Family and Child Life, MS

The family and child life degree includes an advanced interdisciplinary study of interpersonal and family relationships. The graduate program has a strong emphasis on community involvement, practical application and research. Graduates are prepared for advanced career opportunities in children’s hospitals, family service agencies, parent education programs, family counseling centers, other family life education settings or doctoral study in family relations.

Graduate students in family and child life who enter the program without prior coursework needed for preparing them for the graduate degree will need to take undergraduate courses as deficiencies or demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the area. Students wishing to pursue child life specialist certification who do not have a child life undergraduate degree will develop a program of study with their advisor to address all child life council competencies required for certification. 

Admission Requirements
Students must meet the admission requirements of the School of Graduate Studies, including a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and a minimum of a 3.0 GPA in all coursework attempted in the last 90 quarter (60 semester) hours of academic work.

Program Requirements
All students will complete 45 credits in the graduate program before completing the final culminating experience. As a culminating experience, students will complete a thesis, research project or comprehensive examination. The number of required credits of FCL 700 varies depending on the students’ choice for final project: Thesis (6 credits), research project (4 credits), or examination (2 credits). 

Program Learner Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Conceptualize and design a research project to answer a specific research question related to children or families.
• Demonstrate abstract and critical thinking skills in applying Family Systems concepts to family problems and interventions.
• Critically evaluate contemporary empirical literature.
• Demonstrate effective communication and self-efficacy in professional human service settings.
• Demonstrate proficiency at presenting information in both visual and oral formats.
• Demonstrate the ability to analyze quantitative data, review, understand, and interpret output from statistical Analyses and draw appropriate conclusions.