Concordia University Irvine MFT Program: Comprehensive Profile and Student Fit Analysis

Concordia University Irvine's Townsend Institute is one of 76 BBS-approved MFT programs in California. Compare all 76 in our directory. Program data collected September 2026 from publicly available sources including the Townsend Institute Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling program page, the Concordia University Irvine 2026-2027 academic catalog, the 2026-2027 M.A. Counseling Student Handbook, the Field Experience Practicum and Internship Handbook, the 2025 M.A. Counseling Vital Statistics report, the WSCUC and CACREP directories, and California regulatory records. Prospective students should verify all details directly with the program before applying.

Student Outcomes

Cost and Regional Pay

Approximate placement of this program’s total cost (about $47,200 in tuition at the 2026-2027 rate, or about $48,000 with required course fees) against the directory’s lowest and highest published totals.

Estimated total tuition: approximately $47,190 for the 66-unit program at the 2026-2027 rate of $715 per unit, or about $48,045 with the required residency, assessment and practicum software course fees. A $60 Student Success Fee is charged each semester, and the graduation application fee is $185 when filed by the priority deadline.

Regional pay context: In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area, marriage and family therapists earn a median of about $71,110 per year, with a typical range of roughly $49,860 to $98,450 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). These figures cover all marriage and family therapists in the area at all experience levels, not this program’s graduates. For more, see our Los Angeles LMFT salary guide.

Those medians describe licensed therapists; the associate years before licensure pay less. See what therapists actually earn before licensure and, for take-home estimates, what a therapy career actually pays in California.

Schedule and Format Details

Online Courses: Seven-week courses combine live virtual class sessions with professors and classmates and experientially focused assignments. The program page estimates 13 to 16 hours of work per week per course.

Two-Year and Three-Year Tracks: Students taking two courses per part of term follow a two-year track, and students taking one course per part of term follow a three-year track.

Residency: One four-day, in-person residency on the Irvine campus, with process-focused growth groups and training with Dr. John Townsend. A two-week online orientation with synchronous process groups comes first.

Clinical Courses: Practicum and internship courses each run a full semester, meet weekly and are fully synchronous, with two hours of university group supervision by Zoom each week in addition to site supervision.

Class Days and Times: Specific days and times of live sessions are not publicly listed; confirm with program.

Clinical Training and Fieldwork

Clinical Hours: Per the catalog course descriptions, a 100-hour practicum with at least 40 direct client contact hours and two 300-hour internships with at least 120 direct client contact hours each, for a total of 700 hours with at least 280 direct.

Training Clinic: Not publicly listed; practicum and internships take place at approved sites in the student's area.

Practicum Arrangement: Students find their own practicum and internship sites, which the Field Coordinator vets and approves. The fieldwork handbook encourages students to look for sites where they live and to begin the search months ahead.

Personal Psychotherapy Requirement: No required personal therapy hours. Students are encouraged to seek their own counseling, and process groups are required during orientation and the residency.

Additional Training: The program coordinates with the Gottman Institute to offer trainings and workshops at a reduced cost to students.

To see how practicum hours fit into the full California licensure sequence, from degree through the 3,000 supervised hours, read how therapist licensure actually works in California.

Curriculum Structure

The 66-unit curriculum combines a 42-unit core with the 24-unit Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling emphasis, per the 2026-2027 catalog:

Core Coursework: Residency and orientation, human growth and development, theories of counseling, clinical psychopathology and diagnosis, theory and practice of groups, legal, ethical and professional issues, social and cultural foundations, theory and practice of assessment, Townsend Model theory and application, crisis and trauma counseling, career and lifestyle development, addiction counseling, research and evaluation, and counseling skills and techniques.

Emphasis Coursework: Psychopharmacology, human sexuality, Foundations and Contextual Dimensions of Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling, Foundations of Marriage and Family Therapy, and Advanced Marriage and Family Counseling.

Clinical Sequence: A supervised practicum followed by two supervised internships, with weekly individual and group supervision.

Culminating Requirements

No thesis, capstone project or comprehensive examination is listed. Students graduate after completing the coursework, the residency, the practicum and both internships.

Application Process

Application Deadlines: No deadline is published for the next start; confirm with the program.

Start Term: The next start is March 15, 2027, per the program page.

GPA Requirement: Cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale. Applicants below 3.00 may appeal for provisional admission.

Prerequisites: None listed beyond a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution.

Application Components: Application with a $50 fee, an official transcript showing the bachelor's degree, a two-page essay of at least 500 words, at least two professional references, and a current resume.

Interview: Yes. A group interview with program faculty.

For statement-of-purpose, interview, and recommendation advice that applies to any program on this list, see how to get into a therapy graduate program.

What This Program Says About Itself

• Per the Townsend Institute, students learn counseling skills integrated with biblical principles.
• The program describes a relational approach to learning that addresses the head and the heart through competence, character and connection.
• Students learn directly from Dr. John Townsend and master teachers with decades of real-world experience.
• Coursework explores systems theory, attachment, interpersonal neurobiology and emotionally focused approaches.
• The program offers Gottman Institute trainings and workshops at a reduced cost to students.

This Program May Be a Good Fit For

Before weighing any single program, it is worth being honest about fit for the career itself: try the self-assessment Are You Built to Be a Therapist? and read why some people say not to become a therapist.

Students interested in an online program with a short residency: Coursework is online, and the only required campus attendance is one four-day residency in Irvine.

Students seeking faith-integrated training: The Townsend Institute describes a Christ-centered, biblically informed curriculum at a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod university.

Working adults who want to study part time: The three-year track takes one course at a time, which the student handbook treats as part-time study, and Concordia describes the M.A. in Counseling as designed for working adults.

Career changers entering the field: No prerequisite coursework is listed beyond a bachelor's degree, and the GRE is not required. If you are coming from another field, see changing careers to become a therapist.

Students interested in relational and attachment-based approaches: The emphasis covers systems theory, attachment, interpersonal neurobiology and emotionally focused approaches, with reduced-cost Gottman Institute trainings.

Related California MFT Programs

If you are weighing Concordia University Irvine, you may also want to compare these nearby and similar programs in our directory:

• Life Pacific University: Online with residency weeks, faith-integrated, San Dimas
• Western Seminary: Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling specialization, evangelical Christian, hybrid
• Vanguard University: Faith-integrated, Santa Ana, on-campus clinic
• UMass Global: Fully online, Orange County
• California Southern University: Fully online, asynchronous, Orange County

Or compare all 76 California MFT programs side by side.

How This California MFT Directory Is Built

This is the only California MFT program directory that accepts no paid placements of any kind. No program can pay to be listed, pay to rank higher, pay to be featured, or pay to remove information, and there are no affiliate links or sponsored entries. Every program on the California BBS approved-program list is included. At Sentio University, we believe in program transparency. Every prospective student should have as much objective information about MFT programs as possible to make the best decision for themselves.

How to Choose an MFT Program in California

Meeting the BBS requirements tells you that a curriculum clears a legal bar. It tells you very little about how skilled a clinician you will become. The students who get the most out of these years treat licensure as the floor and then ask a more ambitious question: which program will help me reach the top of what I am capable of as a therapist? Training built around real, performable clinical skills, rather than theory alone, is what lets you walk into your first session with confidence and keep growing from there. You get to decide how high to aim, and the right program will rise to meet you.

Four questions separate programs that look similar on paper. How much class time is spent rehearsing specific clinical skills with immediate feedback, rather than discussing theory? How many hours of direct client contact will you accumulate, and when do they start? Does supervision review recorded sessions, or your own account of what happened in the room? Are client outcomes tracked with a measure? Ask every program you are considering, Sentio University included, and compare the answers. Our guide to how to evaluate a therapy graduate program explains what a strong answer to each question sounds like.

Also consider programs that teach you safe and ethical AI-integrated clinical training, and read about AI and the future of therapy careers. And do not let cost quietly lower your sights. There are more scholarships and financial aid options for California MFT students than most applicants ever realize.

The purpose of these years is not simply to pass a board and collect a license. It is to become the best therapist you can be, so struggling therapy clients will trust you with the hardest moments of their lives. Hold your education to that standard. Reach for the ceiling rather than settling for the floor, and choose the program that will help you get there.

Note from the Field:
"Aim higher than the license. A degree gets you in the door, but skill is what earns a client's trust. Pick the program that takes your training as seriously as you do."
Alexandre Vaz, PhD

Making Your Decision: What to Do Before You Apply

Salary data and job market projections describe the field. They cannot tell you what a school is like to attend. Ask to sit in on a live class, in person or online, before you commit, and most programs will accommodate that on request. The two to three years you spend in training shape the kind of therapist you become, so it is worth seeing a classroom before you decide. For the full picture, from career fit through licensure and program choice, see Becoming a Therapist in California: an Honest Guide.

For a detailed comparison of every California MFT program, see our directory of all 76 BBS-approved MFT programs in California.

To learn more about Concordia University Irvine's MFT program, visit their official website at cui.edu/townsend. If you are comparing MFT programs in California, you can explore Sentio University's MFT program to see how our Deliberate Practice training model compares.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Concordia University Irvine's MFT program accredited?

Concordia University Irvine is accredited by WSCUC, and the student handbook states that the Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling emphasis has been approved by the California BBS as meeting all academic requirements for the LMFT application. The Clinical Mental Health emphasis is CACREP accredited, and CACREP lists the Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling emphasis as In Process. The program is not COAMFTE-accredited.

Does Concordia University Irvine require the GRE?

No. The GRE is not required, although applicants may submit GRE or GMAT scores voluntarily as part of a GPA appeal.

How long is the program and how many units?

It is a 66-unit program. The catalog describes a two-year track and a three-year track, and the program page says most students finish in about three to four years.

Is the program offered online?

Yes. Coursework is online in seven-week courses with live virtual class sessions, and students attend one four-day residency on the Irvine campus.

What outcomes does Concordia University Irvine publish?

The Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling emphasis launched in Fall 2025, so no outcomes have been published for it yet. For the M.A. in Counseling program, whose graduates to date completed the Clinical Mental Health emphasis, Concordia reports a 96% post-graduation job placement rate, from an alumni survey conducted within six months of graduation, and a 90% pass rate on the National Counselor Examination in the last semester of the program.

What does the program cost?

At the 2026-2027 rate of $715 per unit, tuition for 66 units is about $47,190, or about $48,045 with the required course fees, plus a $60 Student Success Fee each semester and a graduation application fee of $185 when filed by the priority deadline.

Disclaimer: This profile was prepared by Sentio University for informational purposes only. Sentio University is an MFT program in California and a peer institution to the program profiled above. All information was drawn from publicly available sources and the program's own published materials as of September 2026. Sentio University makes no guarantee regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information. Prospective students should contact the program directly to verify all details, including admissions requirements, tuition, accreditation status, and clinical training structure. This profile does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. For a full list of California MFT programs, visit our California MFT Program Directory.

About the Authors

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD is the President of Sentio University and Executive Director of the Sentio Counseling Center. He is Past President of the psychotherapy division of the American Psychological Association and the author of over 20 books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training, including The Essentials of Deliberate Practice book series (APA Books). He is a licensed psychologist in California and Washington. Learn more

Alexandre Vaz, PhD is the Chief Academic Officer of Sentio University and cofounder of the Deliberate Practice Institute. He is co-editor of The Essentials of Deliberate Practice book series (APA Books) and the author of over a dozen books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training. Dr. Vaz is the founder and host of Psychotherapy Expert Talks. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in Portugal. Learn more

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