University of La Verne MFT Program: Comprehensive Profile and Student Fit Analysis

University of La Verne 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 University of La Verne MFT program page, the La Verne MFT admission page, the La Verne MFT program features page, the La Verne Academic Catalog MS in Marriage and Family Therapy entry (including the downloadable catalog PDF), the La Verne 2025-2026 Graduate Programs Tuition and Fees page, the La Verne accreditation page, and the La Verne institutional history page. The program did not publicly publish a standalone MFT student handbook at the time of research, so the academic catalog PDF served as the primary authoritative public source for curriculum and clinical requirements. 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 $60,000, tuition only) against the directory’s lowest and highest published totals.

Estimated total tuition: approximately $60,000 in tuition (62 semester hours at about $970 per hour for 2025-2026; 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

Evening In-Person Format: Per the La Verne MFT program page, classes meet Monday and Wednesday evenings at the La Verne main campus, in either a 4:00 to 6:25 p.m. or 6:50 to 9:15 p.m. block. The program is designed for full-time study over three years.

Fall-Only Cohort Start: Per the admission page, the program admits one cohort per year for Fall entry. Practicum is completed in the final year of the program at approved off-campus clinical sites.

Clinical Training and Fieldwork

Clinical Hours: Per the La Verne Academic Catalog, the program requires a minimum of 280 direct client contact hours, completed while taking the required Practicum I and Practicum II courses. Specific relational hour minimums and supervision hour minimums are not separately itemized in the catalog beyond the practicum course structure; prospective students should confirm current requirements with the program.

Training Clinic: An in-house university-operated MFT training clinic is not publicly listed. Per the academic catalog, training takes place at approved off-campus practicum sites.

Practicum Placement Process: Per the academic catalog, students complete Practicum I and II at approved practicum sites. The specific placement process and current site list are not fully detailed in the public materials.

Personal Psychotherapy Requirement: Required. Per the academic catalog, all MFT students are required to complete a minimum of 10 hours of personal psychotherapy during their Practicum year, which may include individual, couples, family, or group therapy depending on the student's preferences and needs.

Professional Liability Insurance: Per the academic catalog, students purchase their own professional liability insurance during Practicum.

Curriculum Structure

Per the La Verne MFT catalog entry, the 62-semester-hour curriculum emphasizes a Recovery Model orientation and integrates diversity and multiculturalism across coursework.

Core Coursework: Family systems theory, couples therapy, assessment and psychopathology, human development, multicultural counseling, substance abuse, trauma response, child and adolescent therapy, research methods, and law and ethics.

Practicum Sequence: Practicum I and II in the final year, during which students complete the 280-hour direct client contact minimum at approved off-campus sites.

Culminating Requirements

Per the La Verne Academic Catalog, Practicum is the program's culminating activity. Students must attain Advanced Standing to enroll in Practicum and apply for graduation. Advanced Standing eligibility requires 43 completed or in-progress semester hours, good academic standing, and a minimum graduate GPA of 3.0.

Application Process

Application Deadline: Per the La Verne MFT admission page, applications open in September each year and must be completed by February 1 for consideration for Fall admission. Applicant interviews are conducted in February and March, admission notifications are released in April, and admitted students must respond by May 15.

Start Term: Fall only, cohort-based.

GPA Requirement: Minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA for admission. Enrolled students must maintain a minimum 3.0 graduate GPA to achieve Advanced Standing and graduate.

Prerequisites: Per the academic catalog, Introduction to Psychology and Abnormal Psychology (each completed with a minimum grade of C- or credit) are required prerequisites before the start of the program.

Application Components: Completed application through the Psychology Centralized Application Service (PsychCAS), a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution, official transcripts from all prior institutions, statement of purpose (3-page APA format), a current curriculum vitae or resume, and three letters of recommendation. English proficiency documentation is required for international applicants.

Interview: Required for applicants advanced for consideration. Interviews are conducted in February and March.

What This Program Says About Itself

• Per the La Verne MFT program page, the program prepares students for licensure as California LMFTs with a curriculum emphasizing the Recovery Model of care.
• Per the academic catalog, principles of diversity and multiculturalism are infused throughout the curriculum.
• The program is delivered in an evening format at the La Verne main campus, enabling students to combine study with daytime commitments.
• Per the La Verne institutional history page, the university traces its values to the Church of the Brethren commitment to peace, community, and service, while operating as an independent nonsectarian institution.
• The program includes a required personal psychotherapy component during the Practicum year, integrating a reflective clinical growth element into training.

This Program May Be a Good Fit For

Students in the eastern Los Angeles County and Inland Empire region: The La Verne main campus in eastern LA County is accessible to students commuting from the San Gabriel Valley, Pomona, and Inland Empire.

Students who prefer evening in-person instruction: Classes meet Monday and Wednesday evenings, supporting students with daytime work or family commitments.

Students who value a Recovery Model orientation: The curriculum explicitly centers Recovery Model principles such as hope, self-determination, and supportive relationships.

Students who want multicultural and diversity-infused training: Diversity is positioned as a cross-cutting theme rather than a single course.

Students who value required personal psychotherapy as part of training: La Verne's 10-hour personal therapy requirement during Practicum is one of the explicitly stated reflective practice requirements among California MFT programs.

Students pursuing a traditional cohort experience: A single Fall admission cycle, three-year full-time sequence, and in-person format support a strong cohort bond.

Related California MFT Programs

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

• Cal Poly Pomona: Neighboring eastern LA County public
• Azusa Pacific University: Neighboring eastern LA County, faith-based private
• Pacific Oaks College: Same LA area (Pasadena), private
• Mount Saint Mary's University: Same LA area, private, evening option
• Pepperdine University: Same LA area, private

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 University of La Verne's MFT program, visit their official website at laverne.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 La Verne's MFT program accredited?

La Verne is institutionally accredited by WSCUC. The MFT program is not COAMFTE- or CACREP-accredited; it meets the California BBS educational requirements for the LMFT.

Does La Verne require the GRE?

No. The GRE is not required.

How long is the program and how many units?

It is a 62 semester hour program designed as a three-year, full-time evening program at the La Verne campus.

Does La Verne prepare students for the LPCC as well as the LMFT?

It meets the LMFT educational requirements; the program has submitted its curriculum to the BBS for LPCC review, so prospective LPCC students should confirm the current status.

Does La Verne publish MFT outcome rates?

No. The program does not publish graduation, job placement, licensure, or exam pass rates, and it is not COAMFTE-accredited.

What GPA do I need and when is the deadline?

A minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA. The Fall 2026 application deadline is February 15, 2026.

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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