Palo Alto University offers psychology degrees from the bachelor’s through doctoral level, including a BS in Psychology, an MS in Psychology, a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and the PAU-Stanford PsyD Consortium. PAU’s doctoral programs are APA-accredited, and the university holds regional accreditation from WASC Senior College and University Commission. The campus is located in Palo Alto, California.
Palo Alto University started in 1975 as the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and adopted its current name in 2009. The school focuses almost entirely on psychology, counseling, and social work, offering programs from an undergraduate degree through two doctoral tracks.
Accreditation Details
WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) grants Palo Alto University its institutional accreditation, the same regional accreditor recognized by most nonprofit colleges and universities in California. On top of that, PAU’s two doctoral tracks (the PhD in Clinical Psychology and the PAU-Stanford PsyD Consortium) each carry accreditation from the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation, and the MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).
Licensure requirements vary by state, so graduates should confirm supervised hours and exam requirements with their own licensing board rather than assuming accreditation alone covers it. California, where PAU is based, sets its own supervised-experience minimum, and PAU’s doctoral programs are built to meet it.
Application Requirements
PAU’s graduate and doctoral programs run through PsychologyCAS, the centralized application system for psychology programs, rather than a school-specific portal. Applicants pay a fee for their first program and a lower fee for each additional PAU program submitted in the same cycle.
Doctoral applicants need a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited school, and PAU doesn’t require GRE scores for the PhD or PsyD. Admission is competitive, and PAU recommends that applicants show relevant clinical or research experience alongside their transcripts and personal statement.
Tuition and Financial Aid
PAU publishes separate tuition rates for its undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs, and the PsyD track bills on a flat quarterly rate rather than a per-credit basis. Tuition, fees, and program length all affect total cost, so applicants should confirm current figures directly with PAU before budgeting.
PAU offers financial aid through the FAFSA, including federal loans, teaching and research assistantships for students near campus, and merit-based scholarships. Graduate and doctoral students can also apply for institutional fellowships, though amounts and eligibility change yearly.
Psychology Programs at Palo Alto University
PAU’s program list runs from a transfer-friendly bachelor’s degree through two separate doctoral tracks, with counseling and social work options in between.
Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology
PAU’s undergraduate psychology program is built for transfer students, letting them complete lower-division coursework at a community college and finish the degree at PAU either online or on campus.
MS in Psychology
The master’s in psychology track covers general psychology coursework, and PAU also offers it as a pathway for students planning to continue into one of PAU’s PhD programs.
MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
PAU’s counseling program is CACREP-accredited and prepares graduates for licensure as professional counselors, with both online and hybrid formats available.
Master of Social Work
PAU’s MSW program is currently in pre-candidacy status with the Council on Social Work Education’s Board of Accreditation (BOA), on a timeline that targets initial accreditation around 2027. Students admitted during pre-candidacy are retroactively recognized as CSWE graduates once the program earns initial accreditation.
PhD in Clinical Psychology
PAU’s PhD in Clinical Psychology is APA-accredited and follows a practitioner-scientist model that combines clinical training with research. Students can add an Area of Emphasis alongside the core curriculum, including tracks in Forensic Psychology, Neuropsychology, LGBTQ Psychology, and Health Psychology. The forensic track trains students in the clinical side of psychology’s overlap with the legal system, such as child custody evaluations, violence risk assessment, and correctional mental health work, rather than pairing the PhD with a separate law degree. Readers set on a master’s-level path, instead, can compare forensic psychology master’s programs separately.
PAU-Stanford PsyD Consortium
PAU partners with Stanford University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to offer the PsyD Consortium, an APA-accredited doctoral program focused on direct clinical service delivery. PAU is one of several schools offering other PsyD programs in California, so applicants can compare options before choosing. Both the PhD and PsyD build in supervised practicum training across their multi-year coursework, then require a separate, one-year predoctoral internship (2,000 supervised hours) before graduates can sit for state licensure. Applicants weighing how a PhD and PsyD differ can apply to both programs in the same cycle through PsychologyCAS.
PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision
PAU’s newest doctoral offering trains counselor educators and supervisors rather than clinicians, preparing graduates to teach, research, and lead within the counseling profession.
See how Palo Alto University’s psychology, counseling, and social work programs stack up against other accredited schools by exploring more options below.