Best Online LCSW Programs That Help You Advance

Earning an MSW with a clinical concentration gives students with a passion for helping others the tools and skills they need to work as clinical social workers. Find the best online LCSW programs, explore courses, and see tuition costs.

You might have a bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, or a related field and want to find a career where you can directly impact the lives of people who need it the most. Or perhaps you’re just starting with your education and know you want to study a field where you can help people access the tools and resources they need to improve the quality of their lives. If you have a calling for clinical social work, earning an MSW with a clinical focus is the first step to getting your Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) designation.

Your studies for an MSW with a clinical concentration will focus on mental health, direct patient care, counseling, and helping people improve their lives. Ultimately, providers who have the specialized MSW and go on to earn an LCSW are in a position as master’s-level service providers.

LCSW clinicians are the only masters-level clinicians who can provide psychotherapy for Medicare recipients, making it possible for you to offer meaningful counseling to our most vulnerable populations.

To earn an LCSW, a student must complete an MSW and then complete a period of relevant work experience with concurrent supervision from an existing LCSW. Some schools, like Temple University in Philadelphia, offer online clinical social work programs. The requirements vary from state to state, but you can expect accumulating these hours of experience to amount to about two years of full-time work. Once you have accrued your supervision hours and passed the clinical exam, you can provide care as a fully licensed LCSW.

Before embarking on a large undertaking like graduate school, it is normal to have questions about financial and emotional costs, logistics, flexibility, and the overall value of your degree. Read on to learn more about the specifics of an LCSW-earning online degree program, including your job prospects and career advancement opportunities.

Best Online Clinical Social Work Programs in 2022

We’ve identified some of the top online LCSW programs that offer the affordability, flexibility, and training expertise you need to advance your career. All programs have been accredited by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE). A strong background in theory, evidence-based practices, and methods for working with various populations will give you the knowledge and skills you need to provide exceptional care as you earn your LCSW and beyond.

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About the ranking
1
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

IUPUI offers an online MSW that focuses on special practice areas encompassing three levels of study: foundation, concentration, and focus area. At the start of the program, all students must take foundational courses. As you move through the program, you’ll narrow your interest concentration and eventually focus on one special practice area of your choosing. For the clinical concentration, IUPUI offers a variety of targeted practice areas where you can explore and develop expertise in the issues that arise in specific populations and agencies. Whether you choose a focus area like children, youth, and families, military members and their families, or addiction, or choose your clinical electives individually, you will develop a deep understanding of clinical issues facing individuals in your community.

Online MSW, Special Practice Areas in Social Work

Credits: 60 credit hours

Length: Six semesters full-time, eight semesters part-time (including summer sessions)

Cost: $605.96/credit hour in-state, $716/credit hour out-of-state 

Specializations: Children, youth & families, health, mental health & addictions, school social work

Mode: Coursework fully online, field placement near student

Accreditation: CSWE 

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation HLC
2
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$$$

Students who complete the clinical practice with individuals and families online LCSW-geared program at Temple University are prepared to enter the workforce as psychotherapists, case managers, and hospital social workers with solid training in inpatient and outpatient settings. Temple’s faculty have extensive research interests, including mental health, aging, gender/sexuality, substance abuse, incarceration, violence against minorities, trauma, and parenting, which could help you gain more advanced knowledge in your coursework. Your second-year field placement will reinforce the skills acquired through the clinical practice curriculum, empowering you to apply your knowledge to explore ethical challenges, address structural competency, and improve the outcomes of service recipients. The program offers regular entry admissions and advanced standing admissions. Regular entry is for students who have a bachelor’s degree in any field of study besides social work. A student with a bachelor’s of social work completed within the past five years from a CSWE-accredited program and a 3.25 GPA can apply via advanced standing admissions.

Online MSW, Clinical Practice with Individuals and Families

Credits: 60 credit hours

Length: Two years full-time, three to four years part-time

Cost: $1,039/credit hour

Specializations: Mental health, aging, gender/sexuality, substance abuse, incarceration, trauma

Mode: Coursework fully online, field placement near student

Accreditation: CSWE 

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation MSCHE
3
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

The University of South Florida’s LCSW online degree is entirely focused on clinical practice, meaning that all students receive instruction on current topics in clinical practices and gain the skills they need for clinical work with individuals, families, and small groups. Motivated by the identified need for skilled clinical social work practitioners in southern Florida and elsewhere, students will engage in intense field placements designed to enable them to apply theory from the classroom to the problems of agency clients. Students can take clinical electives that address areas of particular interest while engaging with the rich clinically focused program curriculum, including required courses in psychopathology and health, illness, and disability, a distinctive requirement to USF to ensure that all graduates can consider these factors when working with individuals and families. The online clinical social work programs at the University of South Florida include full- and part-time options.

Online MSW

Credits: 60 credit hours

Length: Four semesters full-time, eight semesters part-time

Cost: $435/credit hour in-state, $881/credit hour out-of-state

Specializations: Individuals, families, small groups

Mode: Coursework fully online, field placement near student

Accreditation: CSWE 

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
4
Columbia, Missouri
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

After completing the required foundational coursework for the online degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia, students can choose the advanced clinical social work practice track. Additionally, the UMC program offers gerontology, criminology, and social justice minors, each of which curates electives to this specific area of interest. Students interested in gerontology will learn more about the aging process, particularly the biological, cognitive, and psychosocial processes that occur across the lifespan, in conjunction with understanding aging within the U.S. healthcare system. If you choose the social justice track, you will focus on enhancing sensitivity to vulnerable and at-risk populations and better understand the factors that inform societal change. In contrast, those in the criminology track will work to understand the criminal and juvenile justice system and associated behaviors through a social lens while critically reflecting on how evidence-based interventions and evolving social policy can reduce involvement with the criminal justice system.

Online MSW, Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice

Credits: 60 credit hours

Length: Four semesters full-time, six-nine semesters part-time

Cost: $435.30/credit hour

Specializations: Gerontology, social justice, criminology/criminal & juvenile justice

Mode: Coursework fully online, field placement near student

Accreditation: CSWE 

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation HLC
5
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

With a focus on providing comprehensive care in rural communities, Ohio University’s MSW program seeks to prepare students to understand the complex barriers to accessing care in rural areas, including lack of medical insurance, shortage of providers, and racial and economic inequalities. The MSW program offers training and expertise that gives students the confidence to feel qualified to deliver care to underserved communities and take some of the same skills that apply in rural areas to challenges in urban milieux. Graduates can put sociological, psychological, and developmental factors into context and provide care to at-risk populations. Ohio University’s MSW program is accredited by the CSWE. The advanced standing track can be completed in as few as six semesters, while the 62-credit foundation track can be completed in as little as 10 semesters.

Online MSW

Credits: 62 credit hours

Length: 10 semesters

Cost: $764.50/credit hour in-state, $974.50/credit hour out-of-state

Specializations: Direct work with individuals & families

Mode: Coursework fully online, field placement near student

Accreditation: CSWE 

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation HLC
6
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
7
Athens, Georgia
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
8
Albany, Georgia
Type:
Public
Cost:
$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
9
Boise, Idaho
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation NWCCU
10
Saint Louis, Missouri
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation HLC
11
Houston, Texas
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
12
Iowa City, Iowa
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation HLC
13
Troy, Alabama
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
14
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
15
San Antonio, Texas
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
16
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation MSCHE
17
Boston, Massachusetts
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation NECHE
18
Birmingham, Alabama
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
19
Saint Leo, Florida
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
20
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
21
Portland, Oregon
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation NWCCU
22
Amherst, New York
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation MSCHE
23
Type:
Public
Cost:
$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation SACSCOC
24
Aurora, Illinois
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation HLC
25
Chester, Pennsylvania
Type:
Private not-for-profit
Cost:
$$$$$

School Services

Academic Counseling Yes
Career Placement Yes
Accreditation MSCHE

Advantages of Online Degree Programs Leading to an LCSW

Along with the flexibility, accessibility, and self-directed study of an online clinical social work program, an MSW with a clinical focus offers additional advantages, especially if you have the goal of becoming an LCSW.

Geographic Diversity

Online LCSW programs and faculty are typically familiar with the resources and programs in the surrounding geographic area, which can sometimes work to students’ advantage when courting their second-year field placements. Still, it can be somewhat limiting to be bound only by the posts in your immediate area. With an online clinical social work program, your colleagues will be engaging in field placements all over the country, working with various populations and presenting concerns with similarities or disparities in resources. This will enrich your education and knowledge base so that you can learn more about settings outside your immediate geographic area to help prepare you for a wider variety of directions in your career.

Social Work Viewpoint

Social work takes a holistic and person-in-environment approach to clinical work, which differs from other disciplines. Rather than focusing on individual pathology, social workers observe the forces affecting an individual’s life and collaborate with the individual to create a treatment plan to address their structural needs and mental health challenges. This perspective shapes social work education, and online LCSW programs seek to ensure that students develop this mindset while learning online.

Asynchronous Courses

Unlike on-campus courses, where a course may be only offered at one time, you can take advantage of the self-directed study of asynchronous classes to take the electives you are genuinely passionate about without having to worry if they will coincide with another required course. Even better, you won’t be left having to decide between two electives you’d like to take. In online clinical social work programs, you’ll have access to the content you’re interested in pursuing without making concessions based on the course timing, conflicts, or other obstacles that on-campus learners face.

What You’ll Learn in Online LCSW Programs

After completing your foundation courses, your clinical coursework will typically include a clinically focused practicum, electives, and research electives attentive to clinical outcomes, such as program evaluation or direct practice research. You will learn how to complete a case formulation, develop a treatment plan, understand the role of the family to the individual, and learn skills for facilitating group work; all put into practice in your field placement.

  • Complete a case formulation
    Observe the biopsychosocial factors at play and develop a narrative summary of the individual’s life and experiences.
  • Develop a treatment plan
    Collaboratively discuss goals and desired outcomes from treatment and break it down into measurable and manageable steps.
  • Understand the role of family
    Complete a genogram with your individual and observe intergenerational trends and patterns, like trauma, substance use disorders, and other dynamics that affect the individual in your care.
  • Learn skills for facilitating groups
    Facilitating a therapy group is essential, with a great deal of theory behind how to do so thoughtfully and constructively.
  • Clinical specialization
    You will have the opportunity to pursue clinical electives of particular interest to you, which can inform your career direction. For example, you could focus on aging, cognitive behavioral therapy, gender and sexuality, grief and loss, mood, or trauma.

Popular Courses

Mental Health Diagnostics
Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, students will understand the psychopathology of mental health challenges while applying diagnoses to a social work lens to improve their ability to conceptualize and treat a case.

Anxiety and Depression
Because anxiety and depression are common mental health challenges faced by most people at some point in their lives, learning about the underpinnings of these issues can improve your ability to offer treatment to your clients. From various theoretical orientations, like psychodynamic, problem-focused, and cognitive behavioral, students will better understand these conditions and how to join with their patients to improve outcomes.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
These two modalities are separate evidence-based practices, but each is a manualized treatment with a great deal to offer prospective patients. Students may take a course that covers one of these modalities in-depth to become effective and affirming providers using these skills to address anxiety, depression, borderline personality, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and insomnia, to name a few.

Direct Practice Research
As a research elective, direct practice research empowers students to demonstrate the efficacy of their work and interventions to organizations and potential funding sources to make the case to continue their work. From evaluating programs to patient retention, these research skills will take your practice from good to great because you can justify your interventions with data and research.

Aging and Health
Our population is aging and living further into the lifespan than ever before, leaving an unprecedented need for clinicians equipped to work with individuals and families through the aging process. By understanding the clinical factors that affect mental health while aging, such as family dynamics, structural forces like finances or disability status, and social engagement, students will develop an ability to join with an ever-aging population to provide affirming and respectful care.

Can You Take Part in an LCSW Training Program Entirely Online?

While you can complete your MSW coursework online, you must also complete the field placement requirements set forth by the CSWE. You will attend your field placement(s) for 900 hours as a master’s student, and you can expect to have one or two placements, depending on whether you are an advanced standing master’s student or on a traditional two-year course of study. Part-time traditional students will typically complete two field placements, even if they complete their coursework over a longer period.

How Long Do Online Clinical Social Work Programs Take?

A traditional MSW will take two years of full-time study, with part-time students often taking three years to complete their degree. Most online LCSW programs require that you complete your degree within five or six years of beginning your studies. However, suppose you already hold a bachelor’s of social work. In that case, you are eligible to enter an advanced standing MSW program, which typically takes three to six semesters to complete the additional course responsibilities for your master’s while giving credit for already taking fundamental social work courses.

For all students, the number of courses you take per semester and how much time you can allocate to your field placement, particularly if you are balancing it against other life responsibilities, will determine how long it will take to complete your MSW. Taking more courses, taking advantage of summer semesters, and attending field placement three days instead of two days per week may hasten your schedule slightly.

Admission Requirements for an Online Degree Program Leading to an LCSW

Admissions for an online MSW program are consistent with standards for on-campus programs. Since social work is a field about interfacing with people, a holistic review of applicants is crucial to ensure that the admissions committee assembles a diverse and passionate cohort. Most programs require an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 and do not require any standardized tests like the GRE, as they do not tend to be accurate predictors of aptitude for performance as a social worker. However, if your academic history has some blemishes, you may choose to submit GRE scores to indicate your seriousness for undertaking this degree at this time.

Other admissions standards include:

  • A resumé or CV
  • A written statement about your interest in social work or an academic writing sample with appropriate citations, depending on the institution
  • Academic transcripts from all institutions attended
  • Letters of recommendation

Accreditation Standards for Online Clinical MSW Degree Programs

Any bachelor’s or master’s degree program in social work must be accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Earning a degree from an unaccredited program makes you ineligible for any form of licensure, making further professional certifications impossible. Additionally, any program that has not met the rigors of the CSWE’s standards could be exploitative to students, either financially or academically. The CSWE accreditation protects students from excessive, inappropriate, or unsafe labor and vets its accreditation recipients’ institutions for academic and financial integrity.

Ultimately, you would be hard-pressed to find a social work program that the CSWE does not accredit. Because of the protected nature of the term “social work,” a program without this accreditation would likely not be able to use the term in its materials.

Getting Your LSW or LCSW After Your Online Master’s

Immediately after completing your master’s degree, you can take a licensing exam from the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) to earn your Licensed Social Work (LSW) designation. This exam is more theory-based and connected to your graduate school curriculum, and many employers prefer this credential for new social workers as a form of accountability.

To earn a clinical license, or LCSW (LICSW in some states), a student must have earned an MSW from an accredited program, hold an LSW, and participate in related social work experience for at least 50% of the time while receiving supervision from an experienced LCSW. While the number of supervised hours varies from state to state, you can expect to work full-time for about two years to complete the requirement. Related social work experience includes assessment, psychotherapy, other psychosocial-therapeutic interventions, consultation, family therapy, and group therapy.

Following your supervised experience and approval of supervision hours, you may sit for the clinical social work exam from the ASWB, which focuses more on clinical scenarios and applying your knowledge to your work in the field. After you pass the exam, your LCSW license will be issued for you to display in your workspace with pride.

Paying for Online Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work

When you decide to advance your social work education, you want to ensure that you make a prudent investment in your future. Earning an MSW with a clinical concentration and working toward an LCSW may drastically increase your lifetime earning potential from your bachelor’s-level prospects. Of course, you want to make sure you choose the most cost-effective option for you, your circumstances, and your family. Our financial aid page is a great place to start exploring your opportunities.

Most students are eligible for federal financial aid to pay for the cost of attendance at accredited universities. Strong applicants are often enticed with institutional scholarships to defray their attendance costs further. Many schools award work-study funding (some schools will count your field placement as your “work-study”) and fellowships. Some students can pursue private loans. If employed, your employer may offer tuition assistance for a certain amount per semester. As a social worker, you may be a candidate for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program through the U.S. Department of Education if you work for a qualifying employer, as many social work roles qualify for this program.

What Your Online Clinical MSW Could Cost

School Name No. of Credits Cost/Credit Est. Total Tuition Cost

62 credits

$764.50/credit hour in-state, $974.50/credit hour out-of-state

$47,399 in-state

$60,419 out-of-state

60 credits

$435.30/credit hour (resident or non-resident)

$26,118

60 credits

$605.96/credit hour in-state, $716/credit hour out-of-state

$36,358 in-state

$42,960 out-of-state

Career and Salary Outlook for LCSW Psychotherapists

Many individuals who pursue an MSW with a clinical concentration and earn an LCSW hope to work as psychotherapists in a group, university, private, or academic practice setting. With high demands for psychotherapy as it becomes more societally normalized and crucial following the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic, working as an LCSW psychotherapist has a robust job outlook.

Are licensed clinical social workers in high demand?

LCSWs are in extremely high demand to provide affordable psychotherapy for vulnerable populations. As master’s level clinicians, LCSWs have strong expertise and credentials while also being affordable from insurance companies’ fee schedules, making them very desirable for various settings. Many group practices consistently seek clinicians to pick up a few days to see patients, as most practices have wait lists for services that are bursting with people in need. The data supports the reported experience from people in the field – BLS.gov predicts a 12% growth from 2020 to 2030 in demand for social workers.

How much do licensed clinical social workers make?

While BLS.gov reports the median salary for social workers at $50,390 per year, that is across all social work positions. Individuals who work as a psychotherapist with an LCSW often earn more than that and can expect an industry-standard rate of $30-$50 per 60-minute session for community mental health agencies, up to $150 for a 60-minute session for private-pay clients, or a percentage reimbursement from insurance carriers. While many practices operate on a fee-for-service model, there are salaried positions for LCSW psychotherapists that are graded based on post-licensure years of experience and years of service to the organization.