The Master of Science degree in Marriage and Family Therapy is an applied program that focuses both on training excellent clinicians and competent researchers. Clinically, students are trained to work with diverse individuals, couples, and families on a wide variety of presenting issues, such as relationship troubles, trauma, depression, anxiety, and family of origin experiences. Students gain expertise working across the human lifespan, from multi-culturally informed relational/systemic perspectives so that they can intervene ethically and effectively in these family processes.
The MFT program at Auburn University is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), meeting all educational and pre-graduation clinical hour/supervision requirements for licensure in Alabama as well as most other states.
Programs of Study
Students leave this two-year program ready to work in entry-level family therapy jobs. Additionally, our graduates are prepared to and often successfully pursue doctoral training at Auburn or elsewhere.
Application Deadline:
- Fall 2026 admission: December 15
Additional Information
- Since mid 1970’s, ALL students have received in-state and out-of-state tuition waivers. We can offer these benefits because our internships are paid.
- We have the ongoing potential for 100% paid internships. Multiple placement sites offer services to multicultural and sexually diverse students. While all students have received paid internships, it is up to the student to interview for and acquire the position.
- All students since 1999 have completed the 500 clinical hours required during the program, with some graduates completing over 700 hours. None of this changed during COVID. Between our clinic and the internship sites, clinical services continued as normal.
- We are a thesis optional program. We also track client change over time. Your grade within the internship is partially based on your client improvements and billable hours at the internship site. You prove that your clients improve and that you can earn the agency money.
- Most first-year assistantships are also therapy-related, with students earning clinical hours starting their second semester.
- There are three faculty, and 12 students total in the program. Many students matriculate into the HDFS Doctoral program. The statistics training is superior to many programs, with our Doctoral program ranked in the top 20 in the country. Students can earn a Certificate in Advanced Research Methods for Human Sciences and learn about grant writing. You can also continue towards licensure and gain supervisory status. Doctoral students who complete the supervision coursework can supervise therapists-in-training to become AAMFT Approved Supervisors.
- We have clinical assistantships working with juvenile sexual offenders, supervised visitation with parents who have lost custody of children, group therapy with multicultural youth in Auburn and Tuskegee, and working with low-income, underserved families and children in a healthcare setting.
Months 1-4: Students observe therapy sessions and participate in role play exercises as they begin to integrate theoretical and clinical issues. Students begin working on thesis.
Months 5-12: Includes an intensive period of clinical application during which students receive didactic training in specific therapy models, carry a limited client case load and receive live supervision from the clinical faculty at the AU MFT Center. Students continue working on their thesis and propose.
Months 12-24: Students continue to see clients at the AU MFT Center while completing the bulk of their clinical hours during an internship placement in the community. Students finish and defend their thesis.
Six students per year are accepted; consequently, admission to this program option is intensely competitive. The deadline to apply is December 15, 2025 for fall matriculation August 2026.
To review the demographic breakdown of our 2024-25 cohort of MFT Faculty, Supervisors and Students click here. Additionally, Graduate Achievement Data for our graduate program can be reviewed by activating the following: COAMFTE 2025 Graduate Achievement Data Disclosure Table for AUBURN UNIVERSITY MFT
Program Faculty
