GSU offers scholarships for next generation of rehabilitation counselors
Georgia State University was recently awarded a $750,000 federal grant to train the next generation of vocational rehabilitation counselors, helping to reduce a nationwide shortage in the field.
The grant will pay the educational expenses for graduate students who, upon graduation, are willing to work for a publicly funded agency that assists individuals with disabilities in finding employment.
The funding will support nine full-time graduate students each year for five years who will study in the rehabilitation counseling program, provided by the College of Education's Department of Counseling and Psychological Services. The scholarships will be awarded starting this fall through GSU's Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling Scholars Program.
"There is a chronic shortage as well as a huge number of professional rehabilitation counselors retiring; this will do something to address the national shortage," said Professor Roger Weed, coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counseling Program.
A rehabilitation counselor assists individuals with disabilities to achieve their personal, career and independent living goals in the most integrated settings possible.
The grant was awarded to Georgia State's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, in collaboration with the College of Education. It is the second award to Georgia State, following a five year award given in 2004.
In order to be eligible for the scholarship, candidates must already be admitted to GSU's Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling graduate program. For each full-time academic year funded by this scholarship, the scholar must work two years in this field. No more than four years will be required for a two-year master's program.
For more information about Georgia State's Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling graduate program, click
here.
More information on the Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling Scholars Program is available
here.
