Ranked #20 in popularity, student counseling is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Student Counseling Master's Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 121 master's degrees in student counseling to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Student Counseling School for Your Master's Degree
The student counseling master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality student counseling program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on student counseling students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other student counseling students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for student counseling 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 student counseling related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for student counseling students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Student Counseling Master's Degree Schools in Iowa list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Student Counseling in Iowa
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for student counseling students seeking a a master's degree.
Top Iowa Schools for a Master's in Student Counseling
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in student counseling needs to look into Drake University. Drake is a small private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Des Moines.
Master's recipients from the student counseling program at Drake University get $6,023 more than the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat University of Northern Iowa if you wish to pursue a master's degree in student counseling. UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the small city of Cedar Falls.
Soon after graduation, student counseling master's recipients usually make an average of $46,566 in the first five years of their career.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in student counseling needs to look into Buena Vista University. BVU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the town of Storm Lake.
Students who graduate with their master's from the student counseling program report average early career income of $49,397.
Loras College is a wonderful option for students interested in a master's degree in student counseling. Loras is a small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Dubuque.
Students who graduate with their master's from the student counseling program state that they receive average early career earnings of $44,795.
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).
The student counseling master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality student counseling program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
