Emina Dedic

Emina Dedic’s degree isn’t only for her. 

“It’s for my mother, my father; it’s for everyone in my family who wanted to go [to school] who never did, who never could, or who never had that opportunity,” she says.

She’s well aware of the sacrifices her parents made so she could have a chance at a college education. This knowledge has kept the 23-year-old steadily working toward a degree for the past five years, paying off her degree class by class.

Now, after winning a $1,000 scholarship from Get Educated, she can finally see a graduation date in sight.

I want to earn an online PhD or a counseling master’s and change my career from a sales manager to a mental health counselor or therapist. What are the best online psychology schools for this goal? I want an online counseling psych program that is accredited by the American Psychological Association. Can you give me a list of online psychology degrees accredited by the APA?
—Jamie in California

Answer:

I understand your concern. Many psychologists consider approval by the American Psychological Association (APA) the gold standard for accredited professional psychology degrees. This is especially true in the areas of clinical, counseling and educational psychology, all areas that interest you.

Most professionals would agree that the best online psychology degrees—at least for career reasons in clinical and educational psych—should have full APA approval.

A new study by Babson Survey Research Group reveals that online learning is growing. This stands in contrast to overall enrollment in traditional colleges and universities, which fell (albeit less than .1 percent) for the first time in the survey’s 10-year history.

The study, titled “Changing Courses: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States,” examines online learning in the U.S.

Babson also surveyed institutional officials for their take on massive open online courses (MOOCs). This is the first time that MOOCs were included in the research study. 

Only 2.6 percent of higher education institutions currently offer a MOOC, with 10 percent planning to add them. The study found that the majority of schools—55 percent—remain undecided on whether to add MOOCs or not. Babson's research also found that institutions with existing online courses and programs make up the majority of schools planning to offer MOOCs.

Researchers at Columbia University’s Community College Research Center have uncovered evidence suggesting that male students, younger students, black students and students with lower grade point averages tend to struggle more in online classes than their peers.

Researchers Di Xu and Shanna Smith Jaggars explored a dataset containing nearly 500,000 courses taken by more than 40,000 community and technical college students in Washington State. Their findings are reported in “Adaptability to Online Learning: Differences Across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas.”