CACREP vs. APA Accreditation: What the Difference Means When Choosing a Program
When prospective students start researching counseling programs and/or psychology programs, accreditation is one of the first terms they encounter and one of the least explained. Most program pages will tell you whether they hold CACREP or APA accreditation, or both, but few explain what those designations actually mean for you as a student, a future licensure candidate, and an eventual job seeker.
The short answer is that accreditation matters more than most applicants realize, and the type of accreditation matters in ways that are specific to your degree level and career path. Choosing a program without understanding this first is one of the more avoidable mistakes prospective students make.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- What CACREP and APA accreditation are and what each body oversees
- Which accreditation applies to which degree types and specialties
- How accreditation affects licensure eligibility, employment, and doctoral program admission
- What to look for when evaluating programs at each degree level
- When both accreditations are relevant and how to navigate that overlap
Two Bodies, Two Distinct Domains
CACREP and APA are not competing versions of the same thing. They accredit different types of programs at different degree levels, and understanding their respective territories is the starting point for making sense of the landscape.
CACREP stands for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. It accredits master’s and doctoral programs in counseling, including clinical mental health counseling, school counseling, addiction counseling, marriage and family counseling, and rehabilitation counseling, among others. CACREP also accredits doctoral programs in counselor education and supervision. It does not accredit psychology programs.
APA refers to the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation. It accredits doctoral programs in psychology, specifically PhD and PsyD programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology, as well as predoctoral internships and postdoctoral residency programs. APA accreditation is not typically applied to master’s level programs.
The practical implication is straightforward: if you are pursuing a master’s in counseling, CACREP is the accreditation that matters. If you are pursuing a PhD in psychology or a PsyD in psychology, APA accreditation is the standard to look for. The confusion arises in the middle, where counseling psychology doctoral programs and certain specialty areas can involve both bodies, and where the title “counseling” appears in both counseling and psychology contexts.
Why CACREP Accreditation Matters for Counseling Students
For students pursuing master’s degrees in counseling, CACREP accreditation has moved from a preference to something close to a requirement in many states and employment settings.
Licensure implications: A growing number of states have adopted or are moving toward requiring graduation from a CACREP-accredited program as a condition of licensure eligibility for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs), Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors (LCMHCs), and similar credentials. The specific requirement varies by state, but the trend is clearly in that direction. Graduating from a non-CACREP program in a state that has adopted this requirement can mean additional coursework, examination hurdles, or in some cases ineligibility for licensure entirely.
Employment: Federal agencies, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and many large healthcare systems have made CACREP accreditation a hiring requirement for counseling positions. This is not universal across all employers, but it is common enough that graduating from a non-CACREP program narrows your employment options in measurable ways.
Doctoral admission: If you plan to pursue a doctoral degree in counselor education after your master’s, many CACREP-accredited doctoral programs prefer or require that applicants hold a master’s from a CACREP-accredited program.
What CACREP accreditation signals about a program:
- Curriculum meets nationally standardized content requirements across eight core areas
- Faculty meet defined qualifications and scholarship expectations
- Student to faculty ratios are monitored
- Clinical training requirements meet defined hour thresholds
- The program undergoes regular external review
Why APA Accreditation Matters for Psychology Students
For doctoral students in psychology, APA accreditation functions similarly to CACREP in the counseling world: it is the recognized quality benchmark and carries significant downstream consequences.
Internship access: The predoctoral internship is a required component of doctoral training in clinical, counseling, and school psychology. The most competitive and comprehensive internship sites, particularly those affiliated with hospitals, VA medical centers, and university counseling centers, typically require applicants to be enrolled in APA-accredited programs. Graduates of non-APA-accredited programs are effectively excluded from a significant portion of the internship market.
Licensure: Most state psychology licensing boards require or strongly prefer doctoral degrees from APA-accredited programs. Some states accept degrees from programs accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) as equivalent, but non-accredited programs present real licensure risk.
Employment and credentialing: Hospital privileges, VA employment, and positions requiring board certification through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) typically require an APA-accredited doctoral degree. In academic settings, faculty positions in psychology departments are increasingly competitive, and APA accreditation of the applicant’s doctoral program is often an implicit expectation.
How the Two Overlap: Counseling Psychology Programs
The area of greatest overlap is counseling psychology, a specialty that sits at the intersection of both bodies. Doctoral programs in counseling psychology can be accredited by APA, and some of those same institutions may also house CACREP-accredited master’s programs in counseling. This is not the same degree or program, even when offered by the same department.
A PhD in Counseling Psychology is a psychology doctoral degree and falls under APA’s purview. A Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the same university falls under CACREP’s purview. Students sometimes conflate these because of shared terminology, but they lead to different licenses, different scopes of practice, and in most states, different regulatory boards.
Comparing the Two at a Glance
| Feature | CACREP | APA Commission on Accreditation |
| Primary degree level | Master’s and EdD/PhD in counseling | Doctoral (PhD, PsyD) in psychology |
| Specialties covered | Mental health, school, addiction, MFT, rehabilitation counseling | Clinical, counseling, school psychology |
| Licensure impact | Required or preferred in many states for LPC/LCMHC | Required or strongly preferred for psychologist licensure |
| Internship access | Affects counseling practicum site options | Affects predoctoral internship eligibility significantly |
| Employer requirements | VA, federal agencies, many health systems | VA, hospitals, academic departments |
| Master’s programs included | Yes, core focus | Rarely; APA focuses on doctoral level |
What to Check Before You Apply
Accreditation status should be one of the first things you verify when evaluating any counseling or psychology program. Here is what to look for specifically:
- Confirm current accreditation status directly. Both CACREP and APA maintain publicly searchable directories of accredited programs on their websites. A school claiming accreditation should appear in those directories. Accreditation can lapse or be placed on probation, so checking the source rather than relying on program marketing materials is worth the extra step.
- Check your state’s licensure board requirements. If your state requires graduation from a CACREP-accredited program for counselor licensure, that settles the question for master’s students. Your state psychology board’s requirements do the same for doctoral students.
- Ask programs directly about accreditation history. A program that recently achieved accreditation or is currently in candidacy status may not yet confer the same licensure and employment advantages as a long-accredited program, depending on your state’s specific rules.
- Look at internship match data for doctoral programs. For APA-accredited psychology doctoral programs, internship match rates are a meaningful quality indicator. Programs with strong match rates to APPIC-listed sites are generally producing competitive applicants.
FOR COUNSELING STUDENTS: If you are considering an online master’s in counseling, CACREP accreditation is particularly important to verify. The online program market includes a mix of accredited and non-accredited options, and the format alone does not determine quality.
FOR PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS: If you are applying to doctoral programs in clinical or counseling psychology, limiting your search to APA-accredited programs is the most straightforward way to protect your licensure eligibility and internship access.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can a non-accredited program still lead to licensure?
A: In some states, yes, but the path is riskier and more complicated. Some states accept equivalent coursework or additional examinations in lieu of accredited program graduation, but these workarounds are not universally available and are becoming less common as states tighten requirements. The safest approach is to start with an accredited program rather than rely on exceptions.
Q: What if a program is in CACREP candidacy status rather than fully accredited?
A: Candidacy means the program is working toward full accreditation but has not yet achieved it. Some states treat candidacy as equivalent to full accreditation for licensure purposes; others do not. If you enroll in a candidacy program, confirm in writing with your state licensing board whether graduation will satisfy licensure requirements, since there is no guarantee the program will achieve full accreditation before you graduate.
Q: Does CACREP or APA accreditation affect financial aid eligibility?
A: Not directly. Federal financial aid eligibility is tied to regional or national institutional accreditation, not programmatic accreditation like CACREP or APA. However, some scholarship programs and employer tuition reimbursement policies specify accredited programs by one or both of these bodies, so it is worth checking the fine print on any funding you are applying for.
