CSWE-Accredited DSW Programs and Candidacy Status

Which DSW Programs Are CSWE Accredited?

CSWE’s directory, captured on September 30, 2026, lists four CSWE accredited DSW programs. They differ more than the shared label suggests.

• Tulane University runs a 56-credit online DSW over 30 months, with live class meetings one weekend a month that you can attend online or in New Orleans. Your final work is a set of applied practice projects that must be published or under review at a peer-reviewed journal. At $1,478 per credit, estimated tuition is $82,768 (published per-credit rate times credits, before fees). You need three or more years of post-master’s experience and a 3.3 GPA.
• Walden University offers 59 quarter credits online with one virtual residency. You can finish in as few as 21 months or take up to 8 years. At $730 per quarter credit, estimated tuition is $43,070, well below Tulane’s. Walden asks for two years of post-master’s practice and no test scores.
• Penn awards a Doctor of Clinical Social Work in 12 course units, typically over three years. It is the only accredited DSW here that ends in a dissertation and defense, either chapter-style or two publishable articles. You attend a five-day immersion in Philadelphia at the start and a four-day residency in year two. Tuition is billed at $7,575 per course unit for 2026-27, plus a $162 per-unit online services fee.
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville teaches clinical practice and leadership in 48 credit hours over three years, online, with a week in Knoxville in each of the first two summers. It asks for at least three years of post-MSW clinical practice, the most clinically specific experience rule of the four.

Three of the four are built for experienced clinicians. Walden is the outlier, with tracks in clinical practice and supervision, administration and social work education.

Which DSW Programs Are in CSWE Candidacy or Pre-Candidacy?

Candidacy means CSWE has accepted a program into its review and lists it on the directory. It is not accreditation. Nine programs at eight schools hold candidacy, and two hold pre-candidacy, an earlier step.

Candidacy: Loma Linda University, USC’s DSW and its Doctor of Social Innovation, the University of Kentucky, Capella University, the University of St Thomas, Rutgers, the University of Memphis and Walla Walla University.

Pre-candidacy: the University of Maryland School of Social Work and Adelphi University.

This group spans the full price range. Kentucky charges $790 per credit for every online student regardless of residence, for estimated tuition of $33,180 on 42 credits. USC charges $2,322 per unit, for estimated tuition of $97,524 on 42 units. Rutgers stands apart for its admission bar: it requires an LSW, prefers an LCSW and looks for a 3.6 graduate GPA.

What CSWE Accreditation Means for a Practice Doctorate

The Council on Social Work Education was recognized to accredit bachelor’s and master’s social work programs long before it took on doctorates. Practice doctorates are new to its scope. CSWE’s Board of Accreditation piloted DSW accreditation from 2021 to 2025, and in February 2025 three practice doctorates earned initial accreditation. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation approved the expanded scope in 2025, and CSWE began accepting practice doctorate applications in August 2025.

Programs are judged against the 2025 Accreditation Standards for Practice Doctorate Social Work Programs, which the board approved in February 2025. The standards reach into who runs the program: a practice doctorate’s director must hold a social work doctorate, a CSWE-accredited master’s degree and at least two years of post-master’s practice.

A program reaches accreditation by one of two routes:

• Traditional pathway. A three-year developmental model with benchmarks, moving from new applicant to pre-candidacy, then candidacy, then initial accreditation.
• Temporary alternative pathway. A one-year initial accreditation process for established programs that meet eligibility rules. CSWE created it because many DSWs have long operating histories and the pilot was small by design.

That second route explains why the list can grow quickly: many programs on it aren’t new, they are working through a process that only opened in August 2025.

Candidacy vs Accreditation: What Happens to Your Degree

This is the question that matters if you enroll at a candidacy program. CSWE’s rule: once a program earns initial accreditation, that status covers students who started in the academic year candidacy was granted, and later. It can’t reach back to earlier students.

CSWE gives an example. If a program won candidacy in spring 2023, students who started in fall 2022 or later graduate from an accredited program, if and when the program earns initial accreditation.

So three things are true at once:

• A candidacy program is not accredited today. Don’t let a recruiter blur that.
• If you start during or after the candidacy year and the program later earns accreditation, your degree counts as accredited.
• If the program never earns accreditation, your degree doesn’t.

Pre-candidacy programs, like Maryland and Adelphi, are a step further back. Retroactive coverage starts with candidacy, not before.

Why PhD Programs Are Never on the CSWE List

CSWE says it plainly: research doctorates, meaning PhDs, are not accredited by CSWE. No PhD in social work appears on this list, so when you weigh a PhD, look at its funding, faculty and the jobs its graduates take.

That matters when you compare options. If you want a tenure-track research career, a PhD in social work is still the usual route, and many come with funding. If you want to stay in practice, lead an agency or teach practice courses, a DSW fits better. The DSW vs PhD comparison and the DSW or PhD tool walk through that choice. Federal IPEDS data shows how the two degrees compare in size: 666 research doctorates and 220 practice doctorates in social work were awarded in 2022-23.

Every Program on the CSWE List, Compared

Estimated tuition is the published per-credit rate times credits, before fees. Blank cells mark figures the school doesn’t state in a comparable form.

Program	CSWE status	Format and in-person time	Credits	Final project	Estimated tuition
Tulane DSW	Accredited	Online, monthly weekend live classes	56	Applied practice projects	$82,768
Walden DSW	Accredited	Online, one virtual residency	59 quarter	Capstone	$43,070
Penn DSW	Accredited	Hybrid, two campus residencies	12 course units	Dissertation
Tennessee DSW	Accredited	Online, two summer residency weeks	48	Applied project
Kentucky DSW	Candidacy	Online, one residency week (asynchronous option)	42	Capstone	$33,180
Walla Walla DSW	Candidacy	Online, two week-long campus residencies	52 quarter		$51,532
St Thomas DSW	Candidacy	Online, 2.5-day campus orientation	45	Banded dissertation	$58,995
Capella DSW	Candidacy	Online, two virtual residencies	71 quarter	Capstone	$45,000
USC DSW	Candidacy	Online	42 units	Capstone	$97,524
Loma Linda DSW	Candidacy	Online, part-time cohort	79 quarter	Practice-based project
Rutgers DSW	Candidacy	Campus, nine weekend residencies a year	54	Portfolio
Memphis DSW	Candidacy	Online, August residency week	48	Capstone
USC Social Innovation	Candidacy	Online
Maryland DSW	Pre-Candidacy	Campus, one weekend a month	60	Capstone	$58,500
Adelphi DSW	Pre-Candidacy	Hybrid, monthly Manhattan classes	54	Yearlong capstone	$67,500

How the Listed Programs Differ

Cost

Among the nine listed programs with an estimate, tuition runs from $33,180 at Kentucky to $97,524 at USC, with a midpoint of $58,500. Accreditation doesn’t track price: accredited Walden sits near the low end, and accredited Tulane near the top. Capella charges $1,020 per quarter credit, but Capella caps total tuition at $45,000, which is why its 71 quarter credits cost less than St Thomas’s 45. Maryland’s estimate uses the in-state rate of $975 per credit; out-of-state students pay $1,330. For the full cost picture beyond this list, see DSW cost and the affordable online DSW rankings.

Time on Campus

Eleven of the fifteen are online, but “online” covers a lot. Walden and Capella keep residencies virtual. Tennessee, Walla Walla and Memphis bring you to campus for a week or a few days each summer. Rutgers is the most campus-heavy, with nine onsite weekend residencies a year, and Maryland meets in Baltimore one weekend a month.

Admission Bar

Every listed program wants a master’s in social work. Post-MSW experience rules run from two years at most schools to three at Tulane, Penn, Tennessee and USC, and four at Loma Linda, which also requires a clinical license or documented progress toward one. Seven of the fifteen state outright that they don’t require the GRE.

Final Project

Eleven programs end in a capstone or applied project. Two end in a dissertation: Penn’s chapter-style or two-article dissertation, and St Thomas’s banded dissertation of three linked works. Rutgers uses a portfolio of a case study, a qualitative project and a multimedia project.

Does Accreditation Status Matter for Your Career?

Less than the label implies, for now. CSWE itself advises that until DSW accreditation is fully in place, a program’s accredited status shouldn’t be the deciding factor in where you apply. It also says barriers to practice tied to a doctorate’s accreditation status aren’t expected until well into the future.

Your license doesn’t depend on it either. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says clinical social workers need a master’s degree, supervised clinical experience and a state license. A DSW adds depth, not a license. If clinical work is your goal, the clinical DSW programs page compares the options built for practitioners.

Teaching is where the degree type matters most. Many schools hire DSW graduates to teach practice courses, and CSWE requires the director of a practice doctorate to hold a social work doctorate. Tenure-track research jobs usually expect a PhD, whatever your DSW’s status.

How to Choose Among CSWE-Listed DSW Programs

Use these checks, each tied to something on this list:

• Confirm the exact status. Accredited, candidacy and pre-candidacy are three different things. Only Tulane, Walden, Penn and Tennessee are accredited.
• Check your start date against the candidacy year. Retroactive coverage applies only to students who start in or after the year candidacy was granted.
• Match the final project to your goal. Want publications for a teaching job? Tulane’s journal-ready projects or Penn’s dissertation fit. Want to fix a problem at your agency? A capstone like Kentucky’s fits.
• Count the travel. Rutgers asks for nine weekends a year on campus; Walden asks for none.
• Compare real costs. Estimates range from $33,180 to $97,524. Run your numbers in the DSW cost calculator.
• Check experience and license rules. Loma Linda wants four years and a clinical license track; Rutgers requires an LSW.

Not seeing a program you like? Many sound DSWs haven’t entered CSWE review yet. Browse every option in the full DSW program list, filter online choices on the online DSW programs page, or let the program matcher sort them by your goals. The DSW requirements guide covers admission rules across all of them.