Gallaudet University - ABA Degree Programs

Preparing for ABA Careers at Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University appears in our ranking of the Top 30 Online Master’s in School Counseling.

Gallaudet University offers students opportunities to pursue degrees in psychology, counseling, and school psychology. At the undergraduate level, the available degree is the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Students must take 120 credits of courses, which include 50 credits of psychology courses, 37 credits of general education, 30 credits of electives, and three credits of pre-major courses. Some of the classes include Lifespan Development, Cognition, and Current Issues in Psychology.

Students at the undergraduate level have a rare option as well. If a student has not been able to complete all studies on campus, then that person has the option to finish off the degree online. Students must have completed 80 credits worth of the degree before selecting this option. This is the only online option for undergraduate students, and students must provide adequate reasons for why they are not able to proceed on campus.

Graduate students have more options available to them than undergraduate students at Gallaudet University. They can go for a Master of Arts in School Counseling, Master of Developmental Psychology with a Specialization in School Psychology, or a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. The developmental degree includes a focus on working with deaf students and includes classes such as Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues in School Psychology, Psychology and Deafness, and Intellectual Assessment.

The online graduate degrees at Gallaudet University are actually hybrids that include both online and on-campus classes. There are two: a Master of Arts in School Counseling, and a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Students should check the website to determine which classes are given on-campus and which are online.

Some certificates are available online, too, and the two most significant are the Educating Deaf Students with Disabilities certificate and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants, Toddlers, and Families: Collaboration and Leadership Interdisciplinary Certificate Program certificate. Both of these go hand in hand with the study of behavior and cognition as part of an overall study of psychology.

About Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University came into being in 1857 as the Columbia Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. The school is still primarily for deaf students, and it is unique in that most classes are conducted in American Sign Language. At the time, it did not award college degrees. In 1864, President Lincoln signed a law that granted the institution the power to grant degrees. At that time, it was only through the efforts of the superintendent of the school and the founder that it ever reached Lincoln’s desk. The blind students left the school that year and went to study at the Maryland School for the Blind.

The school was known thereafter as the National Deaf-Mute College until 1894 when it became known as Gallaudet University. Since that time, the school has been instrumental not only in the education of deaf students but also in the education of hearing students who will be working with the deaf. The college has also been at the forefront of civil rights advocacy for the deaf and hired its first deaf president in 1988 after many student protests.

Currently, the college has achieved a No. 20 ranking in the North Region, according to U.S. News and World Report. It is the No. 1 school on the list of “Best Value Schools” and No. 11 on the “Most Innovative” list. Given that the school has a total enrollment of just over 1,000, it is not surprising that the student-to-teacher ratio is only 7-to-1. Nearly every class has fewer than 20 students. The school is selective and accepts just a little more than half of the applicants.

Gallaudet University Accreditation Details

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education granted Gallaudet University its regional accreditation. Because of the specialization of the curricula at the college, a great number of other organizations have bestowed academic accreditation on Gallaudet University. A partial list of these organizations includes the:

American Psychological Association
Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology
Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs
International Association of Counseling Services
Association for Childhood Education International
Council on Education of the Deaf
Council for Exceptional Children
National Council of Teachers of English
National Council for Social Studies
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Science Teachers Association
National Association of School Psychologists

Gallaudet University Application Requirements

Deaf and hearing students each have their own application requirements at the undergraduate level. Deaf students must submit one essay and one letter of recommendation. They must also submit an audiogram. Transcripts are also required, including those for any college courses taken while in high school. Deaf students must also complete either the SAT or the ACT and have the applicable company send their scores to Gallaudet University.

Hearing students must know American Sign Language. They must submit both a written essay and a video essay of themselves using ASL. The rest of the requirements are the same.

Graduate student application requirements vary by field of study. As an example, the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling requires students to have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college. They must also have achieved a 3.0 GPA during those studies. If they are hearing students, they must also know ASL and submit one of their two required essays in ASL. Transcripts and letters of recommendation are also required.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition is $16,512 annually. Fees and health insurance costs bring the total to $20,318. Graduate tuition is roughly $1,500 more per year. Rooms cost between $3,000 and $4,500 per semester. Meal plans cost about $3,500 per semester. Students who choose to live in Faculty Row housing are not required to have a meal plan.

All students who attend are automatically considered for merit scholarships when they apply. Even if they are awarded substantial private aid, each student should still fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to determine the amount of eligible need-based aid too.

Gallaudet University has always been at the forefront of deaf education, and that shows no signs of changing.