Nebraska has 5 CSWE-accredited Bachelor of Social Work programs, the authoritative count from the CSWE Directory of Accredited Programs. The longest-accredited is University of Nebraska at Omaha, which has held CSWE accreditation since 1975. 2 of the 5 record an online option; the rest are campus-based. 2 at a Carnegie R2 (high research) university.
Each program below is scored on the same five-factor model used in our national ranking, so the order reflects accreditation longevity, delivery and schedule flexibility, program breadth, and the institution's Carnegie research tier, all applied identically nationwide.
Nebraska BSW programs at a glance
5
CSWE-accredited BSW programs
1975
Oldest, University of Nebraska at Omaha, accredited since
2
Offer an online option
2
At an R1 or R2 research university
Nebraska's 5 programs span CSWE accreditation from 1975 to 1992, and the highest-scoring on our five-factor model is University of Nebraska at Omaha at 8.2 out of 10, a Carnegie R2 research university. The newest, Chadron State College, earned accreditation in 1992. Among the Nebraska programs we have verified tuition for, published in-state tuition runs from $5,376 to $45,000 a year. A child, family, and school social worker in Nebraska earns a median of $47,770 a year, 20% below the national median of $59,550 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
All 5 CSWE-Accredited BSW Programs in Nebraska
Every one of these BSW programs in Nebraska holds current CSWE accreditation. Status, dates, campus locations and online options come from the CSWE Directory of Accredited Programs, and each card cites its own sources inline. Tuition is shown for reference only and is not factored into the score.
- #1
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE · CSWE-Accredited since 1975 · Online or On-Campus
8.2
Online or On-Campus Carnegie R2 Full & part-time 1 campus + online Accred. since 1975Why it ranks in Nebraska
Based in Omaha, University of Nebraska at Omaha is a public university offering a BSW in Nebraska. The social work sequence runs two years and pairs Human Behavior and the Social Environment I and II with practice courses in individuals and families and then groups and communities. Alongside those sit Permanence for Children, Crisis Intervention, Case Management, Trauma and Resilience, Writing for Social Work and a career preparation course. The fully online track compresses the social work curriculum into about two years for students who arrive with 60 hours already finished. That cohort meets Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. on Zoom and runs on a flipped classroom model, with concepts covered through short videos and readings before class time. CSWE accreditation dates to 1975, 51 years of unbroken standing, above the Nebraska median of 44 years. No other program among the BSW programs in Nebraska has held CSWE accreditation longer.
Annual tuition (not factored)
In-state $6,536 · Out-of-state $20,524 / year
Locations
Omaha, NE (1975-present); Online (2025-present)
Five-factor score breakdown
- Longevity (40%) 10.0
- Delivery (22%) 7.0
- Prestige (15%) 7.5
- Schedule (12%) 10.0
- Breadth (11%) 3.0
- #2
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kearney, NE · CSWE-Accredited since 1982 · Online or On-Campus
7.4
Online or On-Campus Full & part-time 1 campus + online Accred. since 1982Why it ranks in Nebraska
University of Nebraska at Kearney teaches the BSW in Kearney, one of the CSWE-accredited BSW programs in Nebraska. The comprehensive major is a 120-hour Bachelor of Science that UNK runs both on campus and fully online, with online students earning the identical degree. A social work minor is available in either format. Declared majors must apply formally before moving into practice courses, clearing Introduction to Social Welfare with a B or better and completing Human Service Ethics along with volunteer hours at a human service agency that returns a satisfactory evaluation. Applications go through Canvas by May 1 or December 1, and a 2.5 GPA has to hold throughout. In-state tuition runs $6,480 a year against $14,130 for nonresidents, in line with the Nebraska median of $6,536.
Annual tuition (not factored)
In-state $6,480 · Out-of-state $14,130 / year
Locations
Kearney, NE (1982-present); Online (2018-present)
Visit the University of Nebraska at Kearney BSW program site
Five-factor score breakdown
- Longevity (40%) 9.0
- Delivery (22%) 7.0
- Prestige (15%) 5.0
- Schedule (12%) 10.0
- Breadth (11%) 3.0
- #3
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, NE · CSWE-Accredited since 1982 · On-Campus
6.8
On-Campus Full & part-time 1 campus Accred. since 1982Why it ranks in Nebraska
Based in Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University is a private university offering a BSW in Nebraska. Faculty are described as experienced practitioners rather than career academics. Their listed backgrounds include grief counseling, disaster response, child protection, domestic violence, chronic stress, the courts and probation, sex offender interventions, oncology and HIV/AIDS social work, and collaborations with Native Peoples. About half of graduates go into child, family or school social work, with the rest concentrated in medical, mental health and public health settings including substance abuse services. Learning is assessed through capstone assignments and field practicum evaluations, and the department posts those CSWE outcome reports each year going back to 2013. Published tuition is $40,648 a year at one rate for residents and nonresidents, above the Nebraska median of $6,536.
Annual tuition (not factored)
$40,648 / year (private, one rate for all students)
Locations
Lincoln, NE (1982-present); Omaha, NE (1982-2022)
Five-factor score breakdown
- Longevity (40%) 9.0
- Delivery (22%) 4.0
- Prestige (15%) 5.0
- Schedule (12%) 10.0
- Breadth (11%) 3.0
- #4
Chadron State College
Chadron, NE · CSWE-Accredited since 1992 · On-Campus
6.6
On-Campus Full & part-time 1 campus Accred. since 1992Why it ranks in Nebraska
Based in Chadron, Chadron State College is a public university offering a BSW in Nebraska. The major reaches students at distant sites through a combination of interactive television and online discussion boards, with on-campus attendance required one day per week during the final year before field practicum. Transfer pathways from community colleges across the region are an explicit part of the design. The program defines its service region as western Nebraska, southwest South Dakota, southeast Wyoming and northeast Colorado, and trains graduates for practice across that high plains territory. Seniors in the SW 435 course plan and host the department's annual social work conference, a free public event built recently around domestic violence and mental health. In-state tuition runs $5,376 a year against $5,376 for nonresidents, below the Nebraska median of $6,536. It carries the lowest published in-state tuition among the BSW programs in Nebraska.
Annual tuition (not factored)
In-state $5,376 · Out-of-state $5,376 / year
Locations
Chadron, NE (1992-present)
Five-factor score breakdown
- Longevity (40%) 7.4
- Delivery (22%) 4.0
- Prestige (15%) 5.0
- Schedule (12%) 10.0
- Breadth (11%) 7.5
- #5
Creighton University
Omaha, NE · CSWE-Accredited since 1990 · On-Campus
6.2
On-Campus Carnegie R2 Full-time 1 campus Accred. since 1990Why it ranks in Nebraska
Based in Omaha, Creighton University is a private university offering a BSW in Nebraska. Students first complete a 40-hour pre-practicum in a community agency, then a senior agency-based practicum running August through April. Recent sites include Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Lasting Hope Recovery Center, Nebraska AIDS Project, PromiseShip, Legal Aid of Nebraska and AseraCare Hospice. Declaring is only the first step. After SWK 261 or SWK 275, students file an admission document that faculty review as a gatekeeping measure, returning full admission, admission with conditions, or no admission with counseling toward another major. Practice courses require a C+ rather than a C, and any course can be repeated only once. Published tuition is $45,000 a year at one rate for residents and nonresidents, above the Nebraska median of $6,536.
Annual tuition (not factored)
$45,000 / year (private, one rate for all students)
Locations
Omaha, NE (1990-present)
Five-factor score breakdown
- Longevity (40%) 7.8
- Delivery (22%) 4.0
- Prestige (15%) 7.5
- Schedule (12%) 6.0
- Breadth (11%) 3.0
The Social Work Industry in Nebraska
A Bachelor of Social Work is the entry credential for Nebraska's front-line social-service workforce. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET, social workers are employed across public human-services and child-welfare agencies, hospitals and health systems, K-12 schools, community mental-health and substance-use programs, aging and disability services, and nonprofit and faith-based organizations. BSW-level roles are generalist and direct-practice: case manager, child and family caseworker, community and behavioral-health worker, and social and human-service assistant. Supervisory, therapeutic, and independent clinical positions generally require a master's. If you plan to pursue graduate education, BestMSWPrograms.org covers the best MSW programs to help you take that next step.
Per the CSWE Directory of Accredited Programs, Nebraska's 5 accredited programs are based across 4 cities, including Omaha, Kearney, Lincoln, Chadron, 2 offering an online option. 2 are hosted at a Carnegie research university (R1 or R2), which adds research and teaching-hospital placements to the local training pipeline. CSWE standards require supervised field education, so programs build placement partnerships with local agencies, hospitals, schools, and nonprofits, which makes the state's campuses a training and hiring pipeline into the surrounding Nebraska social-service economy. Online-capable programs extend that access to students in rural and remote parts of the state, areas the federal government (HRSA) frequently designates as mental-health workforce shortage areas.
Nationally, the BLS projects social-worker employment will grow 7% from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 67,300 openings projected each year, many from the need to replace workers who leave the occupation. The BLS projects faster-than-average growth for healthcare social workers and for mental health and substance abuse social workers, specialties that hire at both the bachelor's and master's levels.
Child, family, and school social workers, the most common BSW-level specialty, have a location quotient of 1.87 in Nebraska, meaning the occupation is 87% more concentrated than the national average. The state supports roughly 4.7 of these jobs per 1,000 jobs statewide.
In Nebraska, social workers held about 6,930 jobs across the four social work occupations as of May 2025, per the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. Employment, annual wages, and pay range by specialty:
| Occupation | Employed in NE | Median | Mean | 10th to 90th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child, family, and school social workers | 4,830 | $47,770 | $51,650 | $41,620 to $64,750 |
| Healthcare social workers | 980 | $62,420 | $63,680 | $46,040 to $82,780 |
| Mental health and substance abuse social workers | 900 | $43,240 | $45,760 | $35,760 to $59,160 |
| Social workers, all other | 220 | $76,520 | $77,720 | $48,610 to $105,680 |
BLS OEWS, May 2025. Wages cover all workers in each occupation; BLS does not break wages out by degree, and BSW-level roles typically fall toward the lower end of each range. Location quotient compares the state's job concentration to the national average (1.0 = the national rate). O*NET reports tasks, skills, and local outlook by occupation.
Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Social Workers; BLS state wage data for Nebraska; O*NET: Child, Family, and School Social Workers; CSWE Directory of Accredited Programs; HRSA health workforce shortage areas.
Social Work Licensure in Nebraska
Licensing data from the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the body that develops the social work licensing exams, captured 2026.
Nebraska licenses social workers at the bachelor level, so a CSWE-accredited BSW is the degree requirement for an entry-level license here. That makes program accreditation, the basis of our ranking, a direct licensing prerequisite.
| License | Name | Exam | CSWE BSW required |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSW | Certified Social Worker | No ASWB exam required | Yes |
The license ladder continues to the master's level (CMSW, PCMSW), and the clinical, independent-practice level (LIMHP, LMHP, PMHP). A CSWE-accredited BSW also qualifies graduates for Advanced Standing admission to a master's program.
How We Ranked These Programs
Every program is scored on the same five-factor model used in the national ranking, with no state-specific adjustments. Four factors are drawn from the CSWE Directory of Accredited Programs; prestige uses the institution's 2025 Carnegie research classification.
- Accreditation longevity (40%): years of continuous CSWE accreditation.
- Delivery flexibility (22%): online option and number of approved campus locations.
- Prestige (15%): 2025 Carnegie research tier (R1, R2, or baseline).
- Schedule flexibility (12%): full-time and part-time plans of study.
- Program breadth (11%): embedded certificates and dual-degree options.
For the full model, see our ranking methodology.