Trinity University

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Counseling and Psychology Programs at Trinity University

Trinity University appears in our ranking of the 50 Great Small Colleges for a Bachelor’s in Psychology.

At Trinity University, students with an interest in psychology can choose between two undergraduate programs. The first is a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology. It features several course clusters that ask students to take two or more classes in certain subjects such as human development, social psychology, and cognition. The university also offers a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Neuroscience that focuses more on the brain and how it relates to the way people act. This program includes both biology and chemistry classes as well as courses in math and other sciences. It includes courses on autism and mental disorders too.

Students in the neuroscience program can choose a minor in psychology. Those in the psychology program often choose a minor in linguistics. They’ll take four required classes and 18 credits of electives relating to linguistics. This minor teaches students how people develop language skills. Trinity University offers research opportunities for both psychology and neuroscience majors. They can do supervised research in an on-campus clinical lab and spend a summer working on a research project. Trinity recommends that students do one of these projects if they want to attend graduate school. Students can do internships with medical facilities and labs too.

Also available is a Master of Arts (MA) in School Psychology. Designed to help students meet the requirements for getting a school counseling license in Texas, it includes 60 credits of classes and outside work. The university assigns students into small groups of 15 and asks that they remain in those groups as they pass through their classes. After taking two years of classes, students spend the third year doing two internships over two semesters. Their required courses include Consultation Theory and Methods, Developmental Assessment: Infants and Young Children, Human Development and Learning and Behavior Management and Special Education.

About Trinity University

Trinity University is a private university that has affiliations with several academic organizations. Established in 1869, it opened when the Cumberland Presbyterians decided to open a campus that would cater to Presbyterian students after three colleges affiliated with the Church closed. It moved several times and became affiliated with the United Presbyterian Church. A group of people in San Antonio asked the college to move to the city and gave it the former campus of the University of San Antonio. This campus would later become Trinity University, which is close to both the River Walk and the airport in San Antonio.

The academic organizations affiliated with Trinity University today include the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges and the Associated Colleges of the South. It now offers six degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels along with nearly 50 majors. The university encourages students to minor in at least one subject area too. Both Forbes and Wall Street Journal rank Trinity within the top 150 colleges in the United States. While U.S. News and World Report ranks the university as the top choice in the west, Washington Monthly included Trinity at number seven on a list of the best graduate schools in the country.

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Trinity University Accreditation Details

Trinity University can easily get financial aid from the government and the university when they use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This is because Trinity has regional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). HLC accreditation also gives Trinity students the option to transfer credits to a university program. Some of the school counseling courses that graduate students take also have accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Trinity University Application Requirements

Future undergrads who want to attend Trinity University can apply through the Apply Texas website or with the Coalition Application or Common Application. There is an early admissions deadline of November first and a final deadline in the middle of January. The university’s admissions portal makes it easy for students to apply and submit their documents once they create an account. Trinity asks for official transcripts from the students’ high schools and official scores from the ACT or SAT. They’ll also pay a small application fee.

The MA in School Psychology program will only accept students who have a bachelor’s degree or made progress towards finishing a degree before starting the program. They will also need a grade point average of at least 3.0 to get full acceptance. Students with a GPA of 2.6 or higher may receive provisional acceptance. The university requires a minimum score of 300 on the quantitative and reasoning sections of the GRE too. Students must submit an application by the February first deadline and pay a $50 application fee. The department asks for a personal essay that explains the reasons the student has for studying school psychology, official college transcripts, contact information for their three references and a statement if the student will apply for an assistantship.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Undergrads attending Trinity University pay $44,680 every year for their tuition and fees. To live on the campus, they’ll pay another $13,548 on average for a meal plan and dorm room. Trinity believes that living on campus fosters a community feeling and helps students become immersed in their classes. It requires that undergrads live on campus for at least three years. Undergrads qualify for financial aid as long as they apply to the university and complete the FAFSA. Trinity awards them merit scholarships and can help them qualify for federal and state grant and loan programs as well as work-study. There are separate applications available for students who want to apply for other institutional scholarships and grants.

Graduate students in the school psychology program pay $44,398 in their first years for tuition and fees. The cost climbs to $53,158 in the second year and drops to $11,338 in the third year when students do their clinical internships. Grad students who complete the FAFSA can get one or more of the loans offered by the federal government. They also have the option of applying for one of the assistantships offered by the university. Those positions cover their health insurance costs and give them both stipends and financial support that covers some of their classes. Trinity University offers financial aid packages for both undergrads and graduate students based on their needs when they apply to the counseling and psychology degree programs.

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