Is all the schooling worth being a Mental Health Counselor?

Question

There is a 60 graduate credit program at my college to be a Mental Health Counselor. After the 60 Masters credits you have to intern for a long time. I want to help children. Is all the time and money spent on graduate school worth it for this profession? Is is hard to get a job with this degree? Does the degree end up paying for itself (does it make good money)? Is anyone on here a Mental Health Counselor that can tell me the pros and cons of their career choice?

Answer 1

3 colleges near me have this exact program and they each cost over 30,000. The cost is the reason I did not sign up; I was accepted to a competitive school, but the thought of that loan scared me. I did research on the starting salaries in my area and came up with 30k-41K (and the high end was for jobs that are really hard to get). I don't know if it will pay off in the end, but I was not about to take the risk. I know too many people with huge loans and their salaries are not enough when compared to the loan fees.

I think that there may be potential to make decent $, but it depends on where you live and where you work. My friend's cousin has a MA and just hit 40K with years of experience. The jobs in the schools are where the money is at and those are impossible to find in many areas.

People think that Master degrees will result in good salaries and many of them will not or it will take years to reach that pay. It really depends on your degree, experience and where you live and work. There is one school near me offering this program and while they don't require it, they strongly prefer you already have experience in the field. I guess this is so you can have better job options after graduating.

I know money should not be the deal-breaker, BUT having such a high loan and then being unable to find work or find decent pay is very stressful, esp. when you combine this with such a stress-filled career.

If I had a job that paid for tuition, or paid for most of it and I saw job opportunities, I would go for it.

Do some research and see if you can get an idea of what it pays. Look at job ads and try salary.com, which will base it on experience. You also have to figure in the job you get and what the place can offer you in pay.

Answer 2

I am a professional recruiter and I watch so many degreed professionals who are disenchanted with their chosen profession after some time out in the real world.

I would suggest that you work in the field with your 4yr degree for a short while to solidify your desire to continue. This will allow you to pay down any student loans that you may have.

Then you can then decide if your return on investmet is worth the risk, but helping children at any level is still helping children. What is your motivation, Position, Money, Self Worth, of Satisfaction.