St. Cloud State University has been awarded a $370K Minnesota Department of Education Pipeline Grant to help support the recruitment and retention of school counselors.
Up to $400 per credit in tuition assistance is available for current or prospective students over the next two years. The grant also has a focus on recruiting students from underrepresented backgrounds.
“Minnesota has had a gap in underrepresented counselors of color for many years; the state has recognized that, and this grant is one way to address that gap,” said Dr. Bill Lepkowski, director of SCSU’s school counseling graduate program. “In addition, we generally don’t have enough school counselors, and there’s an increasing awareness of mental health for kids to be successful.”
Lepkowski has been training SCSU students for 20 years after previously working as a school counselor in Minnesota and Nevada.
His colleague Dr. Tina Sacin, a professor and director of the clinical mental health counseling graduate program, has also been teaching at SCSU for two decades. Her passion for the field focuses on making sure kids have the support they need in environments that work best for them.
This is why statistics on school counselors in the state concern her. Sacin said there is a nationally recommended ratio from the American School Counselor Association of 250 students per school counselor. This ratio enables counselors to effectively deliver developmentally appropriate services and meet the academic, career and personal or social support needs of students.
The national average is one counselor per 376 students, while Minnesota lags behind with a 541:1 ratio.
“This has led to districts outsourcing that work or forming more mental health partnerships, which is great that students are getting mental health services, but your school counselors are the ones that know your kids and the families,” Sacin said. “Having that resource in the school is what actually makes the difference.”
“The kids and families know who to go and talk to,” Lepkowski added about the importance of in-school counselors. “Today’s school counselors are specialists; while they certainty do academic support and career advising, there is far more of a mental health focus, which is where the student need is.”
SCSU’s counseling program previously has partnered with local schools in St. Cloud Area School District 742 via an elementary school counselor grant.
Lepkowski said the schools saw the value and have continued to support the positions.
“When families and the community recognize the need, they can be our strongest allies,” Lepkowski added. “I think the community at large realizes that mental health is a big area of need.”
Graduate students in the school counseling program come from a wide variety of backgrounds and bachelor’s degrees, including from the fields of psychology, communication, education or cross disciplinary backgrounds of business or engineering.
SCSU’s program has a strong history of placing graduates into the local area, and leadership meets with local schools and clinics to make sure they are teaching courses and topics that are relevant for the workforce.
Students can fill out an online form to learn more about tuition assistance for school counseling graduate students in 2026-27.
