Counseling and Psychology Programs Available at Touro University Worldwide
Touro University Worldwide appears in our ranking of the Top 5 Psy.D. Online Degree Programs.
Through Touro University Worldwide, students can earn several degrees in psychology or counseling without leaving their homes. The university only offers online programs and accepts students of all types, including those who recently finished high school and those who attended college before. Undergrads can earn a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and choose from six different concentrations. The industrial and organizational psychology concentration focuses on the ways in which people work with equipment and other people, while the child and adolescent psychology concentration focuses on working with younger children and teenagers. Other concentrations for psychology majors include elementary education, secondary education, human services and special education.
The university offers a Master of Arts in Psychology with three concentration options. Students who choose the media psychology concentration studies the ways in which people look at and interact with different forms of the media. Students can also choose from concentrations in health psychology or educational psychology. Each program has six different start dates each year and requires that students take at least 12 classes, including some electives.
Another graduate program offered by the university that includes different options for students is the Master of Marriage and Family Therapy program. Students in the clinical track will take 18 classes and do six practicums for a total of 72 credit hours. The practicums require that students spend at least 500 hours working in the field. This program is available with a Licensed Professional Clinical Counseling (LPCC) track that also requires fieldwork, though students will also take four extra courses. Touro University Worldwide offers the marriage and family therapy program as a non-clinical program too. Students take 18 classes but do not do practicums.
Also available is an online Doctor of Psychology in Human and Organizational Psychology. This is one of the nation’s only doctoral psychology programs that does not require a test score as part of the admissions process. Students will take research and theory courses before taking classes on psychology practice. The university requires that students create and submit a dissertation proposal and that they do work on that dissertation before they present their work at the end of the program. Students will study both organizational and industrial psychology as well as leadership psychology and human development.
About Touro University Worldwide
Touro University Worldwide is a private university that offers online classes at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. It is a branch of a college system that opened in 1970 with one campus called Touro College. This college chose the Touro name after the family of the same name who established libraries and other resources in New York. That system now includes several campuses in states such as California and New York as well as online opportunities for students. Prior to opening the online campus, the college offered classes for students through distance education programs. Now called TUW, it offers programs that are suitable for military students and others who move on a regular basis. TUW alone has an enrollment of more than 19,000 students across all levels.
Touro University Worldwide Accreditation Details
TUW has different accreditation than the full university system does. It sought accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and earned accreditation from the Senior College and University Commission (SCUC), which is part of that organization. Not only can the university use federal funds when creating the financial aid packages that students need, but it also allows those students to transfer their credits. Incoming students can bring credits into a new psychology or counseling program from another university and transfer credits they earn at TUW to other colleges.
Touro University Worldwide Application Requirements
The application requirements for incoming TUW students will depend heavily on the program and their class status. As the university no longer charges an application fee, students do not need to have a credit or debit card to apply. Undergrads can apply as long as they have either a GED or a high school diploma. They need to submit transcripts from any of the institutions they previously attended and complete the TUW application. TUW gives students a full 16 weeks to submit their official transcripts before beginning an undergraduate degree program.
Any student applying to a graduate psychology or counseling program must have a bachelor’s degree and a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher. If the student wants to transfer credits into one of these programs, he or she must have a GPA of 2.75 or higher in all the classes taken at another university. The requirements for doctoral students are slightly different. Those students need both a master’s degree and a GPA of 3.4 or higher in those programs. They will also need to submit the TUW application, their transcripts and two letters of recommendation. The university requires a doctoral entrance essay too, which covers their professional experiences and both career and school goals. Doctoral students must pay a $25 application fee too.
Tuition and Financial Aid
As TUW is not a traditional university, it does not charge separate resident and nonresident rates. Students instead pay a rate based on their status, which does not change across programs. All undergrads pay $400 per credit hour, while graduate students pay $500 per credit hour. Doctoral students in the university’s psychology program pay $700 per credit hour. The only real fees that students pay apply to those in the marriage and family program. They need to pay a $145 fee that gives them copies of the reference manuals they need in some of their classes. This fee also gives them test prep materials that help them prepare for the marriage and family licensing exam.
The most common forms of financial aid used by TUW students include grants, loans, and the GI Bill. Students receive funds through the GI Bill based on how long they spent in the military, and they can use those funds to cover any of their costs. They can qualify for loans and/or grants when they use the FAFSA. The university asks that students complete entrance counseling before getting their loans and exit counseling before they finish their studies. Students in any of the counseling and psychology programs offered by Touro University Worldwide can also use external scholarships and alternative/private loans.