Best Online and Campus Psychology Schools in Ohio

This guide to psychology schools in Ohio offers key metrics and rankings for the undergraduate and graduate psychology programs in the state.

Table of Contents

• Ohio Psychology School Facts
• Top-Ranked Psychology Programs
• Top 25 Bachelor’s in Psychology Programs
• Graduate Psychology Program Comparison
• Related Articles
• Student Reviews

Ohio Psychology School Facts

• There are 84 not-for-profit colleges and universities with psychology degree programs in Ohio.¹
• 11 schools offer an associate degree in psychology.¹
• 74 schools offer a bachelor’s degree in psychology.¹
• 18 schools offer a master’s or advanced degree in psychology.¹
• 5 schools ranked in College Factual’s Best General Psychology Schools 2024.²
• No schools ranked in Psychology Degree 411’s Top Schools With Online Bachelor’s Psychology Programs.³
• 2 schools ranked in The Princeton Review’s Great Schools for Psychology Majors 2024.⁴
• 2 schools ranked in Times Higher Education’s Best Universities for Psychology 2023.⁵
• 10 schools ranked in Most Affordable Schools With a Bachelor’s in Psychology.¹

Nationally Ranked Top Psychology Programs in Ohio

Our curated list of third-party and proprietary rankings can be useful in measuring the overall value and reputation of a program. Lists include College Factual, Psychology Degree 411, The Princeton Review, and Times Higher Education. Note if one of these lists is not present below, no schools in the state were named on it. Generally, schools and programs ranked on multiple lists tend to be stronger in academic quality.

Schools Ranked on Multiple Lists

• Case Western Reserve University
• Miami University-Oxford
• Ohio State University-Main Campus
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Toledo

College Factual’s Best Psychology Schools 2024

• Miami University-Oxford (#50)
• Ohio State University-Main Campus (#53)
• University of Cincinnati-Main Campus (#69)
• Case Western Reserve University (#79)
• Kenyon College (#108)²

The Princeton Review’s Great Schools for Psychology Majors 2024

• Ohio State University-Main Campus
• Ohio Wesleyan University⁴

Times Higher Education’s Best Universities for Psychology 2023

• Ohio State University-Main Campus (#53)
• University of Toledo (#201-250)⁵

Most Affordable Schools With a Bachelor’s in Psychology

The following Ohio schools with bachelor’s degrees in psychology have the lowest average net prices. We have grouped regional campuses together and included a range of net prices for these schools. We have also included each school’s graduation rate, a key quality metric.

• Ohio University Regional Campuses ($7,478-$8,456 / Grad rate: 13%-21%)
• Kent State University Regional Campuses ($9,854-$11,358 / Grad rate: 11%-24%)
• Central State University ($10,194 / Grad rate: 25%)
• Miami University Regional Campuses ($10,580-$13,405 / Grad rate: 19%-23%)
• Wright State University-Lake Campus ($11,585 / Grad rate: 43%)
• Youngstown State University ($11,900 / Grad rate: 49%)
• Ohio State University Regional Campuses ($13,086-$15,988 / Grad rate: 16%-34%)
• Shawnee State University ($13,313 / Grad rate: 35%)
• Wilberforce University ($14,070 / Grad rate: 41%)
• Ursuline College ($14,502 / Grad rate: 48%)¹

Top 25 Bachelor’s in Psychology Programs in Ohio

This table compares the top 25 bachelor’s in psychology programs from not-for-profit schools in Ohio based on a school graduation rate of 50% or above and an annual net price below $26,000. A high graduation rate is a top indicator of student success, and affordability is a key consideration for prospective undergrad students. Programs in bold text offer hybrid or online options.

*See Table Notes at bottom of page.

Comparison of All Graduate Psychology Programs in Ohio

This table compares all of Ohio’s graduate-level psychology programs from not-for-profit schools on multiple factors.

We’ve included accreditation status by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC), and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). We also highlight the levels offered, 2020-2022 pass rates for the Examination for Professional Practice of Psychology (EPPP), and tuition information. Note EPPP scores are reported by degree type (clinical, counseling, or school psychology) and level (PhD or PsyD), so some schools may be listed more than once to include all pass rates. Schools in bold text offer hybrid or online options. Tuition per credit hour is more relevant for master’s and PsyD programs due to the fact that PhD students typically receive more program-awarded funding.

Related Articles

• Degree Levels Overview: Associate to PhD
• Ohio Licensure Guide
• Top Online Bachelor’s Programs Ranking
• Psychology Careers by Degree Level

Ohio Schools With Psychology Programs

Note: Student Reviews are based on the experiences of a few individuals and not everyone has the same results. Please review the “Data, Student Reviews, and Other Information” section in our Terms of Use and Disclaimers.

Clark State Community College
570 E Leffel Ln
Springfield, OH 45505
(937) 325-0691
https://www.clarkstate.edu/

Student Review: “I attended Clark State as an online student and I loved the program. The online system Angel was very easy to follow and the classes followed a similar format. It was very easy to maneuver through the assignments and the calendars that showed my due dates for the assignments. The professors were very easy to get a hold of and the people on campus were nice. I only needed to go on campus when I needed to buy a book from the bookstore. I thought the program itself was very good and it taught me a lot about psychology. If this school offered a bachelor’s degree then I would have never left. I would recommend this school to anyone who is thinking about going to a community college.” – Student at Clark State Community College

Columbus State Community College
550 E Spring St
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 287-5353
https://www.cscc.edu/

Student Review: “My psychology experience at Columbus State always seems to bounce back and forth between enjoyable and seemingly a waste of time. At the beginning of the program, we were able to jump straight into learning about the foundation of psychology, which I enjoyed and thought very important for our future. However, after several weeks we seemed to have hit a plateau that we couldn’t get off. New information was being taught, but it was redundant and prevented us from moving on. Also, we never seemed to explore more than just general psychology, even in supposedly specialized courses. All in all, Columbus State has a very good basic program for psychology, but beyond that, you would do better to look elsewhere.” -Student at Columbus State University College

Denison University
100 W College St
Granville, OH 43023
(740) 587-0810
https://denison.edu/

Student Review: “I had a lot of great experiences studying psychology at Denison University. Class sizes are small, allowing you to receive more personal attention and get to know your professors. The professors are generally knowledgeable, kind, and unintimidating. The degree allows you to take courses in a variety of areas so that you can choose courses in the areas you’re most interested in. Denison’s psychology program also brings several speakers to campus each year to discuss their research. The curriculum has more rigorous research requirements than some psychology degrees, requiring that you take at least two research courses as well as Research Methods in your time at Denison. Although this was a downside for some students, particularly those less interested in pursuing research-related careers, it was a good match for me. One particularly great feature of Denison’s psychology program is the opportunity to do summer research with a professor. I was able to do summer research before my junior year, a paid position which provided housing as well as excellent experience and a good resume booster.” – Student at Denison University

Miami University
501 E High St
Oxford, OH 45056
(513) 529-1809
https://miamioh.edu/

Student Review: “I want to start out by saying that I think Miami University is a good school and I think, for the most part, that the teachers are helpful, the campus is lovely, and the student body is great. With that being said, I am very disappointed with my experiences in the psychology department. I decided to major in psychology due to a family history of mental illness and I wanted to help people who had suffered the way I had seen family members suffer. In the psychology department, I found several professors to be extremely rude and dismissive too students. In contrast professors in other departments, my psychology professors weren’t very open or willing to work with students. I gave a three out of five because, while the psychology department is disappointing, the rest of the school seems pretty good. All-in-all, I’d recommend avoiding Miami if you want to go into psychology.” – Student at Miami University

Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
(614) 292-6446
https://www.osu.edu/

Student Review: “I went to one of Ohio State’s regional campuses located in Mansfield, OH, where I obtained my bachelor’s in psychology. Since the college was so small, I only dealt with a handful of teachers while obtaining my degree. The professors in the psychology program at OSU Mansfield are great. They really care about their students and will take time to get to know you personally. I liked having a handful of professors because you start to feel a more intimate atmosphere with them and the students in your classes. I basically saw the same faces for three years, which was great. They offer a lot of extracurricular activities for psychology students as well. Psychology Club is free and easy to sign up for and they raise money for charity, do research projects, and have fun. Another important aspect for a student is doing research alongside a professor. The professors at OSU Mansfield will work together to help you find a research project you are interested in. During my last semester I received a research project assistant aide job and conducted experiments and it was a great learning experience! If you are looking for an affordable alternative with great professors, I would recommend OSU Mansfield.” – Student at Ohio State

Ohio State University, Mansfield
1760 University Dr
Mansfield, OH 44906
(419) 755-4011
https://mansfield.osu.edu/

Student Review: “My psychology program at OSU Mansfield was one that included honors classes. It was very rigorous and required me to take six honors-equivalent classes during my first 6 quarters on campus. These classes were for 3rd and 4th-year students, but were open to 1st and 2nd-year students with the approval of the instructors. I greatly enjoyed the time I was able to spend in research with the professors along with the assistance they gave me in completing the written work that was required of me for the honors-equivalent classes. Another aspect that was required, was two honors-level classes in the psychology discipline. These were tough to find, since completing the full honors degree track was not something that was usually done on a branch campus.” – Student at Ohio State University, Mansfield

Ohio University Lancaster
1570 Granville Pike
Lancaster, OH 43130
(740) 654-6711
https://www.ohio.edu/lancaster

Student Review: “Ohio University Lancaster is a good place to start your degree in psychology. You cannot complete it there but it is a good start especially for the non-traditional student. OUL is a smaller branch of Ohio University Athens which in itself is a small college. OUL helped me get started and acclimated to college after being out of school for more than twenty years. It gave hands-on experience as well as the academic learning like how to properly write a “paper” and much more. While you have to transfer to the Athens Campus to complete your degree you can probably get two years of your degree at a cheaper price and in my experience with better professors that know your name and care about you. So if you live near OUL it is an easy commute and might give you a leg up on students who have only learned at the Athens Campus and haven’t had the help of an approachable and caring professor at Ohio University Lancaster. It is certainly worth a look. I would have given a “5” rating if you could complete your degree in Lancaster.” – Student at Ohio University, Lancaster

Student Review: “Frankly I have had an extremely good experience with the actual educational system of this school. The teachers are all very nice and understanding, and they are willing to go that extra mile to make sure that you are coming along well with your coursework. The reason I am giving three stars is that psychology courses, in general, are flawed to the maximum. I have to wonder if the information being taught here is really going to help out anybody in the long run, even just in the context of trying to learn, let alone in the context of actually applying this information to help someone. All that being said, I have had a good experience at this school.” – Student at Ohio University, Lancaster

Stark State College
6200 Frank Ave NW
North Canton, OH 44720
(330) 494-6170
https://www.starkstate.edu/

Student Review:“Stark state college does not have the best psychological department. I learned a lot there, but the teachers did not do enough to teach or engage us. For the most part, I had to learn everything by spending many hours reading our textbook and Googling, which doesn’t require a school to do. Overall, I never disliked the school, but if you are majoring in the psychology field I would recommend going somewhere else. The professors here will play mind games with you and knock-off shocking amounts of points but still, tell you “great job.” If you did a great job why did they knock the points off? This is a question I still ask myself today. I may never understand it and I cannot compare it to any other school.” -Student at Stark State College

Student Review:“After I enrolled into Stark State College of Technology, I decided to major in psychology. I have enjoyed their psychology department and all of its professors. After I took my general psychology course I became addicted to wanting to take more courses and go further with studying other psychology topics. Stark State is a fantastic resource to help you prepare to go further with your degree in psychology. During my time there, I took a majority of my classes online and enjoyed them. I really enjoyed the intro course to psychology, as it was interesting to learn about how psychology started and who did what. There is definitely a lot of memorization and definitions involved, but for the most part, I still was able to enjoy it. With this degree I can work in social service agencies or be a mental health aide, counselor, and more.” -Student at Stark State College

University of Akron
302 E Buchtel Ave
Akron, OH 44325
(330) 972-7111
https://www.uakron.edu/

Student Review:“As a non-traditional adult student, I find the University of Akron to be very accommodating. They are great at ensuring students are successful in their college careers, whether they be straight out of high school, or non-traditional students, who have been in the workforce for several years or even raising children. The decision to go back to school was easy because I saw all that the University of Akron had to offer, such as Adult Focus. I am a psychology major and after much research, I learned that the University of Akron hosts one of the top psychology programs in the country. I am pleased to say that it is in fact true. The University of Akron School of Psychology is phenomenal. The professors are amazing and I feel that my education is truly the best. If all this weren’t enough, The University of Akron is also the home to the Museum of the History of Psychology. This museum is great and even has the famous “Bobo” doll from the experiment conducted by Bandura. The University of Akron School of Psychology is the absolute best.” -Student at University of Akron

University of Cincinnati
2600 Clifton Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45220
(513) 556-6000
https://www.uc.edu/

Student Review: “The psychology program at the University of Cincinnati was so-so. The curriculum wasn’t challenging and many classes focused on reading the material as opposed to real-world experience. Many classes would involve reading an entire textbook over the course of a semester and then having a couple midterms and a final. There was no real hands-on experience and it was difficult to get it at UC. There were many psychology majors and if a TA position or research position opened up, which wasn’t often, there would be literally hundreds of students vying for the position. It was required that each student take two capstone classes for a B.S. degree. For many students, including myself, this was the first time having hands-on experience because the capstone courses involved doing research or a research project. The advising department was almost nonexistent, as well, so if students needed to find internships or needed advice on their classes or their future, there was only one adviser to go to. Most students were on their own when it came to navigating the psychology program.” – Student at University of Cincinnati

Student Review: “The University of Cincinnati psychology program left much to be desired. The curriculum wasn’t very challenging and mostly required reading chapters in a book and taking tests on what was read. Most of the classes besides capstone classes didn’t show how theories were applied. There was no real-world experience. There was also very little guidance in the psychology department. The only adviser was a graduate student. With a psychology department encompassing hundreds of students, one adviser wasn’t enough, especially an adviser with no experience. I and other psychology students would have liked to learn more about careers with a psychology degree and how to use our degree for the future. There weren’t many opportunities for research experience. The professors who had labs only hired a couple students per year, making it almost impossible to get research experience. The program would benefit from having a better advising department, research opportunities, and opportunities in the real world.” – Student at University of Cincinnati

University of Toledo
2801 W Bancroft St
Toledo, OH 43606
(800) 586-5336
https://www.utoledo.edu/

Student Review: “The best thing that I liked about the psychology program at the University of Toledo is that it has small class sizes as compared to other programs which allows for more student-teacher interactions. Also, I like the fact that the psychology program offers students to become research assistants in the various labs that the department provides. Other than that I also like the fact that the teachers truly care about the students and they help them with anything they can. One thing I didn’t like is that the program itself is not heavily funded by the university so a lot of the equipment is outdated.” – Student at University of Toledo

Student Review: “The University of Toledo’s psychology program was very good experience for me. The curriculum was challenging but I felt it made for a well-rounded student. The requirements ranged from general psychology classes to abnormal psychology to business and school psychology, and even statistic classes to learn how to compile results from your studies. Other classes required were a foreign language and many cultural classes. There was a lot of freedom as to what could be studied and count towards the degree. If a student wanted to focus more on elementary school psychology, such as training to be a school counselor, those classes were available. If another student wanted to focus on marketing psychology and the best ways to reach the demographic, those classes were offered as well.” – Student at University of Toledo

Wright State University
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy
Dayton, OH 45435
(937) 775-3333
https://www.wright.edu/

Student Review: “The psychology program at Wright State University is very research-oriented. Although they offer courses in a wide range of topics, the hands-on, out-of-class work only really occurs in the research method classes. A statistics course is required to graduate with a BS, as well as a year of research design and analysis courses. The capstones include a choice of two study-intensives courses in a variety of topics (e.g. psychology of film, space and time, psycholinguistics) and one advanced method course (e.g. social, cognition). In the advanced method course, students will put together their own studies, have them approved by the university’s IRB, collect and analyze data, and present their results. If a student intends to go to graduate school for research after achieving her bachelor’s degree, she will be well suited for the work by attending Wright State. On the other hand, non-research classes, such as personality, social psychology, counseling, abnormal psychology, etc. follow the same rote format of reading, lectures, exams, and writing papers. The lecturers vary in their qualifications and experience, and adjunct professors frequently teach these classes.” – Student at Wright State University

Youngstown State University
1 University Plz
Youngstown, OH 44555
(330)-941-3000
http://www.ysu.edu/

Student Review: “I transferred to Youngstown State University in the spring of 2012, majoring in psychology. I graduated a little over a year later and have since gone on to pursue a career in the field. The psych program at YSU provided me with a challenging experience and at the same time, the most nurturing and supportive one I’ve experienced at any university. Youngstown University is a commuter school and it was mostly attended by students from the surrounding area. I lived on campus, however, as I came from a city several hours away. I found this arrangement difficult at first. Most of the people went to the school and went home and weren’t particularly interested in socializing. After expressing my frustrations with a couple of my professors, I was connected to other students and introduced to a few club and community activities related to my major. These activities on top of my studies helped provide me with the experience and confidence necessary to pursue a professional degree while also applying my developing skills in an internship program offered through the school. Although it started out rough, the experience turned out to be a key factor in shaping my character, and I definitely wouldn’t trade that for anything else.” – Student at Youngstown State University

*Table Notes:
-N.Av. indicates data is not available.
-Metrics are institution-wide unless otherwise noted.
-Graduation rate is completion percentage within six years of start.
-Median (average) debt is cumulative federal loan debt for undergraduate completers in 2020-2021.
-Median earnings are from the 2020-2021 cohort 10 years post school entry.
-Net price is the average yearly price paid by full-time, first-year undergraduate students receiving financial aid. See NCES for more in-depth information.

References:
1. National Center for Education Statistics College Navigator: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
2. College Factual, Best Colleges Offering Degrees in Psychology (Nationwide): https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/psychology/rankings/top-ranked/#
3. Psychology Degree 411 Top Schools With Online Psychology Programs: https://www.psychologydegree411.com/degrees/online/
4. The Princeton Review. The Best 388 Colleges, 2023 Edition. The Princeton Review, 2022.
5. Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 – Psychology: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2023/subject-ranking/psychology
6. Department of Education College Scorecard: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/data/
7. American Psychological Association Accredited Programs: https://accreditation.apa.org/accredited-programs
8. Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs, Directory: https://www.cacrep.org/directory/
9. Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council Accredited Programs: https://mpcacaccreditation.org/accredited-programs/
10. National Association for School Psychologists, Approved Programs: https://apps.nasponline.org/standards-and-certification/graduate-program-approval-and-accreditation/approved-accredited.aspx
11. The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, 2023 Psychology Licensing Exam Scores by Doctoral Program: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.asppb.net/resource/resmgr/eppp_/2023_dr_rpt_012024.pdf