Psychology Programs in Minnesota

Minnesota is home to a number of prominent schools offering psychology degrees at all levels. This page features some of these programs. It also provides information about how to become a psychologist and career opportunities in the field.

Minnesota Psychology Spotlight Programs

The following schools offer psychology programs at the undergraduate, master’s, and/or doctoral levels. Each stands out for its coursework, reputation, or unique offerings such as undergraduate internships or study abroad options.

Augsburg College (Minneapolis)

Ranked #6 (tie) as most innovative college in the Regional Midwest, Augsburg College offers some interesting psychology programs, including psychology and the law at the bachelor’s level and music therapy at the graduate level. Bachelor’s students can also choose concentrations in clinical psychology and social psychology. All undergrad programs require students to complete an internship. In addition to music therapy, grad students can earn a master’s of social work degree. The school has a hybrid online option, called the Adult Undergraduate program, for those who need more flexibility. Undergraduate tuition for full-time students is $40,376 per year. Graduate tuition is $715 per credit for a social work master’s and $902 per credit for a music therapy master’s. Those who enroll in the Adult Undergraduate program will pay $426 per credit.

Minnesota State University (Mankato)

You can find programs for all degree levels at Minnesota State University. The school offers a B.S. in psychology, an M.A. in either clinical psychology or industrial-organizational psychology, and a Psy.D. in school psychology. Undergraduate tuition is $3,696.90 per semester for Minnesota, Manitoba, and Wisconsin residents. There are several other reduced-price tiers for neighboring states, including Midwest Compact states. Non-residents pay $7,843.25. Graduate tuition is $5,129.40 per semester and the doctoral program is $7,446.60.

University of Minnesota—Twin Cities (Minneapolis)

The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus is split by the Mississippi River, and you can see students hurrying across a long covered bridge to get from one bank to the other. The psychology department, located on the east bank, provides many degree options to choose from. Undergraduates can earn either a B.A. or a B.S. in psychology or minor in either psychology or health psychology. The psychology Ph.D. program has eight different areas of specialization, including biological psychopathology; personality, individual differences, and genetics; social psychology; and a clinical science and psychopathology research program. Undergraduate tuition is $6,659 per semester for residents and $15,808 for non-residents. For graduate students, it’s $8,790 and $13,602, respectively.

University of Minnesota—Duluth (Duluth)

UMD is home to seven research labs that experimental psychology graduate students can take advantage of. Areas of focus include biopsychology, evolutionary psychology, and psycho-linguistics. The university also offers graduate programs in clinical-counseling psychology and industrial-organizational psychology, as well as a general psychology bachelor’s. Undergraduate students have the option of taking online courses. Undergraduate tuition is $6,097 per semester for residents and $8,967 for non-residents. For graduate students, it’s $8,790 for residents and $13,602 for nonresidents.

Saint Cloud State University (Saint Cloud)

Saint Cloud is also located on the banks of the Mississippi River, although it is an hour northwest of the Twin Cities. Undergraduate students at Saint Cloud State University can earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology or community psychology. Select classes for both majors are available online. The school also offers an M.S. in industrial-organizational psychology. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Manitoba (reciprocity) residents pay $8,656 per academic year for undergraduate tuition, but students from several other states get varied reduced rates. Non-residents pay $16,948. Graduate tuition is $8,570 for Minnesota and reciprocity state residents and $12,444 for non-residents. Tuition figures are yearly and include university fees.

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota (Winona)

The 43-credit B.A. in psychology program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is distinctive in that students must either participate in an undergraduate internship or research and write a thesis. The internship program entails 350 hours and can take place in a variety of settings, including psychological clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, and chemical dependency centers. At the graduate level the university offers master’s degrees in counseling and psychological services; marriage and family therapy; and social work (an online degree) as well as a doctorate in counseling psychology. Undergraduate tuition is $36,050 per year. A master’s in counseling is $540 per credit, a master’s in marriage and family therapy is $555, and an online master’s in social work is $800. A doctorate is $885 per credit.

University of Saint Thomas (Saint Paul)

The psychology department at the University of Saint Thomas integrates several unique features: sustainability (“green psych”), interdisciplinary study, active research, and psychology abroad programs. You can either major or minor in psychology at the undergraduate level. Graduate offerings include an M.A. in counseling psychology, and those who choose can take the M.A. with a concentration in either family psychology or co-occurring disorders. There’s also an M.A. with direct admission to the school’s doctoral program, which is a Psy.D. in counseling psychology. Undergraduate tuition is $22,390 per semester. Graduate tuition is $790 per credit for an M.A. and $1,048 for a doctorate.

Macalester College (Saint Paul)

If you go to this college, you won’t have to worry about how to pay for it—Macalester pledges to meet the full need of every student by guaranteeing financial assistance to all. Undergrads can major in psychology at Macalester, and psych is also offered as a minor. You can major in neuroscience, which is classified separately from psychology in its own department. The neuroscience program culminates in a capstone project offered either as a course, a multi-draft paper, or a research or internship experience. There are no graduate programs. Tuition is $56,062 per year.

Carleton College (Northfield)

Ranked #7 (tie) in national liberal arts colleges, Carleton College is a small college in the historic river town of Northfield. The psychology major covers three general areas: social behavior, development, personality, and clinical psychology; cognitive studies; and biological and behavioral processes. Carleton also has two study abroad programs: the Carleton Cross-Cultural Psychology in Prague Programs and the Danish Institute for Psychology Abroad Psychology Program.  Tuition is $56,778 per year.

How to Become a Psychologist in Minnesota

To become a psychologist in Minnesota, you have to complete the educational requirements and also satisfy the standards of the state board. Only then will you be licensed and qualified to work as a psychologist.

Education

A doctorate is required to earn the title of “psychologist,” but there are other careers in the field of psychology that you can enter with lower-level degrees. In many cases, you can begin a doctoral program right out of undergraduate school, although some doctoral programs will only consider applicants with a master’s degree.

Even if it’s not required, however, a master’s can be useful as a graduate-level transition between undergraduate school and the weighty academic demands of Ph.D. or Psy.D. programs.

Earning a master’s also serves another purpose: It can help you decide on a specialty as you advance to the upper-level graduate work of a doctoral program. The American Psychological Association (APA) recognizes roughly 20 specialties within the field of psychology, including school psychology, clinical psychology, and counseling psychology. Programs for these specialties are commonly offered by Minnesota’s colleges and universities.

Minnesota Psychology Licensing and Exams

Even after you earn your doctorate, you won’t be qualified to work in the state of Minnesota until you’re awarded a professional license. The Minnesota Board of Psychology is the body that issues licenses. To satisfy the board’s requirements, you’ll have to document your educational background, pass two tests, prove that you’ve completed the set amount of supervised experience hours, pass a background check, and pay the fees.

Minnesota grants several different types of licenses, including guest licenses, volunteer licenses, and temporary licenses. Most people, however, will apply for the credential of Licensed Psychologist (LP). To become an LP in Minnesota, you must complete a doctoral program with a major in psychology. The state stands out by accepting any doctorate earned from a regionally accredited institution as long as it meets the board’s standards. If the program is APA-accredited, those standards are automatically met.

Minnesota is also unique in that it doesn’t have concrete conditions regarding the doctoral program’s internship experience. Most states require a specific number of internship hours. They also have strict rules about how long the internship took to complete, what percentage was spent face to face with clients, and others.

You will, however, have to complete at least one full year, or the part-time equivalent, of postdoctoral supervised professional experience that runs at least 1,800 hours. You also have to receive endorsements from two qualified professionals and pass two exams. The Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) is the national exam and the Professional Responsibility Exam (PRE) is the state test. Once you pass your tests and earn your license, you have to get it renewed every two years. Renewal entails completing at least 40 hours of continuing education.

There are several fees associated with the process. The LP application fee is $500. The EEEP and PRE exams cost $150 each. Renewing your license costs $500 every two years.

Psychology Specializations in Minnesota That Do Not Require a Doctorate

A number of occupations in the field of psychology don’t require you to earn a doctorate or be a psychologist. In Minnesota some of these areas have their own governing bodies, all of which fall under the jurisdiction of the Minnesota Health Licensing Boards. As with licensed psychologists, these specialists must meet their boards’ educational requirements, pass background checks and exams, complete supervised experiences (in some cases), pay fees, and renew their licenses periodically through continuing education.

Some of the more common licensed specialties within the field of psychology in Minnesota are:

• Marriage and family therapist (licensed by the Board of Marriage and Family Therapy): Marriage and family therapists provide counseling to individuals and groups experiencing emotional, psychological, social, and/or behavioral issues related to home and family dynamics. Their patients might be parents, couples, siblings, children, or some combination.
• Social worker (licensed by the Board of Social Work): Social workers help individuals, groups, and families deal with both immediate and long-term crises. They might provide counseling and support to people experiencing homelessness, poverty, abuse, or drug addiction. They also guide these populations through the vast and often complicated network of social services that they need most.
• Alcohol and drug counselor (licensed by the Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy): Drug and alcohol counselors specialize in addiction. They work with groups and individuals in a variety of settings to identify and manage destructive behaviors associated with drug and alcohol dependency. They also council both the affected people and their loved ones in identifying, managing, and preventing these behaviors.
• Professional counselor (licensed by the Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy): Professional counselors work within a broader scope than other specialists. They deal with a wide variety of people and provide counseling in many areas. They might, for example, work with married couples, people referred by social workers, or people struggling with addiction. They might counsel prisoners, people in nursing homes, or those dealing with issues in the workplace.

Job Growth and Psychologist Salary in Minnesota

Your choice of specialty will impact the compensation you receive. This table outlines typical salaries and projected job growth in some of the top psychology career fields.

JOB GROWTH AND SALARIES FOR PSYCHOLOGY JOBS IN MINNESOTA

Minnesota Psychology Scholarships

You might be able to offset the cost of your education with scholarships, which are financial awards that differ from financial aid or student loans. Sometimes scholarships are based on need or merit. Other times they’re open only to specific student demographics, such as Native Americans or first-generation college students. You can visit our general scholarship page to learn about awards from a variety of states and for many types of learners. For scholarships specific to Minnesota, read on.

In many cases, schools themselves offer scholarships to students attending their college or university. Here are a few that Minnesota psych students can consider.

• University of Minnesota: UM issues two Psychology Engagement Awards to qualifying students who are enrolled as psychology majors. They’re worth $500 each, but the highest-ranking applicant in the fall and spring semesters will be named the Natalis Award recipient and win $600 instead.
• University of Minnesota: The Mortensen Scholarships come in two forms. One recognizes academic excellence and the other is designed specifically to help students who plan to study abroad. They’re both reserved for undergraduate psychology students and both are $1,000 awards.
• Minnesota State University, Moorehead: The Diana Divecha Award for Developmental Science is reserved for one undergraduate psychology student who has excelled in the study of developmental science. The award is for $1,000 in funding to support research.
• Saint Mary’s University: The Stephen Kieselhorst, Jr. scholarship and the Judson P. Letven Memorial scholarship are both reserved for graduate students at Saint Mary’s with GPAs of 3.5 or better. They are both worth $2,000, and you can apply for them together.

Other Minnesota organizations not affiliated with colleges and universities also offer scholarships.

• MPA Donald G. Paterson Award in Psychology: Sponsored by the Minnesota Psychological Association, this award is for $350 and is reserved for college seniors planning a career in psychology.
• The Josh and Sarah Papenheim Memorial Psychology Scholarship: Although it’s open to all psychology and mental health students, this award gives special preference to those concentrating on suicide prevention. It’s only for students with a GPA of 3.5 or better and the award is $10,000.

Minnesota Internships and Fellowships

Fellowships and internships are placements or positions that are usually reserved only for graduate students. In many cases, internships are required and necessary to fill state licensure obligations. Fellowships, on the other hand, are solely for doctoral students. Some fellowships and internships come with stipends, salaries, or other financial incentives beyond just the crucial supervised experience they provide.

Just as with scholarships, many individual schools offer their students fellowships and internships directly.

• University of Minnesota Pediatric Psychology Internship: This APA-accredited internship requires interns to complete two rotations, each in the company of another intern. It takes place at different medical facilities local to and associated with the University of Minnesota. The one-year program comes with a stipend of $28,000.
• University of Saint Thomas Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology: This program requires a 40-hour weekly commitment for 12 months for 2,000 hours of supervised experience. The internship comes with a stipend of $25,410 and includes benefits such as medical insurance for both the interns and their families, paid time off, and paid holidays.

Many organizations in Minnesota besides colleges and universities offer fellowships and internships to psychology students, including:

• Hennepin Healthcare Postdoctoral Fellowship: This program has three tracks: primary care/health, child, and adult. The APA-accredited program follows the clinical scientist training model. It lasts one year and includes 2,000 training hours. Salaries range from $54,165 to $65,722 and come with a range of benefits, including insurance coverage, maternity/paternity leave, three weeks paid vacation, meals, and access to a fitness center.
• Natalis Counseling and Psychology Solutions Internship: This one-year, 2,000-hour program is open to Ph.D. and Psy.D. students. It comes with a stipend of $27,600 and includes a full benefits package with paid time off and insurance coverage. Delivered through the Twin Cities Psychology Internship Consortium, it allows students two hours per week to work on their dissertations or research projects.
• Mayo Clinic Medical Psychology Fellowship: This APA-accredited program has three tracks: clinical health psychology, clinical child psychology, and clinical neuropsychology. You can rotate through inpatient and outpatient experiences during the program, which runs for two years.
• Minnesota DHS Postdoctoral Fellowship in Forensic Psychology: The state Department of Human Services sponsors this program, which comes with a salary of $87,195 and includes a generous benefits package. It’s a one-year, full-time position that requires roughly 45 hours per week.

You should also check with resources like Chegg Internships, LinkedIn, Indeed, and other job sites to keep up to date on other opportunities in Minnesota.

Minnesota Psychology Resources

No matter where you are in your educational journey or career, you can seek help and guidance from resources like the ones profiled below. Some are membership organizations that use member dues for action like political advocacy. Others are open to the public at no charge. All, however, contain helpful resources and information that you can browse and use whether you’re a member or not.

• Minnesota Psychological Association: MPA is the primary outlet for continuing education programs that satisfy the Minnesota Board of Psychology’s requirements. It’s also a network of professionals who you can communicate and share ideas with at conferences, events, online groups, and workshops. MPA is the primary political lobbying group and industry advocate for psychologists in the state.
• Minnesota Board of Psychology: The Minnesota Board of Psychology serves as the gatekeeper for all those who wish to practice psychology in the state. The board issues licenses, fields complaints from the public, reviews candidate applications, and maintains a database of all the relevant rules, regulations, and statutes.
• Minnesota School Psychologists Association: Dedicated to organizing and representing the state’s school psychologists specifically, MSPA hosts national and regional meetings, conferences, and other networking opportunities. It connects educators with mental health professionals and offers a variety of discounts that are exclusive to members.
• Minnesota Counseling Association: The MCA offers education, news, and support to the state’s mental health professionals, as well as networking and peer-to-peer research and information sharing. The association also hosts conferences and events, produces literature, and provides research, data, and other valuable information.

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