DSW Programs: Every Doctor of Social Work Program, Compared

What DSW Programs Ask of You: Credits, Time and Cost

A DSW is built for someone who already practices. Every program in this set starts from an MSW, and almost every one asks for at least two years of social work experience after it. What changes from school to school is how much you study, how often you travel and what you pay.

Credits. The typical program runs 48 credits. The shortest coursework load is at Morgan State University (36 credits) and the University at Buffalo (39 credit hours). The heaviest is the University of Maryland at 60 credit hours. Walden, Capella, Walla Walla and Loma Linda count in quarter credits, so their 59 to 79 quarter units are smaller pieces, not a longer degree.

Time. Plan on about three years part time. Tulane runs a 30-month program over six semesters, California Baptist finishes in 24 months, and Walden says you can finish in as few as 21 months. At the long end, Capella states 3.5 to 4.5 years and Buffalo spreads 39 credits over seven part-time semesters. The how long a DSW takes guide breaks this down by program.

Cost. 20 DSWs publish a per-credit rate, from $440 at the University of Alabama to $2,322 per unit at USC. Multiply rate by credits and the estimated tuition (published per-credit rate times credits, before fees) runs from $19,800 to $97,524, with a middle value of $45,000. Residency matters at public schools: Buffalo charges $800 per credit hour for New York residents and $1,148 for everyone else, while Kansas and Kentucky charge one rate regardless of where you live.

DSW Programs Compared Side by Side

This table covers the DSWs with a published per-credit rate and a stated credit total, or a published program total, sorted by estimated tuition. A blank CSWE cell means the program isn’t on CSWE’s list yet.

Two notes. Maryland’s $975 per credit hour is an in-state estimate pending University System of Maryland approval, and out-of-state students pay $1,330. Capella charges $1,020 per quarter credit for coursework and $3,060 per capstone quarter, but Capella caps total tuition at $45,000, so the cap is the figure shown.

CSWE Accreditation for DSW Programs: Accredited, Candidacy and Unlisted

CSWE accredits bachelor’s, master’s and practice doctorate programs. It does not accredit PhDs, because research doctorates aren’t programmatically accredited in any health profession. For the DSW, accreditation is brand new: CSWE piloted it from 2021 to 2025 and began taking applications from all practice doctorates in August 2025.

That is why so few programs have it. Four DSWs are accredited: Tulane, Walden, Penn’s Doctor of Clinical Social Work and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Nine are in candidacy, including Kentucky, Capella, USC, Rutgers, Memphis, Loma Linda, St Thomas and Walla Walla. Maryland and Adelphi are in pre-candidacy.

Candidacy is not accreditation, but it matters for timing. CSWE says that once a program earns initial accreditation, the status covers students who started in the academic year candidacy was granted and later. If you enroll at a candidacy program now and it is accredited later, your degree counts. The remaining DSWs aren’t on CSWE’s list yet. Many are long-running programs at schools with accredited MSWs; they simply haven’t been through a process that opened in 2025. The CSWE-accredited DSW programs page tracks each one.

Online, Hybrid or Campus: How Often You Travel

29 of the 38 DSWs can be finished online, and that label covers a wide range. Read the residency line before you assume you never leave home.

• No campus visits: The University of Louisville requires no campus residency, and UT Arlington’s new program has no residency and no required weekly meetings.
• One short trip: St Thomas holds a 2.5-day August orientation in St. Paul; Barry holds a one-time, two-day hybrid event in year two.
• Annual residencies: Alabama requires four days in June of year one and five days in year two. Monmouth holds a one-week summer residency every year, and California Baptist runs two four-day intensives each year.
• Regular live sessions: Kansas meets online every other Saturday, Barry every Wednesday evening, and Tulane once a month on weekends, online or on campus.

Five programs are campus-based and five are hybrid. Rutgers asks for nine onsite weekend residencies a year, Maryland meets in Baltimore one weekend a month, and Adelphi combines monthly Manhattan classes with online work. If you live near one of them, the in-person cohort is the point. The online DSW programs page compares every online option by residency.

Capstone or Dissertation: What You Finish With

29 DSWs end in a capstone and only 5 in a dissertation. The capstone is not a lighter dissertation. It is a different product, aimed at changing practice rather than adding to theory.

What it looks like varies. Buffalo’s runs four semesters and has you implement and evaluate an intervention in your own agency. Barry’s is a manuscript you defend and submit to a peer-reviewed journal; Tulane’s applied practice projects must be published or under review. Rutgers replaces the dissertation with a portfolio: a case study, a qualitative research project and a multimedia project. Southern Connecticut adds a 240-hour self-designed externship.

If you want dissertation training without enrolling in a PhD, look at Millersville and Kutztown, which both end in a dissertation, St Thomas’s banded dissertation of three linked works, or Penn, which offers a traditional chapter-style dissertation or two publishable articles.

Admission: Experience, License and Tests

Nearly every DSW expects a master’s in social work, and most specify one from a CSWE-accredited program. California Baptist is the broadest, also accepting master’s degrees such as the MPA, MPH and MPP. Monmouth accepts other social science master’s degrees if you first complete four core MSW courses.

Experience is the real gate. Two years after the MSW is the most common bar, set by Barry, Kentucky, Walden, Capella, Rutgers, Maryland and others. Alabama, USC, Tulane, Kansas, Simmons and Morgan State ask for three. Loma Linda asks for four, and Monmouth for three to five. USC adds that experience should be “particularly in supervisory or management roles.”

Licenses are mostly optional. Rutgers requires an LSW, NYU an LMSW or equivalent, and Yeshiva professional licensure. Kansas and Morgan State prefer one without requiring it. GPA floors run from 3.0 at most schools to 3.5 at Barry and Florida Atlantic and 3.6 at Rutgers. No DSW in the set requires the GRE. The DSW admission requirements guide lists every program’s rules.

What a DSW Leads to

Be clear on one thing before you pay: you don’t need a doctorate to practice clinically. A clinical license requires an MSW and supervised experience after graduation. A DSW adds advanced practice, supervision and leadership training on top of that license.

Where the degree does open doors is teaching and senior leadership. BLS notes that faculty at four-year colleges typically need a PhD or other doctorate. Tenure-track research jobs usually go to PhDs, but many schools hire DSW graduates to teach practice courses, which is why 17 DSWs carry a teaching focus. Senior agency roles don’t require a doctorate, but a leadership DSW is one route into them. The DSW careers guide covers the jobs and their pay.

Which DSW Programs Fit Which Goals

• Working clinicians: Penn’s Doctor of Clinical Social Work, Yeshiva’s clinical DSW, Tennessee’s clinical practice and leadership program and Loma Linda’s clinical leadership program are built around advanced practice. Browse all 23 clinical DSW programs.
• Future practice faculty: Kutztown (with praxis teaching projects) and Millersville both offer leadership and teaching focuses, Southern Connecticut lists university teaching, and Kentucky offers a social work education focus.
• Agency leaders: Spalding’s leadership in community practices, Monmouth’s human rights leadership and Alabama’s organizational leadership track aim at directors and administrators. See the leadership and teaching DSW programs.
• Researchers at heart: if your goal is grants and tenure, a PhD in social work fits better, and 46 of them are fully funded. Try the DSW or PhD chooser if you’re unsure.

How to Choose a DSW Program

• Confirm you qualify. Count your post-MSW years against each school’s floor: two at most, three at USC and Tulane, four at Loma Linda.
• Price the whole degree. Use estimated tuition, not the per-credit rate: Alabama’s 45 credits at $440 come to $19,800, while USC’s 42 units at $2,322 come to $97,524. Run your own numbers in the DSW cost calculator.
• Check your residency rate. Buffalo, Millersville, Kutztown and Maryland charge non-residents more; Kansas, Kentucky and Southern Connecticut charge one rate.
• Map the travel. Count residency days and weekly live sessions against your caseload and family schedule.
• Pick the final project you want on your CV. A published manuscript (Barry, Tulane), an agency intervention (Buffalo) or a dissertation (Millersville, Kutztown).
• Weigh CSWE status for your goal. If you plan to teach, an accredited or candidacy program is the stronger signal on a faculty application.
• Narrow the list. The program matcher filters all 38 by format, focus and cost.

New DSW Programs Opening in 2027

Three DSWs are listed but not yet admitting a first class, so you can plan around them now:

• The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign online DSW in organizational administration and leadership starts its first cohort in 2027-28: 48 credits in eight-week modules, finishing in three years.
• UT Arlington starts its first cohorts in spring and summer 2027, with 45 credit hours, no residency and a capstone that pairs a publishable systematic review with an applied project.
• The University of Nebraska at Omaha lists its DSW in the catalog, with clinical and leadership tracks and a weekly synchronous component.