Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family&Consumer Sciences

Graduate Academic Programs Offered by the Department

The Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family & Consumer Sciences provides graduate study for current and emerging professionals in parent education, family life education, and community-based youth development, or related careers. All of the Department’s academic programs are at the graduate level and require a completed bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.

The demand for qualified, competent professionals to teach, administer, and create support systems for children, youth and families is increasing across the country through Cooperative Extension programs, government agencies and initiatives, community-based non-profits, court systems, prisons, social service organizations, health care agencies/organizations, and schools.

For more information regarding career opportunities in the family life profession, please click here.
For more information regarding career opportunities in community youth development, please click here.

The Department’s graduate programs of study are designed to meet the individual needs of the student within the larger academic guidelines, policies, and parameters of NC State University and the current and emerging demands of the profession. The successful completion of these programs prepares future and current community-level professionals to better work with families, youth, children, and communities in providing quality family and parenting support, community based program development and management, and youth development leadership. These programs are neither public school teacher/counselor certification programs nor clinical counseling degrees.

The following three distance-based graduate programs are available in the Department.

Graduate Certificates

Seven (7) distance-based graduate certificate programs are offered in: Program Development in Family Life Education, Youth Development Leadership, Family Life & Parent Education, Volunteer Management & Administration, Administration and Leadership of Youth and Family Programs, Family Life Coaching, and Gerontology. Each certificate requires 12 hours of graduate coursework.

For detailed information and application procedures regarding the Certificate programs, please see http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/4hfcs/academics/cert/index.html

Master Degrees in Family Life and Youth Development

In addition to the six graduate Certificate programs, the Department also offers two distance-based graduate programs leading to a Master degree in Family Life and Youth Development. The Master of Science (M.S.) in Family Life and Youth Development requires 36 total credit hours of course work, including a culminating thesis and oral examination. The Master (M.R.) of Family Life and Youth Development requires only 30 hours of course work and a culminating oral exam and capstone experience/project.

Both Masters programs (i.e., both the M.R. and M.S) are designed to meet the individual needs of the student. In both programs, additional specialization in the student's current or future field is provided through one or more of six concentration areas: Youth Development Leadership, Volunteer Management and Administration, Administration and Leadership of Youth and Family Programs, Family Life and Parent Education, Gerontology, and Family Life Coaching. Each concentration involves 9-12 hours of course work in FYD counting toward the required minimum hours to graduate.

M.R./M.S. Program Admission Requirements

Students apply through NC State via the normal NC State University Graduate School admissions procedures. Applications for both degree programs are reviewed by the Department twice each year on March 1 and October 1. NOTE: only complete applications received by the Graduate School as of these deadlines are considered; incomplete applications must be completed and reviewed at the following deadline.

For general applications and admissions policies/information, please see http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/handbook/applications-and-admissions.html

In addition to all NC State Graduate School admission requirements, the Department requires GRE scores not more than five years old. For a GRE Fact Sheet, click here.

Finally, three academic references, and a 500-800 word Statement of Current/Future Career Goals are also required. The Statement should indicate whether the applicant is interested in the thesis (M.S.) or non-thesis (M.R.) option, and which Concentration(s) they plan to pursue. The Graduate School requires a 3.00 average (4.00 scale) in the undergraduate program. The most qualified applicants will be accepted up to the number of spaces that are available for new students. NOTE: Exceptions to the minimum grade point average and lower-than-desired GRE scores may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, circumstances, and interests.

Tuition and Student Financial Support

To review the current NC State University tuition rates for graduate programs, please see http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/cashier/tuition/

Unfortunately, no financial aid is available directly from the Department, nor does the Department offer Graduate Research or Teaching Assistantships (GRA’s and GTA’s) since this is a distance program. GTA’s in targeted content areas and part-time hourly work are sometimes available from individual faculty who receive external grants and contracts, and are advertised to students enrolled in the FYD Program by the individual faculty.

Other financial aid is available from the NC State Office of Financial Aid and on a competitive basis from the NC State Graduate School. Students seeking financial aid should contact directly the NC State Financial Aid Office.

Non-degree Students (NDS)

Students may enroll in courses as non-degree students (NDS) without being formally accepted into the program as non-degree students. A maximum of 12 credit hours of NDS coursework in FYD may be transferred into the program, providing (1) the courses meet a FYD program requirement and (2) the student earns a grade of “B” or better. A NDS student may take a maximum of 6 credit hours per semester.

To enroll as a NDS, please see http://www.ncsu.edu/nds/index.html

For Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about both masters programs, please click here.