CACREP Reports

Each year our three CACREP accredited programs: Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling, and School Counseling are required to post general statistics regarding the status of our students during that academic year. The following data are from the 2023-2024 academic year to illustrate how many students we have in our programs, our graduation rates, employment rates and more. Email Dr. Bill Lepkowski with any questions.

2023-24 Academic Year

Clinical Mental Health Counseling School Counseling Rehabilitation Counseling
Credits required for program 61 61 60
Students enrolled 50 30 36
Number of graduates in last year 18 17 16
Completion rate 100% 100% 84%
Licensure exam pass rate 100% N/A 100%
Job placement rate 100% 100% 100%

View Previous Years' Data

SCSU Counseling Programs CACREP Outcomes Report

Posted: Fall 2024, by Dr. Bill Lepkowski, CACREP Liaison

We have three excellent CACREP accredited counseling programs at St. Cloud State University, including: Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC), School Counseling (SC), and Rehabilitation Counseling (RC). The Rehabilitation Program is, however, due to be closed upon the final students in the program graduating in 2026 and is no longer admitting new students. The SC and CMHC programs will continue, however, and both continue to be accredited by CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs). This accreditation provides students with the assurance that our program meets the highest of academic standards in training excellent counseling professionals. Below is recent data regarding our three programs’ outcomes for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Program Graduates and Completion Rate:

Clinical Mental Health Counseling: In May of 2024 we had 18 students successfully graduate from our program. This was a 100% completion rate for all students who entered the program with a plan of study to graduate in May of 2024. Historically, our graduation rate has been approximately 98%. These findings suggest that once selected to enter our program, students and faculty work hard to ensure student success.

School Counseling: In May of 2024 we had 17 students successfully graduate from our program. This was a 100% completion rate for all students who entered the program with a plan of study to graduate in May of 2024. Historically, our graduation rate has been approximately 97%. These findings suggest that once selected to enter our program, students and faculty work hard to ensure student success.

Rehabilitation Counseling: In May of 2024 we had 16 students successfully graduate from our program. This was a 84% completion rate for all students who entered the program with a plan of study to graduate in May of 2024. Historically, our graduation rate has been approximately 97%. These findings suggest that once selected to enter our program, students and faculty work hard to ensure student success.

Comprehensive Exam Pass Rate:

Clinical Mental Health Counseling: In the spring of 2024, 100% of all CMHC counseling students who took the Counseling Comprehensive Exam (CPCE) as a final academic test of their knowledge related to the counseling profession passed. Historically, we have a 99% comprehensive exam pass rate on the first try and 100% after the second try. These findings demonstrate that students gain a strong command of the core and specialty CACREP knowledge-based content areas in their counseling specialty area.

School Counseling: In the spring of 2024, 100% of all SC counseling students who took our Counseling Comprehensive Exam as a final academic test of their knowledge related to the counseling profession passed. Historically, we have a 98% comprehensive exam pass rate on the first try and 100% after the second try. These findings demonstrate that students gain a strong command of the core and specialty CACREP knowledge-based content areas in their counseling specialty area.

Rehabilitation Counseling: In the spring of 2024, 100% of all RC counseling students who took our Counseling Comprehensive Exam (CRC) as a final academic test of their knowledge related to the counseling profession passed. Historically, we have a 96% comprehensive exam pass rate on the first try and 100% after the second try. These findings demonstrate that students gain a strong command of the core and specialty CACREP knowledge-based content areas in their counseling specialty area.

Job Placement Rate:

Clinical Mental Health Counseling: 100% of the spring 2024 graduates obtained counseling or related employment. Prior years of data indicate about 97% of our graduates obtaining employment shortly after graduating. For those who do not obtain jobs as counselors, the reasons are primarily due to choosing positions in related fields. These data indicate that our graduates are very competitive in the counseling job market, and job market in general.

School Counseling: 100% of the spring 2024 graduates obtained school counseling or related employment. Prior years of data indicate about 93% of our graduates obtaining employment shortly after graduating. For those who do not obtain jobs as school counselors, the reasons are primarily due to choosing positions in related fields. These data indicate that our graduates are very competitive in the school counseling job market, and job market in general.

Rehabilitation Counseling: 100% of the spring 2024 graduates obtained counseling or related employment. Prior years of data indicate about 93% of our graduates obtaining employment shortly after graduating. For those who do not obtain jobs as counselors, the reasons are primarily due to choosing positions in related fields. These data indicate that our graduates are very competitive in the counseling job market, and job market in general.

Program Admission Rate, Active Students, and Class Sizes:

Historically, each of our programs admit about 15-18 students per year/cohort thus we have about 45-50 counseling graduates annually. The number of students we can admit is based on accreditation requirements of faculty to student ratios to ensure an appropriate level of supervision is provided to each counseling student. Due to the planned closure of our Rehabilitation Counseling program as of spring 2024, no new students were admitted to this program. Therefore, only the CMHC and SC programs admitted students in spring of 2024 to start either summer or fall of 2024.

We had 14 admitted to CMHC and 10 admitted to SC in the spring of 2024. On average the CMHC program receives about 75 or more applicants and the SC program receives about 20-30 applicants. As of spring of 2024 we have a total of 50 active CMHC students, 23 active SC students, and 36 RC students.

Other Benefits of being a Counseling Program Student at St. Cloud State University:

In addition to the small class sizes, CACREP accreditation, and excellent success rates among our students, there are other benefits to joining one of our Counseling Programs at St. Cloud State University, including (but not limited to) receiving:

  1. An opportunity to receive instruction and supervision from highly qualified counselor educators, former and/or active counselors, and other helping profession instructors, many of whom have many years of counseling experience in addition to teaching and supervision experience.
  2. An opportunity to be a part of a program which values multicultural competence, diversity, and building strong faculty-student relationships.
  3. A very competitive and affordable tuition rate, and many opportunities for graduate assistantships to help finance your education.
  4. A large focus on interpersonal skills training and practical application of knowledge.
  5. Live supervision during practicum experiences in our clinical space, which includes cutting edge recording and observation technology.
  6. Day, evening, and summer course offerings as well as a few courses offered online.
  7. The opportunity to intern with excellent counselors in Minnesota, many of whom have supervised our interns for many years.
  8. The opportunity to participate in area, state, and national conferences and professional committee work.
  9. The opportunity to become license eligible as a counselor in Minnesota, as well as in other states in the country.
  10. The opportunity to begin a career in a highly meaningful profession.

Past Data

Clinical Mental Health Counseling

School Counseling

Rehabilitation Counseling