Master of Social Work (MSW) Programs in Idaho - Campus and Online

Updated: January 14, 2022

Boise State University, Idaho State University (ISU), and Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) are the three schools in the state of Idaho that currently offer Master of Social Work (MSW) degree programs. Boise State University has several campus-based MSW program options, including advanced standing programs for students who hold a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from an undergraduate program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), as well as a fully online program with traditional and advanced standing tracks.

ISU offers a hybrid online MSW program with traditional and advanced standing program options. Finally, NNU has campus-based traditional and advanced standing programs that it offers through two of its campuses. All three Idaho schools that offer MSW programs are fully accredited by the CSWE, as noted in the list below.

Boise State University (Accredited)
Idaho State University (Accredited)
Northwest Nazarene University (Accredited)

Details about each of the MSW programs offered by the above schools are provided below in the following sections:

Traditional MSW Programs in Idaho

Traditional MSW programs are full-length master’s program that are designed to prepare students who hold a bachelor’s degree with advanced training in clinical and/or macro practice social work. These programs do not require applicants to have earned a bachelor’s degree in social work for admission, although they may have other undergraduate prerequisites, such a college-level course in statistics, or give preference to applicants who have a undergraduate degree in a social science field.

These programs can typically be completed in two years of full-time enrollment, or three to four years of part-time enrollment. In addition to didactic coursework in the theories and practices of social work, traditional MSW programs require students to engage in a minimum of 900 hours of site-based field education, as required for accreditation by the CSWE.

Traditional Campus-Based MSW Programs in Idaho

Boise State University’s School of Social Work has a two-year, full-time MSW program that does not require students to have prior training in social work to be eligible for admission. The program has a Direct Practice with Individuals and Families specialization and students must complete 61 graduate credits, including 18 credit hours of site-based field education (1,000 hours) in order to graduate.

Idaho State University (ISU) offers a traditional, mostly campus-based MSW program. Students in the program attend classes at ISU’s main campus in Pocatello, take two online courses, and complete 900 hours of site-based field education. Offered through ISU’s Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminology, the program has an Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice concentration with a focus on children, families, and forensic social work. The program is designed to be completed in two years of full-time enrollment or four years of part-time enrollment.

Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) offers a traditional, campus-based MSW program at its main campus in Nampa and at its distance learning campus in Idaho Falls. The program has a Clinical Mental Health and Addictions (CMHA) concentration that focuses on clinical social work practice, and an Integrated Clinical and Community Practice (ICCP) concentration that provides training and instruction in both clinical and macro practice social work. Traditional students must complete 1000 hours of field education, which includes 600 hours within their chosen concentration. The program is designed to accommodate students who have work and/or family commitments outside of school, with classes being held in the evening and on weekends. The program’s part-time enrollment structure allows students to complete their degree in seven semesters, or roughly 2.5 years.

Traditional Online MSW Programs in Idaho

Boise State University is currently the only school in Idaho with a fully online MSW program. The School of Social Work at Boise State offers its traditional MSW program in a distance learning format that does not require any campus visits. The program is designed to be completed in two years by students who enroll on a full-time basis. Students in the program take all of their didactic courses online but must complete a minimum of 1000 hours of site-based field education at a local health services agency. As with Boise State’s campus-based MSW program, the online program has a Direct Practice with Individuals and Families specialization.

Advanced Standing MSW Programs in Idaho

Students who hold a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree may be eligible for admission to an advanced standing MSW program. These programs are designed for students who have already completed foundational training in social work in their BSW program and who are thus prepared to begin their graduate studies with the advanced social work specialization coursework and field education that typically comprise the second year of a traditional MSW program. As a result, advanced standing programs require fewer credits and field education hours compared to traditional MSW programs.

Full-time students can generally graduate from an advanced standing program in two or three semesters (e.g., one year to one and a half years), while part-time students may take five or more semesters to earn their degree (approximately two years). The field education requirements for advanced standing MSW programs are typically in the range of 500 to 700 hours and may be contingent on the number of hours a student previously completed at the bachelor’s degree level.

While holding a BSW degree conferred by a CSWE-accredited undergraduate program is the baseline eligibility requirement for admission to an advanced standing MSW program, many programs have other requirements. For example, it is common for programs to only accept applicants whose BSW degree was conferred within the last five, six, or seven years. It is also common for programs to require applicants to have maintained a cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher on a four-point scale. BSW program graduates who are not admitted to an advanced standing program can, however, still earn an MSW degree by enrolling in a traditional MSW program.

Advanced Standing Campus-Based MSW Programs in Idaho

Boise State University has a campus-based advanced standing MSW program that is offered at the university’s main campus in Boise and on the campus of Lewis-Clark State College in Coeur d’Alene. The program is available to students who hold a BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited school and whose cumulative undergraduate GPA is 3.0 or higher on a four-point scale. The program has a Direct Practice with Individuals and Families specialization. Advanced standing students in the Boise State program can earn their MSW degree in one year of full-time enrollment or two years of part-time enrollment. The program requires a minimum of 500 hours of field education at sites approved by the program.

Idaho State University’s (ISU) Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminology offers its MSW program in an advanced standing format that requires applicants to hold a BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited undergraduate program and to have earned that degree within the past seven years. Advanced standing program applicants are also expected to have completed a minimum of 400 hours of field education as part of their BSW program. It has an Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice curriculum that focuses on forensic practice with children and families. Students who qualify for the advanced standing track can complete their degree in one year of full-time enrollment or two years of part-time enrollment. Advanced standing students in the ISU program are required to engage in 500 hours of field education.

Northwest Nazarene University offers its MSW program in an advanced standing format for eligible students who hold a bachelor’s degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited undergraduate program. The advanced standing track requires 600 hours of field education within one of the program’s two designated concentrations: Clinical Mental Health and Addictions (CMHA); and Integrated Clinical and Community Practice (ICCP). NNU offers its advanced standing MSW program in two locations: at the university’s main campus in Nampa; and at its distance learning location in Idaho Falls. The program has a part-time enrollment structure with a four-semester/16-month completion time.

Advanced Standing Online MSW Programs in Idaho

Boise State University offers its Direct Practice with Individuals and Families MSW program in a fully online, advanced standing format for qualified students who hold a BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited undergraduate program. Applicants to the advanced standing online program are required to have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher on a four-point scale and to have earned their BSW degree within the past seven years. Students who earned their BSW degree in the last 10 years may be eligible for admission if they have significant work experience post-BSW. The program has a Direct Practice specialization and requires advanced standing students to complete a minimum of 500 hours of site-based field education internships.