Graduate Program FAQs

The American Psychological Association (APA) Commission on Accreditation (CoA) accredits doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology, as well as predoctoral internship and postdoctoral residency training programs in accordance with published guidelines and procedures.

Since 2007, the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs has been an APA accredited program built on the Boulder Scientist/Practitioner Model.

Graduating from an APA-accredited program provides an educational and scientific foundation on which to build a career in psychology, providing evidence-based clinical service to the public.

Why APA accreditation matters?

For Students

Pursuing graduate education in psychology involves a significant investment in time and resources. It is important to ensure that your program is high-quality and appropriate for your professional goals. Graduating from an APA-accredited program:

• Provides an educational and scientific foundation on which to build a career in psychology, providing evidence-based clinical service to the public.

• May help qualify you for employment opportunities in settings that require completion of an accredited program.

• Facilitates licensure eligibility in states that require licensure candidates to have a degree from an APA-accredited doctoral program.

UCCS does not provide tuition waivers for their graduate students. However, the department does fund each Ph.D. student at around $22,000/year to be used for tuition, fees, and living expenses. Incoming graduate students are also encouraged to apply for a one-time fellowship award from the UCCS Graduate School and students are often awarded tuition grants to off-set expenses. Ph.D. students are expected to spend around 15 hours a week working to fulfill the stipend they receive. This is generally fulfilled through research assistantships. We encourage incoming graduate students to fill out the FAFSA early in order to receive as many grant, loan, and work study awards as possible. Likewise, students are encouraged to apply for outside scholarships, research grants, and awards. In the 2015-2016, one UCCS psychology graduate student received the very competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Award.

M.A. students are funded in a variety of ways, including departmental funding of Federal work-study awards, serving as a departmental Teaching Assistant, and other positions within the department. Additionally, some M.A. students are funded as a Research Assistant in their research mentor's lab. It is important to clarify these sources of funding with your mentor or with the department.

Ph.D. students are accepted into the program on the basis that they will work with a specific mentor. Generally, this student and their potential mentor have spoken several times before the student accepts entrance into the program. In rare cases, a student will be accepted under the guidance of two research mentors. While Ph.D. students are directed by a primary mentor, there is a great deal of collaboration between labs giving students access to projects and publications across areas of interest.

The M.A. program (clinical track) has a typical cohort of 6-12 students. The M.A. program (psychological science track) has a typical cohort of 2-6 students. The Ph.D. program has a typical cohort of 2-5 students for each major area.

The Counseling Masters offered through the UCCS College of Education is designed to prepare students to work in school based settings or community counseling. The program is much more focused on the practice of counseling and not research. The Social Work Masters offered through the UCCS School of Public Affairs emphasizes social work practice rather than research.

The M.A. in Clinical Psychology is built off of the Boulder Model of Clinical Psychology where students are trained as scientist/practitioners and many students use our program as the launching pad to a Ph.D. or Psy.D. program once they graduate. Students are required to complete an independent research project and take several courses on statistics and research methodology. They also have courses and practical experience in psychotherapy and assessment but the program is balanced in its emphasis on the science of psychology and the practice of psychology.

There are many pathways to becoming a psychologist. The most important question is what you would like to do when you are done with your education. If you want to exclusively be a practicing psychologist where you see clients, you might consider a Psy.D. (or Doctorate in Psychology) degree. These programs are designed to train clinicians and have less of a focus on research. If you see yourself working in an academic setting teaching, conducting research, and possibly having a clinical practice that is small, you should focus on a Ph.D. degree. You can be a practicing psychologist with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, a Psy.D., and in some cases an Ed.D. in Counseling (Doctorate in Education). You should check with the licensing requirements in the particular state in which you want to live because different states have different requirements. It is always advisable to discuss career options with faculty or individuals in the community doing what you would like to do to find out more about the educational and practical requirements of the job. 

It is possible for you to receive credit for graduate level coursework in psychology taken at another university although the prior course has to be similar to the one in our program. For clinical students, the Director of Clinical Training (DCT) will review your transcript and the syllabus or syllabi of your prior graduate coursework and will make determinations about which courses will transfer to our program. This process takes place after you receive an offer of admission. For psychological science students, the Director of Psychological Science Training (DPST) will review your materials and make the determinations about which courses will transfer to our program. Likewise, this is done after you receive an offer of admission.

You can definitely enroll part time in the Master's program. Although most students complete the programs in the regular 2 year time frame, we regularly have students who choose to be on the 3 year plan. For clinical M.A. students, this means that they would not enroll in their Practicum training until the start of the third year. For psychological science M.A. students, the three year plan affords more opportunities to publish and present research papers. For the Ph.D. program, we do not allow part time students.

Because of funding of doctoral students and the time commitments of the program, we recommend that students do not maintain outside employment. 

Students must apply to a specific track of the M.A. program (either the clinical track or the psychological science track). In general, should a student wish to change tracks, he or she must apply during the regular admissions cycle and go through the formal admissions process again to be accepted into the different  track. In some circumstances, it may be possible for a student in the clinical track to petition to move to the psychological science track outside of the regular application cycle but this option must be discussed with the DCT and DPST.

We encourage our students to work with any faculty member whose research interests are compatible with their own. 

Students are strongly encouraged to activity present and publish papers with their research mentor. Our department has a strong track record of publishing peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters with our students

A graduate student is considered full-time and eligible for financial aid if enrolled in 5 or more credits during the fall and spring semesters and 3 credits during the summer semester. Students earning an M.A. degree are required to take 9 to 15 credits per semester to complete the degree in two years.

Students deciding to complete the M.A. degree in three years typically still qualify for financial aid through the financial aid office. The Psychology Department may consider a student taking three years to complete a master's degree part time but the financial aid office and the graduate school will still classify you as full time as long as you are enrolled in 5 credits in the fall and spring semesters. Psychology degree requirements necessitate students enroll in 9 to 15 credits per semester full time and 5 to 7 credits part time.

The UCCS Psychology Department strives to maintain a collegial and respectful atmosphere in the department. We encourage supportive and collaborative relationships among students and among students and faculty. These relationships are maintained via many professional and social events a year, such as monthly trauma research group meetings, quarterly held Geropsychology Colloquium Series (which showcases research or clinical work with older adults), once a semester meetings between the students and the director of their track (i.e., Masters, Ph.D. Trauma, Ph.D. Geropsychology), and regular meetings with the Director of Clinical Training. Cohorts often become very close and collaborative. Our most recent cohort of students has planned many social events together, from study groups for their statistics class to apple-picking and Halloween party planning. Furthermore, students are strongly encouraged to seek out career advice from any professor in the department.  Students are seen as emerging colleagues and the program is committed to helping students develop a strong professional identity as a clinical psychologist.

No. Our terminal M.A. program is designed to prepare you for entrance into a doctoral program in psychology (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) so that you can become licensed as a Psychologist after you graduate from the doctoral program. However, some of our M.A. students stop at the M.A. level and then work toward the LPC licensure in Colorado. Because we are not a licensure preparation program, these students must take several additional courses, receive more supervised clinical practicum experience, and must submit their educational documentation to the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE) for a determination of equivalency with Colorado's requirements. Please click here to see a detailed note on licensure regarding the MA Clinical Program. An application for a Colorado Educational Equivalency Review can be downloaded from www.cce-global.org. Students interested in pursuing licensure at the MA level in Colorado should carefully consult the full requirements for licensure which can be found on the website of Colorado's Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Registrations.

All of these are course credits that you receive for time spent working on your research project. Thesis credits (PSY 7000) should be taken by students when they work on their master's thesis project. The M.A. program requires you to take 6 thesis credits toward your degree. Dissertation credits (PSY 8000) should be taken by Ph.D. students during the time that they are working on their dissertation research. Doctoral students are required to take 30 credits; the timing of those credits is constrained by the Graduate School rules that you should review. Research practicum credits (PSY 6030 for M.A., PSY 7030 for Ph.D.) allocate time for you and your mentor to work on your research training. They need to be taken during a specific term. Your thesis/dissertation advisor will inform you when you should take the research practicum credits.

Psychological science students are advised to work closely with their research mentor to develop a plan for intensive research training within laboratory and classroom settings. Psychological science students are expected to do more than one research project.

Yes, this is a possibility. To do so student must follow the procedure listed below:

Procedure for a student wishing to switch from one Clinical Psychology PhD Major Area of Focus (from/to either Geropsychology or Trauma Psychology) to Another:

1. The student must formally reapply to the Major Area of Focus of interest during the normal application period (annual application deadline December 1st) 

a. Students’ applications will be “fast-tracked”, which is a process used in the Graduate School for current enrolled students in that they can utilize materials from their original application (copies of GRE scores, copies of previous transcripts, informal transcripts for current graduate studies at UCCS)

b. Students will need to upload an updated CV and an updated personal statement

c. Students may choose to upload new letters of recommendation

2.  The application will then be considered with the pool of current applicants for that Major Area of Focus.

3) If accepted, a curricular review by the Clinical Committee will occur to ensure that the student has met all required competencies by track.

If rejected, the student may choose to stay within the current track (provided that they are making adequate progress)

The Ph.D. program does have qualifying/comprehensive exams but the M.A. program does not. A full description of the process is located on the Ph.D. program overview page.

Estimated graduate tuition rates are provided online here. Notice that graduate M.A. is under College of Letters, Arts & Sciences and the Psychology Ph.D. are listed in separate tuition categories.

Students will find it very helpful to meet with Ms. Andrea Williams regarding their schedules before/when they first arrive, and at least at the beginning of each semester for planning purposes to make sure they are taking the correct courses. When new students arrive, the students and Ms. Williams meet and work together to create an academic plan for each student's time in our program.

The American Psychology Association is a strong advocate for easing student debt.
https://www.apa.org/advocacy/higher-education/student-debt/

There is an APA video explains the ins and outs of the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program for student debt relief in five minutes, to help applicants avoid the common pitfalls of ineligibility. Watch it at https://on.apa.org/PSLF-video.

More information on loan forgiveness or repayment can be found at:

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: https://studentaid.gov/pslf/

NIH Loan Repayment Program: https://www.lrp.nih.gov/

There are employers who may assist with loan repayment. When considering an employer, contact their Benefits Administrator or review their website.

UCCS Financial Aid - Student loan forgiveness programs encourage students to pursue educational goals that will lead to employment in specific occupations. These programs forgive part or all of a student's educational loan debt, provided they fulfill certain work-related requirements. If you determine that you may qualify for loan forgiveness please contact your loan servicer.
https://www.uccs.edu/finaid/types-of-aid/educational-loans/forgive15