered a few basic programs for religious-minded students who wanted to study at the college level. It didn't build its current campus, which is much larger in size, until the 1950s. Though the college originally offered certificate and diploma programs, it received the recognition from the Pennsylvania Department of Education in the early 1980s that allowed it to introduce full bachelor programs. That led to the introduction of graduate degree programs in the 1990s.

Also called LBC, the college has a large campus in Lancaster that is close to major cities in both Maryland and New York. It took over the campus of the old Washington Bible College and Capital Bible Seminary in Greenbelt, Maryland and renamed it LBC. The graduate school is now Capital – Greenbelt. There are also small campuses in Philadelphia, Florida, and Tennessee. LBC offers only six degrees but allows students to major in more than 20 subjects. There are also six graduate and nine certificate programs for graduate students and a small number of doctoral programs. Lancaster Bible College is now a nondenominational private college with an enrollment of around 2,000 students.

Lancaster Bible College Accreditation Details

LBC has both religious and regional accreditation. Its religious accreditation comes from the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). This lets students know that the college will not discriminate against them based on their religious views and that they'll have opportunities to study and learn more about religion while in school. The college's regional accreditation comes from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Any student who already earned college credits can transfer those classes to the school. Students can also apply for financial aid before enrolling in LBC or after they finish their first years.

Lancaster Bible College Application Requirements

LBC offers an admissions checklist that goes over everything it requires of incoming freshmen. They will start with the application form, which asks about their church affiliation, where they went to high school and/or college and their families. They'll also need to fill out a contact and background information section and pay a $25 application fee. The college asks that students send their applications through the mail. They can contact the admissions office to pay their application fees with a credit card. LBC asks for a 500-word essay too. Students must write about why they choose LBC and their religious beliefs. They can then submit their transcripts and test scores. The college will accept a homeschool transcript also.

Students applying to a graduate program will also submit an application through the mail that includes background information, a way for the college to contact them and details about their religious affiliations. They will pay a $40 application fee at the same time. The college also requires a 1,000-word essay about a book that the student recently read and his or her religious beliefs. LBC asks for references in the essay that students properly cite. Students can then submit their professional or academic references, official transcripts and teaching credentials if required. The college requires interviews for all prospective graduate students too.

Tuition and Financial Aid

The average cost for an undergrad to attend LBC is around $34,000 a year. While they pay more than $24,000 a year for tuition alone, they pay more than $8,000 for room and board. The college allows students from Lancaster and surrounding areas to live at home with their families and commute to its campus. Master of Education students pay $530 per credit hour. Students enrolled in other graduate counseling programs will pay between $26,000 and $29,615 per year, which includes all the college's fees.

LBC offers five academic scholarships designed for students who transfer from another school and those who recently graduated from high school. Students can renew their scholarships every year if they maintain a grade point average of 2.5 to 3.0 based on the program. There are 13 other scholarships available for students who demonstrate strong leadership skills and those who are the children of alumni. One scholarship goes to students with a sibling currently enrolled in the college.

Students can also use more traditional forms of financial aid, which they receive after using the FAFSA. Those funds can include loans as well as grants. Loans include government programs for students and their parents and loans from private lenders. All counseling and social work majors at the undergrad and graduate levels attending Lancaster Bible College can qualify for financial aid.