2024 Best Mental & Social Health Services Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

Ranked #16 in popularity, mental & social health services is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 66 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Mental & Social Health Services Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,176 master's degrees in mental & social health services to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Mental & Social Health Services School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of mental & social health services for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to mental & social health services students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of mental & social health services students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for mental & social health services to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mental & social health services related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for mental & social health services students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Mental & Social Health Services Schools

The mental health services school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Mental & Social Health Services Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Mental & Social Health Services in the Southeast Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in mental & social health services.

10 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Master's in Mental Health Services

1

University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

31 Annual Graduates

$37,172 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in mental & social health services needs to look into University of Florida. Located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the mental health services program make around $37,172 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from University of Florida

2

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

307 Annual Graduates

$39,243 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in mental & social health services needs to look into Florida State University. Located in the midsize city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the mental health services program make an average of $39,243 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from Florida State University

3

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

21 Annual Graduates

$64,254 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in mental & social health services needs to take a look at Virginia Commonwealth University. Located in the midsize city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the mental & social health services major at Virginia Commonwealth University get $25,969 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from Virginia Commonwealth University

4

Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN

5 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Vanderbilt University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in mental & social health services. Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville.More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from Vanderbilt University

5

University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL

6 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Coral Gables, U Miami is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from University of Miami

6

Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

960 Annual Graduates

$38,005 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the mental health services program report average early career income of $38,005.

More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from Liberty University

7

East Carolina University
Greenville, NC

67 Annual Graduates

$41,084 Median Starting Salary

ECU is a very large public university located in the city of Greenville.

Those mental & social health services students who get their master's degree from East Carolina University make $2,799 more than the average mental health services student.

More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from East Carolina University

8

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL

46 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Birmingham, UAB is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from University of Alabama at Birmingham

9

Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC

10 Annual Graduates

Wake Forest University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Winston-Salem.More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from Wake Forest University

10

Mercer University
Macon, GA

22 Annual Graduates

$34,419 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Macon, Mercer is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the mental health services program state that they receive average early career earnings of $34,419.

More information about a master’s in mental & social health services from Mercer University

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Mental & Social Health Services students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Mental & Social Health Services Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.

Rank	College	Location
11	John Brown University	Siloam Springs, AR
12	Nova Southeastern University	Fort Lauderdale, FL
13	Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton, FL
14	Lipscomb University	Nashville, TN
15	Marymount University	Arlington, VA
16	Belmont University	Nashville, TN

Best Mental & Social Health Services Colleges by State

Explore the best mental & social health services schools for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	964
Georgia	190	96
Virginia	182	1,207
North Carolina	178	226
Tennessee	166	213
Alabama	151	137
Kentucky	147	53
Louisiana	147	75
South Carolina	146	40
Mississippi	145	35
Arkansas	121	130

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Mental Health Services

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Mental & Social Health Services has other similar majors worth exploring.

Mental Health Services Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions	951
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor	868
Clinical/Medical Social Work	640
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling	405
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling	148
Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling	78
Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling	66
Genetic Counseling/Counselor	20

Majors Similar to Mental Health Services

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing	11,075
Public Health	3,876
Allied Health Professions	3,244
Health & Medical Administrative Services	2,540
Communication Sciences	2,085
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	1,779
Health Sciences & Services	442
Medical Illustration & Informatics	400
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	304
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	303

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.