Most Affordable Substance Abuse Counseling Certificate and Associate Degree Programs in the South

The American south is a great place to find affordable education in substance use disorder counseling. It’s one of the most affordable places to live in the country in general, with states here filling in six out of the top ten lowest cost-of-living states in the U.S.

It also, unfortunately, has an outsized need for substance abuse counseling. West Virginia alone has the highest drug overdose mortality rate in the nation according to the CDC, with Tennessee not far behind and Missouri, North and South Carolina, and Louisiana all coming in well above the national average.

You can put those facts together and find a healthy selection of different community, technical, and even four-year colleges offering affordable degrees that will get you qualified for SUD counseling credentials… and set you up for more advanced studies in addiction therapy if you choose to pursue them.

How We Selected the Most Affordable Substance Abuse Counseling Certificate and Associate Degree Programs in the South

Our process for picked the most affordable programs in the South was as simple as easy as sliding off a greasy log backward.

First, we split out the list by states. Although there’s a lot tying our region together, when it comes to costs there is a big difference between Atlanta and Tupelo. So all of the cost comparisons are relative to a state average.

That average is calculated in two groups: public and private. Public schools get public funding, which makes their costs and quality comparable. Private schools keep the lights on in different ways, which makes it a bad idea to compare them straight across with public colleges.

We figured the total cost of each program by taking published per-credit costs and comparing them by the credits required for completion. For the occasional school on a quarter system, we did the math to convert that to semester costs instead. That gives a plain point of comparison for your education dollars.

To make the list, the hurdle these programs had to clear was simple: come in less than $1000 over the state average for their group.

For every program, we’ve posted that total cost, and for those that come in below the average, we tell you exactly how much lower.

Finding the Right Degree or Certificate in Addiction Counseling Goes Beyond Cost Alone

You’ll find that each school here is more than just a name and a number. Looking beyond cost, each of them has different and compelling reasons you might choose it over the others.

Some of them come with a special emphasis option in concentration areas like criminal justice SUD counseling. Others have instructors that are well-known and highly experienced in their field of practice. Some schools may have specializations or areas of research expertise that make them a better choice for some kinds of addiction treatment than others. Or you might find a certain school’s transfer agreements work better for moving up up the ladder to a Bachelor’s in Substance Abuse Counseling eventually.

We lay out the little things that might be a big thing for your goals. And we help you out with a baseline on every school that could tip the balance: