Bring Healing to Hurting Families by Earning Your MA in Marriage and Family Counseling Degree
You can help bring healing to hurting couples, children, and parents by earning your Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling. Through this degree, you can learn research-based methods for premarital, adolescent, marriage, family, and substance abuse counseling, preparing you to serve a variety of clients.
As one of the largest Christian universities in the nation, our MA in Marriage and Family Counseling degree can give you the tools you need to follow God’s calling in your life and enter a career field where you can make a difference for eternity. Partner with us, and let us help you make the impact in the lives of hurting families you always knew you could.
Award-Winning Campus
At Liberty, you’ll find an affordable, high-quality education that equips students like you for the real world. Our commitment to excellence helped us rank as the #4 Best College Campus in America by Niche.com. Earning your degree from a nonprofit university with state-of-the-art resources like ours can help set you apart from your peers.
Why Choose Liberty’s Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Counseling?
At Liberty University, we Train Champions for Christ. This means that we are dedicated to providing you with the foundational training you need for success in your future career. Our MA in Marriage and Family Counseling program integrates cutting-edge research with a biblical worldview, helping prepare you for ministry to your client’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
In addition to training you in patient care methods, our marriage and family counseling master’s degree is designed to help you become a licensed marriage and family therapist, providing you with the credentials you need to make a difference in private practice, social services, the legal system, and beyond.
What Will You Learn in Our MA in Marriage and Family Counseling Degree Program?
In our master’s in marriage and family counseling program, you can study fundamental topics like human growth and development, legal and ethical issues in counseling, and approaches to multicultural counseling. You will also explore counseling methods and theories, assessment techniques, and psychopathology.
Throughout this degree, you can learn research-based methods for diagnosing and treating substance abuse. You can have numerous opportunities to conduct your own research, learn functional skills through practicums, and gain hands-on experience by completing an internship – preparing you for your career in marriage and family counseling.
View our marriage and family counseling Degree Completion Plan, and check out our featured courses below for more information about what you will study.
Featured Courses
COUC 546 – Psychopathology
COUC 601 – Theories of Family Systems
COUC 620 – Counseling Children, Adolescents, and Families
Highlights of Our MA in Marriage and Family Counseling Degree Program
- You can learn from faculty members who have years of professional counseling experience with agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as in schools, churches, and private practices across the nation and around the world.
- Our MA in Marriage and Family Counseling is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).
- This marriage and family counseling degree is designed to help you meet the requirements needed to pursue licensure as a marriage and family therapist (MFT) in Virginia (see our State Requirements page for information about other states’ licensure requirements).
- Graduate assistantships are available for students in our master’s degree in marriage and family counseling.
Our Marriage and Family Counseling Master’s Degree Information
- Residential
- 60 total credit hours
- Transfer in up to 50% of your credits
- This master’s program falls under our School of Behavioral Sciences
- Download and view our marriage and family counseling Degree Completion Plan
- View our course catalog
Potential Career Opportunities for Our Master’s in Marriage and Family Graduates
- Christian counselor
- Legal and correctional systems counselor
- Mental health agency counselor
- Public or private practitioner
- Social services manager
Admission Requirements for Our MA in Marriage and Family Counseling Degree
Every application is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and all applicants must submit the following documents and meet the minimum requirements for admission:
- Admission application
- A regionally or nationally accredited bachelor’s degree with at least a 2.7 GPA for admission
- Unofficial college transcripts with a completed Transcript Request Form – official final college transcript showing a completed bachelor’s degree is required before first-semester enrollment
- Self-certification form (for students who are in the final term of their bachelor’s degree)
- Current Liberty undergraduate students seeking preliminary acceptance into a graduate program must complete a degree completion application through their ASIST account
- Contact information for 2 recommenders from professional sources (i.e. not family/friends)
- Agreement to Mission Statement and Diversity Statement
- Undergraduate prerequisites: 3 credit hours in statistics (can be taken after admission but must be taken in first two semesters in the program)
- Students seeking to be admitted into this program and planning to finish it outside of the U.S. will be required to sign an International Disclosure Agreement (login required)
- Please describe in 200-250 words why you desire to become a counselor and indicate the type of counselor certification you plan to seek after graduation.
- Describe in 200-250 words an occasion in which you have interacted with an individual or a group of individuals from another culture. Identify the cultural differences that were present and how you demonstrated respect for those differences.
- Describe in 200-250 words how you form effective interpersonal relationships with others in individual and group settings.
- Students must include a sentence stating their agreement to the Department of Counselor Education and Family Study’s Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling Mission Statement and Diversity Statement. See the Master of Arts Marriage and Family Counseling Handbook.