Regis University

Counseling and Psychology at Regis University

Regis University appears in our ranking of the Top 25 Most Affordable Master’s Degrees in Counseling in the West.

The psychology degree programs at Regis University are housed in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. The two undergraduate degrees in this discipline are offered in traditional or online formats. The Bachelor of Science in Psychology is intended for those students who need a foundation of psychology in their professions or for those who want to go on to higher education. The degree contains 120 credit-hours. There are six credits or two courses required in core foundation classes, 40-46 credits in the distributive educational core, 12 credits in the integrative core which is taken in the junior and senior years and 47-48 credits in the major. The program includes a research internship and sample classes are Behavioral Genetics and Cross-Cultural Psychology. The Bachelor of Science in Psychology Honors degree contains all the components of the BS in Psychology as well as a requisite thesis and defense during the senior year and a research paper that is completed and presented at a public forum. The honors bachelor’s degree contains 66 credits in the major.

The Master of Arts in Counseling is a 60 credit-hour program that meets the requirements for the Colorado Licensed Professional Counselor Certification. There are 57 hours in required core classes and three credits in an elective. Students may take up to six years to earn the degree which is only offered in face-to-face classroom delivery. All students in this program are required to take the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination and pass a clinical counseling capstone paper. Sample courses in the program include Spirituality and Counseling, Cultural Issues and Social Justice and Groups: Process and Counseling.

The Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling is a 60-credit hour program as well. It meets the requirements for Colorado licensure for Marriage and Family Therapists. Sample courses in this concentration are Theories of Family Therapy, Counseling Techniques, and Couple Therapy.

Both the psychology and counseling departments award certificates that can be added to the degree to give practitioners a broader base for professional practice.

About Regis University

Regis University, formerly Regis College, is a private, Catholic Jesuit school in Denver, Colorado. It consists of five colleges: Regis College, Reuckert- Hartman College of Healthcare Professions, College of Contemporary Liberal Studies, College of Computer and Information Studies and the College of Business and Economics. Those colleges house 131 degree programs in addition to 78 online programs. There are 1280 military or veteran students enrolled at the university, which focuses on community service as well as education.

The school was founded in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1877 by exiled Italian Jesuits. In 1887 it was moved to Denver and subsequently merged with Sacred Heart College. The name of the new school became Regis College in 1921, named for Saint John Francis Regis. The university assumed its current name in 1991.

Regis University has a student body of more than 8,300 students, and nearly half are undergraduates. The student-to-faculty ratio is 14:1. Most classes at the school have between 20 and 49 students. The US News and World Report ranks Regis University as #27 of Regional Universities West and as #17 of Best Colleges for Veterans.

Regis University Accreditation Details

Regis University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Higher Education.

The Master of Arts in Counseling is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs ( CACREP)

The Master of Arts in Marital and Family Counseling is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

Regis University Application Requirements

Students applying to the school as first-time undergraduates must complete the online application form found at Regis.edu/apply. There is a non-refundable application fee of $50. Students should arrange for their high schools to submit their official transcripts to the school and for the testing agency that administered the SAT or ACT to send those results as well. There is also a personal statement essay requisite in the application process, and some programs ask for resumes.

Graduate students applying to Regis University must complete the online application too. They must have the post-secondary institution where they earned their undergraduate degree as well as any school where they completed college coursework submit transcripts to the university. Beyond that, requirements differ by department. GMAT or GRE scores, whichever the school requires, must be submitted by the testing agency. Generally, a resume and/or a CV are required, and applicants must complete a personal essay, but this differs by degree program. All schools require letters of recommendation, but the number and the requested writers may vary. The graduate schools at Regis accept transfer credits, dual credits, advanced placement and life experience credits.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Colorado resident undergraduate cost-of-attendance at Regis University is estimated to be $48,078. That includes $34,450 in tuition and fees, room and board and personal expenses. Tuition for graduates varies according to the programs. The MS in Accounting, for instance, costs $655 per credit-hour plus fees. The MBA is $990 per credit hour and the RN to BSN or the RN to MSN degree are $18,790 per semester.

Students needing assistance to pay their student debt should first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Assistance (FAFSA.) This program uses information about the financial status of the student and his family to estimate how much they can afford to contribute to the cost of the degree. The government awards grants to persons of demonstrated financial need, subsidized and unsubsidized student loans and work-study opportunities. Colorado offers the College Invest Grant which operates on a lottery system and a College Invest scholarship of $6,000 to students who commit to 40 hours of community service with at-risk children. There are other scholarships at the state level as well, including the Boettcher Scholarship which is a full-ride award.

Regis University has several grants and scholarships that generally are awarded for academic excellence. University departments set aside money for awards to students in specific programs. In addition, former students often fund scholarships for students with certain requisites or bequeath funds to the school as memorial scholarships. These can be found listed on the school website, as can activity and athletic scholarships.

Students who exhaust this “free money” and still have a student debt can apply for student loans. These are loans made to students and/or their parents at lower interest than regular loans and allow students to defer repayment until after graduation. Work-study and part-time jobs are another option for college funding. There are many ways to pay for degree programs such as psychology or counseling at Regis University.