Online and Distance Degrees > Degree Programs > Master of Social Work (MSW)

Master of
Social Work (MSW)

Primarily Online

Program Overview

Since 1965, The University of Alabama School of Social Work has been preparing Master of Social Work students to make a difference in the lives of others. Thanks to this innovative, primarily online program, you can earn this premier MSW while maintaining your other commitments.

Program Format
Primarily Online
Credit Hours
42-60
Tuition Per Hour
$440

Play a Crucial Role in Our Society

Join our community of alumni serving clients across our state, nation and world when you earn this degree. Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, our primarily online MSW will equip you for a rewarding career in social work.

The program includes online coursework, virtual skills labs and a field placement. To participate in this program, students must have access to a computer with high-speed internet connection. UA offers two options for earning your MSW: the Advanced-Standing Program and the 60-Credit-Hour Program. Both options offer the Advanced Generalist Concentration.

Application Deadline60-credit hour option is April 1 for fall admission; Advanced Standing option is March 1 for summer admission
Application Priority Deadline 60-Credit Hour Fall: December 1;
Advanced Standing Summer: November 1
Orientation RequiredYes
Practicum and Skills LabYes

Curriculum

You may choose from two options: the Advanced Standing Program (requires a BSW) and the 60-Credit-Hour Program. Also available are two dual degree program options.

Please note that courses are subject to change.

The Advanced-Standing Program is a 42-credit-hour program for only those who hold a CSWE-accredited BSW. It can be completed in three semesters when pursued full-time. One cohort of Advanced-Standing students begins every year in late May or early June. Advanced-Standing students fulfill professional foundation requirements by successfully completing ‘bridge’ courses typically offered in the spring or summer before beginning the concentration year.

Students will complete 500 hours of practicum. Coursework is offered primarily online and all skills labs will be virtual and synchronous beginning Spring 2024. Courses with an asterisk (*) indicate a skills lab.

Summer Semester (12 hours)

SW 571 Research
SW 576 Diversity, Oppression, & Anti-Racism
SW 580 Social Welfare Policy
SW 581 Advanced Generalist Practice I: Components of Social Work Practice*

Fall Semester (15 hours)

SW 530 Advanced Generalist Practice II: Psychopathology & Assessment*
SW 531 Advanced Generalist Practice III: Mental Health Across the Lifespan*
SW 584 Social Work Leadership and Management
SW Elective
SW Elective

Spring Semester (15 hours)

SW 582 Practicum
SW 583 Seminar
SW 502 Advanced Policy Analysis
SW Elective

Electives Typically Offered Every Year

SW 506 Social Service Planning and Program Development
SW 513 Practice in Health Care
SW 514 Chemical Dependency
SW 515 Psychopathology
SW 523 Family Preservation
SW 528 Spirituality and Social Work Practice
SW 529 Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice
SW 536 Social Service Program and Agency Administration
SW 549 Crisis Intervention

The goal of the dual-degree MSW/JD program is to offer comprehensive preparation to individuals interested in becoming leaders in their communities, their state, or the nation, as well as leaders in promoting and enhancing social justice and individual well-being, through interventions, advocacy, organizational management, and public policy. Students will acquire knowledge of legal and social work strategies that can improve the lives of individuals and groups, by understanding forensic social work, the justice system, domestic violence, child protection, human rights, and more.

Students must be admitted to each program before they will be considered to be students in the joint program.

Admission requirements for the proposed dual-enrollment program are those currently established for both the MSW program and the JD program.

Completion Requirements

The MSW (Primarily Online) program requires 42 hours of coursework for those admitted with Advanced-Standing Status and 60 credit hours for other students. Nine credit hours of electives are required of all MSW students. Students in the dual-enrollment MSW/JD program will complete the Law School-required nine hours of electives for the MSW degree.

The on-campus JD program requires at least 90 hours of course work, of which 6 hours may be fulfilled with approved courses offered outside the Law School. The JD is a cohort-based program completed over three to four years. Dually enrolled MSW/JD students will be required to complete 9 hours of MSW courses as part of the 90 hours of study for the JD.

In all, the proposed dual-enrollment program will require 114 credit hours for students admitted with advanced standing to the MSW program or 132 credit hours for students without advanced standing.

Transfer of Credit

The MSW Program and JD Program observe all current rules governing transfer of academic credit, as outlined in the Graduate School Catalog, the MSW Student Handbook, and the Law Student Handbook. In the dual-enrollment program, transfer of credit for the required social work courses will be allowed, subject to current policies of the Graduate School and School of Social Work.

Students in the dual MSW/JD degree program will follow the first year curriculum prescribed by the Law School. The dual degree program effectively begins after the first year of the JD curriculum is complete. Dual MSW/JD students will work with advisors from both programs prior to their third semester to ensure that an appropriate plan of study is developed and that progress is made to satisfy the requirements of both degrees.

Time Limit

We expect each enrolled student to complete the dual-enrollment program in three and one-half to four and one-half years. Graduate School regulations and ABA Standards require students in the dual-degree program to complete their degree programs in no more than six years from the time of matriculation.

Commencement

Both degrees will be conferred during a single commencement exercise, once all degree requirements have been met. Neither degree will be granted until both degrees are earned, except in cases in which a student formally withdraws from the dual-enrollment program.

The 60-Credit-Hour Program is for those who do not currently hold a CSWE-accredited BSW. It can be completed in two years when pursued full-time. One cohort of 60-Credit-Hour Program begins every year in August.

Coursework is offered primarily online with virtual and synchronous skills labs beginning in Spring 2024. Courses with an asterisk (*) indicate a skills lab.

Fall Semester (15 hours)

SW 576 Diversity, Oppression, & Anti-Racism
SW 503 Human Behavior & Social Environment
SW 504 Social Work Practice with Groups
SW 505 SW Practice with Individuals & Families*
SW 538 Seminar
SW 592 Practicum

Spring Semester (15 hours)

SW 580 Social Welfare Policy*
SW 543 SW Practice with Communities & Organizations*
SW 571 Research
SW 539 Seminar
SW 593 Practicum

Fall Semester (15 hours)

SW 502 Advanced Policy Analysis
SW 530 Advanced Generalist Practice II: Psychopathology & Assessment*
SW 531 Advanced Generalist Practice III: Mental Health Across the Lifespan*
SW 574 Seminar
SW 597 Practicum
SW Elective

Spring Semester (15 hours)

SW 584 Social Work Leadership & Management
SW 575 Seminar
SW 598 Practicum
SW Elective
SW Elective

Social Work and Public Health are perfect partners. This program offers students interested in a career in social work and public health an alternative to the existing course of study for two separate programs. Graduates of the MSW/MPH Dual Degree program will have the skills needed to pursue leadership roles in community health care settings, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

The MSW/MPH Dual Degree Program allows students the opportunity to earn two graduate degrees, a Master of Social Work (MSW) and a Master of Public Health (MPH) in two academic years, including two summers. All MSW students, including advanced standing, may apply for entrance into this program. If both degrees are earned sequentially, the completion period is three and one-half years and may permit some overlapping of transferred MSW/MPH credits.

Students who choose this dual degree plan must first secure admission to the School of Social Work, and then separately apply to the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, The University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Public Health, for admission to the MPH Program.

The MSW/MPH Dual Degree Program is coordinated between the School of Social Work at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and the School of Public Health/Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, concentration in Maternal and Child Health Policy and Leadership at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The mission of the Dual Degree Program is to train social workers for interdisciplinary practice in public health programs (both international and domestic) who are concerned with the promotion and improvement of the health of diverse populations, including women, children, and families. The program places emphasis on population-based solutions to complex health problems that are multifactorial in origin, rather than on short-term solutions for resolving immediate problems of individuals and families.

Graduates may pursue careers in a variety of social work and/or public health settings related to policy and program development; organization of community services; program administration, planning and evaluation; research and teaching.

Financial assistance is available for full-time students who meet eligibility requirements.

MPH/MSW Program

Students who are interested in this coordinated degree should separately apply to UA’s MSW program and to the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at The University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Public Health for admission to the MPH Program. Acceptance in the MSW program does not automatically ensure acceptance into the MPH program and vice versa.

Coursework is offered primarily online with virtual skills labs.

Students interested in the coordinated program are encouraged to contact UAB for a current MPH course curriculum guide.

Effective May 2025, the MSW Program will be removing the current concentrations of:

Social Work with Children, Adolescents and Their Families
Social Work with Adults and Their Families

At that time, the curriculum will emphasize Advanced Generalist. This approach to social work practice is defined as the practitioner’s ability to simultaneously address complex situations within and across multiple levels and systems. This strength-based orientation incorporates core social work knowledge, skills, values and ethics preparing students to adequately assess and intervene at all levels of practice. Social workers across the globe need to be prepared to work in diverse geographic areas and to effectively address complex problems across multiples systems of intervention including individual, family, group, community, and organizational. Advanced generalist practice is differentiated from generalist practice in that it includes the complexity of the problem and context of service provision, has enhanced technical abilities, and more refined direct and indirect skills. Through this new focus, our graduates will be able to competently engage in independent application of advanced social work knowledge, theories, skills, values, and ethics into assessment and intervention at all system levels.

Our new curriculum will also incorporate two central frameworks:

Social Justice Framework

This framework reflects a commitment to ethical social work practice as described in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and includes the following three tenets: (1) promoting the general welfare of society from local to global levels, (2) challenging social injustice on behalf and with communities that have been marginalized, and (3) practicing cultural humility and responsiveness thereby recognizing clients as experts of their own culture. These tenets will be discussed within a historical, social, environmental, and economic context to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to act as social justice advocates in collaboration with the persons and communities they are educated to serve.

Trauma-Informed Framework

This model integrates behavioral health trauma-informed frameworks, community resiliency approaches, and the social justice framework into the concentration year of the MSW curriculum. Students will understand how the combined impact of disproportionate exposure to adverse childhood and life experiences can shape biopsychosocial development across the lifespan. The UA SSW educates students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to implement a trauma-informed framework across micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice.

MSW Graduate DonLarae Richardson

University of Alabama Master of Social Work graduate and Army Specialist DonLarae Richardson discusses completing his degree while serving in the military.

Admission

The following admission requirements must be met for regular admission to the MSW program:

A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.
A GPA of at least 3.0 overall or a 3.0 average for the last 60 semester hours of coursework toward a completed degree.

All new students must provide acceptable proof of appropriate tuberculosis screening within the last year as a registration requirement. Find more information and requirements from the Student Health Center.

If you reside or intend to seek professional licensure outside of the state of Alabama, please review the requirements for that state prior to applying to this program.

60-Credit-Hour Program

Students must satisfy all admission requirements. Admission applications should be completed by April 1 for fall enrollment with a priority deadline of December 1.

Advanced-Standing Program

Students will be admitted to the program in the summer semester. Deadlines for submitting completed Graduate School applications are March 1 with a priority deadline of November 1.

In addition to satisfying all admission requirements of the School of Social Work, admission with advanced standing also requires a “B” average or better in social work courses, with no more than one “C” in professional social work courses and grades of “B” or better in field education courses. Students must hold a bachelor of social work degree from an institution accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

Advanced Standing Conditional Admits

Students who completed a BSW more than five years before applying to the MSW program may be considered for Conditional Admit.

In addition to the standard admissions requirements, these students must also:

Submit a current Resume
Submit a Technology Statement (1-2 pages, Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced) that gives an overview of their experience with technology since graduating from a BSW Program. For example, students should share any experiences with online courses or trainings, familiarity with videoconferencing tools such as Zoom, use of Microsoft Office, and any other technology used.
Complete the SWEAP (Social Work Education Assessment Project) BSW assessment with a score of 70 or higher or have an active BSW license.

If the student does not successfully meet the above requirements, they may be considered for the Traditional MSW Program.

Find more information and learn about restrictions related to this degree program that may exist regarding licensure in the state in which you reside.