UMass Global MFT Program: Comprehensive Profile and Student Fit Analysis
UMass Global is one of 71 BBS-approved MFT programs in California. Compare all 71 in our directory. Program data collected April 2026 from publicly available sources including the UMass Global MA in Marriage and Family Therapy program page, the UMass Global MFT program details page, the UMass Global MFT state licensure page, the UMass Global MFT Student Handbook 2025-2026, the UMass Global MFT Clinical Handbook 2025-2026, the UMass Global Graduate Admission page, the UMass Global Tuition and Costs page, and the UMass Global Accreditations page. Prospective students should verify all details directly with the program before applying.
Program Snapshot
University: University of Massachusetts Global (UMass Global), formerly Brandman University. UMass Global is an affiliate of the University of Massachusetts system.
Official Degree Name: Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy, offered in two configurations: MA MFT (60 credits, LMFT track) and MA MFT with Professional Clinical Counselor (PCC) emphasis (69 credits, California only, dual LMFT and LPCC preparation).
Campus Location: Fully online program. UMass Global's primary administrative address is 65 Enterprise, Suite 150, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656. See the UMass Global home page.
Institution Link: UMass Global.
Modality: 100 percent online. Didactic coursework is delivered asynchronously; practicum courses meet synchronously during defined Pacific time blocks. Program operates on 8-week sessions.
Licensure Track: The MA MFT prepares graduates for California LMFT licensure. The MA MFT with PCC emphasis prepares California graduates for dual LMFT and LPCC licensure. The program page also notes that UMass Global's MFT curriculum aligns to licensing requirements in several additional states.
Accreditation: Institutional accreditation through the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). Program-specific COAMFTE or CACREP accreditation is not listed on UMass Global's accreditation page. The MFT program is approved for California LMFT and LPCC educational requirements through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
Program Length: MA MFT, 60 credits, typically 2.5 years full-time; MA MFT with PCC emphasis, 69 credits, approximately 3 years full-time. Per the MFT Student Handbook, students have a maximum of 7 years to complete the degree.
Estimated Total Program Tuition (effective 2025-2026): $750 per credit unit for all master's programs per the UMass Global Tuition and Costs page. Estimated total tuition: approximately $45,000 for the 60-credit MA MFT, and approximately $51,750 for the 69-credit MA MFT with PCC emphasis. A reduced rate of $420 per credit applies to active-duty military members and spouses. Books and fees are additional.
GRE Requirement: Not required. The program page states that the master's degree does not require applicants to take exams like the GRE.
Religious Orientation: None. UMass Global is a secular, private nonprofit institution.
Entering Class Size: Not publicly listed; UMass Global enrolls on a rolling basis across 8-week sessions.
Concentrations: The 60-credit MA MFT is the base track; the 9-credit PCC emphasis is available to California students pursuing dual LMFT and LPCC licensure.
This profile is one of 71. See how every California MFT program compares on tuition, format, accreditation, practicum, and clinical training. No ads, no paid placements.
Compare All 71 →Student Outcomes
Outcomes are shown only as published by the program or its accreditor. Where a value is not published, we say so rather than estimate it.
Graduation rate: Not published
Job placement rate: Not published
Licensure rate: Not published
Licensure exam pass rate: Not published
University of Massachusetts Global (formerly Brandman University) is institutionally accredited by WSCUC and approved by the California BBS, and the MA in Marriage and Family Therapy is not COAMFTE- or CACREP-accredited. It does not publish graduation, job placement, licensure, or exam pass rates specific to the MFT program; the only completion figures on its site are institution-level undergraduate rates, which do not describe this program.
Cost and Regional Pay
Approximate placement of this program’s total cost (about $45,000 (60-credit MA MFT), tuition only) against the directory’s lowest and highest published totals.
Estimated total tuition: approximately $45,000 in tuition for the 60-credit MA MFT (about $51,750 for the 69-credit MA MFT with PCC emphasis) at $750 per credit for 2025-2026 per UMass Global; a reduced $420-per-credit rate applies to active-duty military members and spouses. Books and fees are additional.
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.
Schedule and Format Details
Fully Online Asynchronous Coursework: Didactic coursework is delivered online in 8-week sessions, allowing students to complete most course activities on their own schedule.
Synchronous Practicum Sessions: Per the UMass Global MFT program page, practicum courses meet synchronously on a weekly basis during afternoon (3:00 to 5:30 p.m. Pacific) or evening (6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Pacific) time blocks.
Rolling Admissions and Sessions: Per the UMass Global Graduate Admission page, new sessions start approximately every 8 weeks. Applications are recommended about two weeks before the desired session start date.
Clinical Training and Fieldwork
Clinical Hours: Per the UMass Global MFT Clinical Handbook, students complete 400 total practicum hours during the clinical year, including 300 direct client contact hours (with a minimum of 100 relational hours) and 100 supervision hours.
Training Clinic: UMass Global does not operate an in-house training clinic. Students secure their own practicum sites at community-based agencies.
Practicum Placement Process: Per the Clinical Handbook, students are responsible for identifying and securing approved practicum sites. Before registering for practicum courses, students must complete an Advancement exam and have secured an approved clinical placement.
Personal Psychotherapy Requirement: Not required. Per the MFT Student Handbook, personal therapy is strongly encouraged as a learning experience but is not a program requirement.
Curriculum Structure
Per the UMass Global MFT program page and Student Handbook, the curriculum emphasizes systemic and relational therapy, evidence-based practice, multicultural competence, and law and ethics. The Psychology program sits within the UMass Global School of Arts and Sciences.
Core Coursework: MFT theory and systems, human development, assessment and psychopathology, multicultural counseling, couples therapy, child and adolescent therapy, trauma, substance use, research methods, and law and ethics.
Clinical Sequence: Pre-practicum preparation, the Advancement exam, followed by the practicum course sequence (MFT Practicum I through VI) during the final clinical year.
Culminating Requirements
Per the UMass Global MFT Student Handbook, the culminating requirements include the Advancement exam (taken before clinical practicum begins) and three capstone case studies completed during MFT Practicum IV, V, and VI. There is no separate thesis requirement.
Application Process
Application Deadlines: Rolling admissions. Per the UMass Global Graduate Admission page, applications are recommended approximately two weeks before the intended 8-week session start date.
Start Terms: Multiple start points per year on the 8-week session calendar.
GPA Requirement: Minimum 2.75 cumulative GPA in the most recently completed degree per the Graduate Admission page. Enrolled MFT students must maintain a 3.0 GPA during the program per the MFT Student Handbook.
Prerequisites: A bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution is required. No specific undergraduate course prerequisites are listed for the MFT program. Courses completed more than seven years prior to admission may be subject to evaluation.
Application Components: Online application, official transcripts from the institution awarding the highest completed degree, and documentation supporting BBS licensure eligibility requirements. Applicants in the clinical pathway complete an application meeting with a Clinical Faculty Reviewer before being advanced to the clinical year.
Interview: A formal admissions interview is not listed as a universal requirement. An application meeting with a Clinical Faculty Reviewer is referenced in the Clinical Handbook as part of the clinical advancement process.
Concentrations and Specializations
MA in Marriage and Family Therapy: 60-credit base curriculum aligned to California LMFT licensure requirements.
MA in Marriage and Family Therapy with Professional Clinical Counselor Emphasis: 69-credit configuration available only to California students, designed to prepare graduates for dual California LMFT and LPCC licensure.
What This Program Says About Itself
- Per the UMass Global MFT program page, the program is designed by practicing therapists and emphasizes systemic and relational approaches to clinical practice.
- The program is delivered fully online with synchronous practicum sessions to support students who cannot relocate or commute to a campus.
- The PCC emphasis option is available to California students seeking dual LMFT and LPCC licensure within a single MA degree.
- Per the UMass Global Accreditations page, the institution holds WSCUC regional accreditation.
- As an affiliate of the University of Massachusetts system, UMass Global offers a nonprofit distance-learning option historically rooted in serving working adult and military-connected students.
This Program May Be a Good Fit For
Students seeking a fully online MFT master's degree: UMass Global delivers didactic coursework asynchronously with synchronous practicum sessions in defined afternoon or evening Pacific time blocks.
Students interested in dual LMFT and LPCC licensure in California: The 69-credit MA MFT with PCC emphasis is structured to support dual California licensure preparation.
Career changers entering the field: The GRE is not required, no specific undergraduate prerequisites are listed for the MFT program, and the minimum undergraduate GPA is 2.75.
Working adults seeking flexible pacing: The 8-week session calendar and up-to-7-year completion window allow part-time progress while maintaining continuous enrollment options.
Active-duty military members and military spouses: A reduced tuition rate of $420 per credit is listed for the master's level on the UMass Global tuition page.
Students who prefer securing their own community practicum site: UMass Global's clinical placement process puts the student in the lead on identifying and securing approved California sites.
Related California MFT Programs
If you are weighing UMass Global, you may also want to compare these nearby and similar programs in our directory:
- University of Phoenix: Fully online, California statewide
- California Southern University: Fully online, dual LMFT/LPCC
- Touro University Worldwide: Fully online, COAMFTE-accredited Clinical Track
- National University: Online option, dual LMFT/LPCC
- Alliant International University: COAMFTE-accredited, online and on-campus
Or compare all 71 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 but says almost nothing about how skilled a clinician you can become. The students who get the most out of these years treat licensure as the floor, and then ask a far more ambitious question: which program will help me reach the very top of what I am capable of as a therapist? The program you choose changes everything. By the time they reach practicum, 2 in 3 students at COAMFTE-accredited MFT programs do not feel prepared to see clients. Training built around real, performable clinical skills, rather than theory alone, is what lets you walk into your first session with genuine confidence and keep growing from there. You get to decide how high to aim, and the right program will rise to meet you.
Look closely at four things. First, Deliberate Practice: the strongest programs let you rehearse specific skills with immediate feedback, the same way world-class musicians and athletes build mastery over time. Second, clinical hours: seek out programs that give you a high volume of direct client contact, because nothing accelerates your development faster than real, supervised repetition. Third, video recording in supervision rather than student self-report, so your supervisors can coach what actually happened in the room. Fourth, routine outcome monitoring, which teaches you to track, honestly and objectively, whether your clients are getting better. A program that does all four is training you to pursue excellence, not just clear a requirement.
Also consider programs that teach you safe and ethical AI-integrated clinical training. 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 are useful inputs to your program search, but they cannot tell you what a school is actually like to attend. Marketing materials, program websites, and admissions presentations are designed to present a program favorably. The most reliable way to cut through that and understand what a program actually delivers in the classroom is to ask to sit in on a live class session, whether in person or online, before you commit. Every program that is confident in the quality of its instruction should not only allow this but actively welcome it. If a program is reluctant to let prospective students observe a class, that reluctance is itself informative. The California MFT job market rewards clinical skill, and the training environment you choose over the next two to three years will shape the kind of therapist you become. Take the time to see it for yourself before you decide.
For a detailed comparison of every California MFT program, see our directory of all 71 BBS-approved MFT programs in California.
To learn more about UMass Global's MFT program, visit their official website at umassglobal.edu. 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 UMass Global's MFT program accredited?
UMass Global is institutionally accredited by WSCUC, and the MA in Marriage and Family Therapy is approved by the California BBS for LMFT (and, with the PCC emphasis, LPCC) educational requirements. It is not COAMFTE- or CACREP-accredited.
Does UMass Global require the GRE?
No. The program states that the master's degree does not require entrance exams such as the GRE.
How long is the program and how many units?
The base MA MFT is 60 credits (about 2.5 years full-time); the MA MFT with PCC emphasis is 69 credits (about 3 years). Students have up to 7 years to complete the degree. Coursework is delivered in 8-week sessions.
Does UMass Global prepare students for the LPCC as well as the LMFT?
Yes. The MA MFT prepares California graduates for the LMFT, and the 69-credit MA MFT with PCC emphasis prepares California graduates for dual LMFT and LPCC licensure.
Does UMass Global publish outcome rates?
No. It does not publish graduation, job placement, licensure, or exam pass rates specific to the MFT program; the only completion figures on its site are institution-level undergraduate rates, which do not describe this program.
How is the program delivered?
It is delivered 100 percent online, with asynchronous didactic coursework and synchronous practicum sessions during defined Pacific-time blocks.
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 April 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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