New Jersey·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-1012

Best Educational programs in New Jersey, ranked by enrollment

Advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance.

14 schools in New Jersey run programs that feed this job, graduating 601 people a year. The job pays a median of $77,910 in New Jersey across about 8,190 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAcademic AdvisorCareer CounselorSchool CounselorGuidance CounselorAdvisorCounselorJob CoachCareer Coach
Graduates / yr
601
in New Jersey
Median pay · New Jersey
$77,910
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
8,190
people employed
Schools
14
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
61%
across those schools
Median net price
$19,504
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New Jersey that lead to this job

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

4 programs in New Jersey that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New Jersey (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 New Jersey page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1431
71.7%
12$58,038
2139
23.1%
7$33,805$27,000
325
4.2%
3$58,038
46
1.0%
1$58,038

Top 14 schools in New Jersey

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 14 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Montclair State University
Montclair, NJ Public · 3 feeder programs
117Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services65%88%
2Kean University
Union, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
81Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services47%76%
3Rowan University
Glassboro, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
69School Psychology67%78%
4New Jersey City University
Jersey City, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
56Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services34%98%
5The College of New Jersey
Ewing, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
55Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services86%62%
6Seton Hall University
South Orange, NJ Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
50Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services69%$27,37673%
7William Paterson University of New Jersey
Wayne, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
43Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services44%90%
8Fairleigh Dickinson University - Metropolitan Campus
Teaneck, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
30School Psychology53%$18,05991%
9Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
28College Student Counseling and Personnel Services84%58%
10Georgian Court University
Lakewood, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
27School Psychology54%$19,50479%
11Rider University
Lawrenceville, NJ Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
21School Psychology61%$23,84479%
12Monmouth University
West Long Branch, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
16Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services72%$28,51489%
13Centenary University
Hackettstown, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services56%$17,49083%
14Saint Peter's University
Jersey City, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services58%$14,44090%

All 14 schools in New Jersey

Every school in New Jersey 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 New Jersey that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Montclair State UniversityMontclairPublic1173
Kean UniversityUnionPublic812
Rowan UniversityGlassboroPublic692
New Jersey City UniversityJersey CityPublic562
The College of New JerseyEwingPublic551
Seton Hall UniversitySouth OrangePrivate not-for-profit503
William Paterson University of New JerseyWaynePublic431
Fairleigh Dickinson University - Metropolitan CampusTeaneckPrivate not-for-profit301
Rutgers University - New BrunswickNew BrunswickPublic282
Georgian Court UniversityLakewoodPrivate not-for-profit271
Rider UniversityLawrencevillePrivate not-for-profit212
Monmouth UniversityWest Long BranchPrivate not-for-profit161
Centenary UniversityHackettstownPrivate not-for-profit41
Saint Peter's UniversityJersey CityPrivate not-for-profit41

What educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn in New Jersey

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

Median annual in New Jersey
$77,910
Mean annual
$81,430
Jobs in state
8,190
What the range looks like
10th pct$57,850Median$77,91090th pct$108,500
Versus the national median
+21.1%

U.S. median $64,330. New Jersey pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
0.84×

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

Metro areas in New Jersey

Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ
$75,920median
330 jobs
Trenton-Princeton, NJ
$77,320median
440 jobs
Vineland, NJ
$67,620median
180 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.5%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
31,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
13,300
376,300 → 389,600
Typical entry education
Master's degree

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 Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors page.

How to become a Educational

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Master's degree

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in New Jersey

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 13.1101Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services
  • 13.1102College Student Counseling and Personnel Services
  • 13.1199Student Counseling and Personnel Services, Other
  • 42.2805School Psychology
  • 52.1006Executive/Career Coaching

Common questions

Answers for people weighing educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors programs in New Jersey.

What degree do you need to become an Educational?+

Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services, which awarded 431 degrees in New Jersey in 2024-25, 71.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Educational?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Student Counseling and Personnel Services, Clinical. Together they graduate about 601 people a year in New Jersey.

How much do educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn in New Jersey?+

The median is $77,910 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 21.1% above the U.S. median of $64,330. 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 educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors growing?+

BLS projects a +3.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 31,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in New Jersey?+

14 institutions in New Jersey reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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 educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Academic Advisor, Career Counselor, School Counselor, Guidance Counselor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-1012.

Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in other statesCaliforniaNew YorkTexasVirginiaMinnesotaNorth CarolinaPennsylvaniaWisconsin

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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