Four counseling and psychology program scholarships for City Year alumni

From the Classroom to Counseling

Though City Year AmeriCorps members serve full-time in schools, a little over 50% of alums start careers outside the education sector after their service year. Research-based social-emotional training is a part of the City Year service experience and a large number of members come to City Year with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. As a result, many of our alumni go on to careers in counseling. Throughout the year, AmeriCorps members gain a clear understanding of what it takes to be compassionate and empathetic, while gaining insights into the external factors that may influence student behavior.

“During my service year, I learned the importance of building bridges for students to caring adults who could help them,” says Emily Alexander, a City Year San Antonio alum. “Though I joined City Year because I had an interest in teaching, I learned that my skills and interests were more in line with pursuing a career in counseling.”

If you’re like Emily and find that your interest in ensuring students feel emotionally supported and validated drives your service, you may want to consider pursuing a career in counseling or psychology. City Year has more than 20 University Partnerships that offer alums scholarships for graduate-level programs in the mental health field. Here’s a look at four of those partnerships:

Pepperdine University | Graduate School of Education & Psychology

Located in Los Angeles, Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education & Psychology provides innovative academic programs dedicated to building scholar-practitioners through hands-on learning. The school offers a range of options in the field of psychology including clinical and behavioral graduate programs–including one that emphasizes work in the Latinx community. Every year, the university awards all admitted City Year alums with a 10% scholarship, which is eligible for renewal during the second year of the program.

Columbia University | Teachers College

Teachers College, Columbia University is the oldest and largest graduate school of education in the United States. Located in New York City, the school embraces a leadership role in preparing educators who not only serve students directly but coordinate the educational, psychological, behavioral, technological and health initiatives to remove barriers to learning at all ages. Teachers College offers a 25% annual tuition scholarship to a qualifying and newly admitted City Year alum toward a wide variety of master’s degree programs ranging from school psychology to nutrition to education policy.

Antioch University New England | Departments of Applied Psychology and Clinical Psychology

Antioch University New England, located in Keene, New Hampshire is one of five Antioch campuses that seeks to advance social, economic and environmental justice. Antioch offers different master’s degree programs in psychology such as clinical mental health counseling and dance/movement therapy as well as doctoral programs in clinical psychology and marriage and family therapy. Each year, the university awards up to two City Year alums with a 25% tuition discount.

Stetson University | Graduate Programs

Stetson University has been an institution of higher education serving Central Florida for over 120 years. Stetson’s clinical mental health counseling graduate program is designed to train individuals who aspire to be outstanding leaders in the clinical mental health counseling field in a variety of clinical and educational settings. Each year, the university offers up to 10 City Year alums a minimum of 40% tuition scholarships that are flexibly awarded between undergraduate and graduate programs, including the counselor education program.

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Learn more opportunities for graduate study available to City Year alums after national service