Top Online Human Services Degree Programs and Industry Salary 2023/2024

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Online Human services degree majors study how people live and operate within society and examine how changes to existing structures and systems might benefit individuals, especially the most vulnerable. Throughout the degree program.

Students might explore issues such as social justice; how one’s race, age or social class can affect their relationship with the legal system; and social welfare policy. Students who enjoy working with people and who have a desire to improve the lives of others might be a good fit for this degree.

If you feel the call of public service, an online human services degree can prepare you for the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of making the world a better place in human services occupations. You don’t even need to step foot on a college campus. You can explore your options through the digital world.

Types of Online Human Service Degree Programs

People with this degree can become mental health counselors, social workers, child advocates, community organizers, probation officers, outreach directors, nonprofit managers, and public health educators. It’s a broad field, but at its core, it’s about helping those who need help.

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Human Services – General
Child and Family Services
Gerontology
Substance Abuse

Which jobs in the human services field are right for you? It depends on what you want to learn and how long you’re willing to be in school. It also depends on what specializations that you’d like to pursue.

Human Services – General

A general degree in human services can qualify you for many jobs in public service. From mentoring at-risk youth to creating charity programs for the homeless, to setting human services policies for a local government, it’s a far-reaching degree that can be applied to numerous industries.

You can earn both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human services. You can also earn an associate degree, but since many jobs will require advanced credentials, an associate degree is usually more of a stepping stone than an end goal for human services professionals.

A traditional or online master’s degree in human services is for specialization. Once you’ve found your calling, you can get a master’s degree to build your skills, obtain new certifications, and seek out leadership roles within your community.

A human services program can sometimes require both coursework and fieldwork. With online degrees, the fieldwork is often arranged locally, and you submit the paperwork to your professors afterward.

Child and Family Services

If you’d like to work with kids and families, a this degree can help qualify you for a wide range of jobs.

Adoption manager
Child psychologist
Crisis intervention specialist
Ethnic relations advisor
Family support expert
Foster care director
Juvenile justice attorney
Marriage counselor
Nonprofit administrator
School counselor
Social worker

Human services graduates can also find specialized jobs within social welfare programs. For example, if you want to become a social worker, there are different roles and responsibilities for social workers in schools, hospitals, group homes, adoption agencies, government agencies, and juvenile detention centers.

Gerontology

Gerontology is the study of aging. It’s another field with many different specializations:

Biogerontology is focused on the physical changes to our bodies as we get older.
Jurisprudential gerontology concerns the rights and abuses faced by the elderly. It’s sometimes known as “elder law.”
Social gerontology looks at the way that senior citizens are treated by society.

Depending on your job, gerontology can involve everything from monitoring samples in a lab to delivering meals to disabled seniors. As for your pay, it will fluctuate based on what you’re doing. The typical salary range for gerontologists is between $35,060 – $88,790 per year (Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Substance Abuse

If you have strong interpersonal skills, you might enjoy a career in addiction counseling. Along with other mental health professionals, you can provide therapy, support, and mental health resources to people who are struggling with substance abuse.

If you’d prefer to work behind the scenes, that’s possible as well. You can become a caseworker or administrator at a rehabilitation clinic. You can even become a lab technician who studies the chemical aspects of addiction and still work within social welfare programs.

You might need more than a degree in human services to qualify for certain jobs. For example, if you’re interested in becoming a substance abuse counselor, where you will like be expected to develop intervention strategies, you’ll need to get a license before you can practice. Some jobs will also require a master’s degree or PhD in human services online or on-campus.

Courses for a Degree in Human Services

Every school is different, so their course requirements will be different as well. However, there are a few subjects that crop up again and again in human services programs:

Abnormal Psychology: As its name suggests, abnormal psychology is focused on psychology that deviates from the norm. It can cover everything from mood disorders to personality disorders. You might learn about anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and more.

Criminal Justice: These courses are a necessity if you want a job in the justice system, such as a juvenile court liaison or youth probation officer. They might also be useful if you’re a counselor, welfare worker, or community organizer with clients who are in and out of prison.

Diversity Studies: Diversity studies cover things like race, gender, ethnic relations, and sexuality. Not only can you learn how to be a more sensitive, inclusive person, but depending on the course, you might dive into everything from international business customs to race relations throughout history.

Human Development: Human development is an expansive topic. In fact, it’s an entire discipline, and some schools offer a degree in it. It can teach you about the way that human beings grow, learn, form relationships, and function within society. You will likely also study behavioral and social theories.

Personal and Professional Ethics: There are certain standards that human services workers are expected to uphold. Since your job will likely involve contact with vulnerable people, you’ll need to uphold a high level of personal and professional ethics and human services policies. You might also need to navigate moral dilemmas and sticky situations involving kids and families.

Social Psychology: Human services degrees typically require a lot of psychology courses, but social psychology is particularly important. It examines the way that people behave within communities, and it covers topics such as peer pressure, social influence, prejudice, discrimination, and group behavior.

What Types of Human Services Degree Jobs Are Available?

There are more than 2,000 degree paths for human services professionals, and they can prepare you for jobs in everything from social work to public health. Here are just a few career paths that human services workers might take:

Community Outreach Specialists: Are you good at bringing people together? You might enjoy working in community outreach. Jobs for human service professionals are usually found in nonprofit organizations, and they can be dedicated to poverty, literacy, hunger, homelessness, or long-term employment.

Counselor: You can be a guidance counselor at a high school or a grief counselor at a hospital. You can work with kids in foster care, addicts in rehab, adult mental health rehabilitation, or families looking to adopt. Counselors, along with other mental health professionals, are employed in all kinds of environments and have all kinds of specialties, so it’s just a matter of deciding where you’re the most needed.

Criminal Justice Worker: Human services professionals can find ample work in prisons and probation offices. The jobs usually involve counseling, coaching, job placements, addiction services, legal advice, and mental health assessments.

Health Educator: Health educators are human service professionals who work with the public. They share information, promote wellness, develop community resources, and collect important data for hospitals and health organizations. If you’re interested in a career in health education, you can combine a degree in human services with one involving education, communication, public relations, or healthcare administration.

Healthcare Worker: You might not think of medical professionals when you think of human services professionals, but there are jobs available in the healthcare industry for human service majors with the right skills. They’re usually non-medical in nature and focused more on things like policy and administration.

Occupational Therapist: Occupational therapists help the injured and disabled. Since most schools don’t offer a degree in occupational therapy, prospective students have to major in something like human services, kinesiology, psychology, or education. There are also schools like the University of Iowa that offer pre-occupational therapy (OT) certifications.

Social Worker: While there are separate degree program for social workers, there’s also a lot of overlap between social work and human services work. You can qualify for many social service jobs even if you have a degree in human services instead. You can also use this degree as a foundation for a future specialization in social work.

Salary

Since human services is a field of study rather than a specific job title, there isn’t a single salary for various human services professionals. Your pay will depend on your education, industry, career prospects, and years of experience. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a few potential jobs for human services graduates and their average salaries include:

Social Services Administrator ($85,550)
Community Development Officer ($70,830)
Rehabilitation Case Manager ($60,180)
Social Worker ($50,470)
Marriage and Family Therapist ($49,610)
Child Welfare Advocate ($47,390)
Substance Abuse Counselor ($46,240)
Rehabilitation Caseworker ($35,060)
Home Health Aide ($25,280)

Some human services careers, such as community service managers, have a big salary range. For example, while the median salary of social workers is $50,470 per year, the top earners can take home as much as $82,540.

Social workers in big cities typically make more than ones in rural areas. Social workers specializing in healthcare usually make more than ones specializing in family law.

Experience can also play a role in salary. While a rehabilitation caseworker’s average salary starts at $35,060 per year, a rehabilitation case manager could enjoy as much as $60,180 per year.

Professional Organizations for Human Services

Professional organizations can provide a lot of assistance to human service students. They offer resources like studying materials and training classes, and they organize lectures, conferences, workshops, and networking events for members.

American Public Human Services Association(APHSA): hosts events all over the country that can help with job placement, skill development, and career advancement. If you can’t attend in person, they also have webinars on their site. They offer memberships to both individuals and human service agencies, so you could get coverage by yourself or through your workplace.
Association for Addiction Professionals(NAADAC): meant for doctors, mental health counselors, social workers, and other addiction treatment specialists. One of their biggest membership benefits is free, certified classes for continuing education (CE). They offer more than 145 hours of CE through schools, seminars, and online programs.
National Organization for Human Service(NOHS): offers hundreds of resources for human services professionals, including conferences, networking events, and subscriptions to academic journals. They also fund scholarships for college students. You’ll need to be a member to qualify for the money.

You usually have to pay to join, but the perks of joining can be well worth the money for future human services professionals.

Certification and Licensure Following a Human Service Degree

Some jobs require credentials beyond a degree. For example, if you’re interested in helping families in distress, you might want to become a certified crisis management expert.

If you want to be a child psychologist, a human services bachelor’s degree can get you started, but you’ll eventually need a PhD or PsyD.

For human services, there’s the Human Services Board-Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP). This is a non-specialized certification that can be applied to a number of jobs. The requirements are:

Hold an associate degree or higher
Complete or have completed at least 350 hours of human services work
Sit for an exam

By obtaining your HS-BCP, you can show potential employers that you’re above average in both education and experience. Not all human services professionals get an HS-BCP, so obtaining one can help you stand out from other job applicants.

Accreditation for Human Services Degree

You should always look for an accredited school when seeking a degree. It proves that the school meets objective, third-party standards, and it qualifies its programs for federal financial aid.

There are six regional accreditation boards for colleges in the US. They provide general accreditation for entire schools.

For human services programs specifically, you’ll want a degree program that’s been accredited by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE). They offer a full list of accredited colleges on their website.

Financial Aid for Human Services Majors

You don’t have to pay full price for a college degree. There are a number of ways to lower your costs.

The most well-known financial aid package is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It’s free to apply, and depending on your income, you could qualify for several grants or loans.

Another option is scholarships. There are general scholarships for high-achieving prospective students pursuing any major, and there are also specific scholarships meant for human services students:

The National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) offers two scholarships each year. Applicants must be NOHS members who are actively pursuing a degree in a human services field.
Western Michigan University offers several scholarships through its College of Health and Human Services.
The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund is for social justice advocates who are pursuing work against racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination.

Additionally, there are job-specific scholarships that you can seek out. For example, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) has an annual scholarship for gerontology students, and they accept human services majors.

What Is Human Services Degree?

A human services degree is a wide-ranging degree that’s focused on helping people with hardships. It covers things like social work, charity work, community outreach, public health, addiction therapy, and many different types of counseling.

What Degree Do You Need for Human Services?

You can obtain a degree in this field on every level:

Associate degree
Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS)
Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Science (MS)
PhD

You can also earn a special certification known as the Human Services Board-Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP).

Where Can You Work with a Human Services Degree?

A degree in this major can qualify you to work in many different environments in the human services field.

As a counselor, you might be employed in a school, hospital, prison, adult mental health rehabilitation center, or a nursing home. As a social worker, you might get a job with a state or federal agency that handles child welfare.

It’s quite common for human services majors to find work with nonprofits. You could become an organizer, fundraiser, program director, or volunteer coordinator.

The human services field is a broad one, and it can open many doors for the motivated student. It isn’t a career where you follow a set path. Instead, you follow your heart.

How Long Does It Take to Get a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services?

It usually takes four years to obtain a human services bachelor’s degree. During the course of your education, you can learn about psychology, society, diversity, ethics, and community resources. You’ll usually have opportunities for fieldwork as well in a bachelor’s in human services program.

If you’re interested in obtaining your HS-BCP, fieldwork is a must. You’ll have to complete 350 hours before you can get your certification. This might take additional time if you didn’t have any internships or clinical rotations in school.

You’ll also want to consider your specialization. Some human services careers can require additional degrees, exams, or licenses, including social work.

What Are the Best Colleges for Human Services?

Every student is different, and the best college for you might not be the best college for your friend or classmate.

However, if you’ve gone cross-eyed looking at all of the degree options out there, you can narrow down your options by making a checklist:

Accreditation: Has the school been vetted by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE)?
Fieldwork: Does the program offer opportunities for hands-on learning through internships, fellowships, clinic hours, or volunteer work?
Online classes: Some schools will let you get your human services degree completely online. Others will have online or hybrid classes that you can use to supplement a campus-based degree.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is finding a school that’s compatible with your unique budget, schedule, and career goals.