Arkansas·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-2071

Best Credit Counselor programs in Arkansas, ranked by enrollment

Advise and educate individuals or organizations on acquiring and managing debt. May provide guidance in determining the best type of loan and explain loan requirements or restrictions.

3 schools in Arkansas run programs that feed this job, graduating 36 people a year. The job pays a median of $45,060 in Arkansas across about 50 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledCredit CounselorHousing CounselorCertified Credit CounselorCertified Consumer Credit and Housing CounselorLoan AdvisorLoan ServicerDebt CounselorCredit Associate
Graduates / yr
36
in Arkansas
Median pay · Arkansas
$45,060
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
50
people employed
Schools
3
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
49%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arkansas that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

2 programs in Arkansas that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arkansas (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arkansas page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 52.0803In Arkansas
33
91.7%
1$53,572$23,672
2
CIP 52.0804In Arkansas
3
8.3%
2$53,572$23,672

Top 3 schools in Arkansas

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 3 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Arkansas Tech University
Russellville, AR Public · 1 feeder programs
33Banking and Financial Support Services49%96%
2University of Arkansas Grantham
LIttle Rock, AR Public · 1 feeder programs
2Financial Planning and Services43%
3Arkansas State University
Jonesboro, AR Public · 1 feeder programs
1Financial Planning and Services$43,06055%82%

All 3 schools in Arkansas

Every school in Arkansas with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arkansas that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Arkansas Tech UniversityRussellvillePublic331
University of Arkansas GranthamLIttle RockPublic21
Arkansas State UniversityJonesboroPublic11

What credit counselors earn in Arkansas

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arkansas
$45,060
Mean annual
$49,330
Jobs in state
50
What the range looks like
10th pct$35,000Median$45,06090th pct$62,770
Versus the national median
-13.7%

U.S. median $52,230. Arkansas pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.22×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.3%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
2,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,100
31,800 → 32,900
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Credit Counselors page.

How to become a Credit Counselor

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

SpeakingReading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arkansas

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 3 majors mapped to Credit Counselors3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.0803Banking and Financial Support Services
  • 52.0804Financial Planning and Services
  • 52.0809Credit Management

Common questions

Answers for people weighing credit counselors programs in Arkansas.

What degree do you need to become a Credit Counselor?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Banking and Financial Support Services, which awarded 33 degrees in Arkansas in 2024-25, 91.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Credit Counselor?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Finance and Financial Management Services. Together they graduate about 36 people a year in Arkansas.

How much do credit counselors earn in Arkansas?+

The median is $45,060 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 13.7% below the U.S. median of $52,230. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for credit counselors growing?+

BLS projects a +3.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 2,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arkansas?+

3 institutions in Arkansas reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do credit counselors work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Credit Counselor, Housing Counselor, Certified Credit Counselor, Certified Consumer Credit and Housing Counselor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-2071.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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