If you’ve been out looking for online degrees from respected CSWE-accredited schools of social work in New York, you’re not alone. And you’re definitely in the right place.
There’s no question that social work is an intimate and hands-on field.
The cold connections of a computer can’t cut it when you’re discussing end-of-life care with the family of a patient entering hospice… or helping a single mom secure affordable housing and food vouchers… or counseling a group of unhoused veterans struggling with a messy mix of mental illness and substance use disorders…or any one of the million other things New York social workers do every day.
And that’s okay. You can bet that through any CSWE-accredited Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), Master of Social Work (MSW), or advanced-standing MSW program you’ll have plenty of fieldwork designed to give you exactly the kind of in-person, hands-on experience it takes to do this kind of work — whether that program is offered on-campus or not.
But even in a field that’s as up-close-and-personal as social work, remote learning is the perfect way to start gaining a real understanding of the systems and resources that serve as a lifeline to vulnerable people, and the psychological principals behind the therapy used to keep them stable and working towards healing.
Just like with any other professional field, social work has adapted to a world where technology reigns. That means you’ll find a ton of CSWE-accredited online and hybrid BSW and MSW options in New York State.
When You Can Pick an Online Social Work Degree From Anywhere in the Country, Why Stick with New York?
You might be wondering, if you can enroll in online programs anywhere, why we are focused on listing colleges based in New York.
The most important reason is that your path to licensing here becomes quite a bit more straightforward if you are sticking with schools in the same state. Each state has unique licensing laws. To ensure you get the coursework that the New York State Education Department requires, the easiest path is to get a degree at a school that is familiar with or even pre-approved.
The other factor to think about is field experience placements.
The reality is that even online social work degrees aren’t entirely online. CSWE-accreditation requires that at least part of your training happen in-person, on the ground, in field placements at active social services organizations.
That means you’ll definitely be spending some time out of the house. And you will find that New York State schools have the connections to arrange those critical practicum placements for you locally, even if located on the other side of the state from you.
New York’s CSWE-Accredited Online MSW and BSW Options
To give you a fast track toward finding the right online BSW or MSW degree in New York for you, we dropped in the full list of options for you right here. Since each of these are fully accredited by the Council for Social Work Education, all move you down the path toward New York social work licensure if you choose to go that route.
School of Social Work
Department of Social Work
School of Social Work
College of Health, Human Sciences & Business
Graduate School of Social Service
Division of Social Work
College of Interprofessional Health and Human Services
School of Social Work
Social Work Department
Falk College of Sport & Human Dynamics School of Social Work
Graduate School of Social Work
School of Social Work
School of Social Work
Department of Social Work
Wurzweiler School of Social Work
The CSWE-accreditation these degrees come with ensures that you can apply them toward either advanced standing master’s programs (if you are earning a BSW) or licensure (if you are getting your MSW).
In either case, these schools have time-tested programs that both check the boxes for your career goals while giving you the freedom to achieve those goals on your own terms.
Online Social Work Degrees Offer Obvious Advantages to Busy Undergrads and Grad Students in New York
Online degrees aren’t for everyone in every field. But for many busy New York social work students who may already be out making a living and raising families, the advantages are obvious:
- Online social work degrees offer unmatched flexibility. With courses that are typically asynchronous, floating freely in time as well as space, you don’t need to adapt your personal schedule to any class schedules. You can even shift around the hours in which you choose to study, streaming a lecture after dinner on one day but catching up midday on your lunch break the next.
- Online social work degrees offer the advantage of fewer geographical limits, providing a greater selection of CSWE-accredited schools to choose from. Since there’s no need to confine yourself to school choices that happen to be within driving distance or on your subway line, you will find yourself with a much wider range of options for your education. It’s a lot easier to find the perfect match for your objectives and interests in social work when there are no limits on where in New York State the program is located.
- And at a time when the whole world is talking about the cost of college, remote learning opens up the field to more affordable options. While you don’t usually pay any less in tuition and fees, the fact that you can live in an inexpensive area while attending classes at elite schools that sit in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in the world offers a massive cost savings.
All of these advantages go a long way toward opening up accessibility for the non-traditional students that are flooding into the field of social work.
According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), 30 percent of MSW graduates surveyed between 2017 and 2019 were over the age of 40 and had six or more years out in the workforce before applying. Nearly half were the first in their families to graduate from college.
This is a population that doesn’t always have the same ability to put life on hold and attend traditional on campus classes. They have families, financial obligations, and limited flexibility in their daily routines. For them, online options may very well be the only options for earning a college degree.