If you want a doctorate you can study without moving, the entire national field is 5 programs, and all 5 are on this page. 3 have published enough completed cohorts to judge and are ranked on that: Loma Linda University, University of Louisiana at Monroe and National University. The other 2 are accredited too, and sit below the ranked ones because there is not yet a record to rank them on.
5
accredited online MFT programs at doctoral level
1
of the 3 scored is fully online, the rest are hybrid
27
accredited doctoral programs of any delivery mode
Why this page shows 5 programs and not twenty-five. Every accredited doctoral program with an online or hybrid delivery mode is here. There is no larger pool to draw from. 3 of them have published 3 or more completed cohorts and are ranked on those figures; the other 2 have not, and sit below unranked. A dash in place of a figure means the program did not publish it.
The best online doctoral MFT programs, all 5 of them
The best online doctoral MFT programs number 5 in total, which is every accredited one in the country rather than a selection from a longer list. Those with completed cohorts are ordered by score; the rest are shown unranked, because ordering programs with no published results would invent a comparison.
- #1 Accredited with stipulations
Loma Linda University (PhD)
Loma Linda, CA
87
outcome score
Blended or hybridDoctoralFT 4 years, PT 5 yearsAccredited since July 1, 20025 scored cohortsWhat Loma Linda University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time76.8%typical is 33.3%
- Working in the field100%typical is 100%
From 5 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
What the record shows
Loma Linda University runs this doctorate from Loma Linda, CA, blended. Direction of travel is the worry, falling from 83.4% in the earlier cohorts to 41.5% in the later ones. Finishing is the hard part here rather than getting hired: 76.8% graduate on time, and 100% of those who do find relevant work. Coursework named on its own page covers medical family therapy. Worth asking early about the assistantships and tuition remission it advertises, rather than waiting for an offer. A part-time route exists, so the advertised length is not the only timetable. Much of the published table is still pending, 5 cohorts complete out of 10. Stipulations sit on its accreditation, giving it a fixed window to correct something. That changes nothing about license eligibility, and it is worth raising at interview.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 4 in process in process in process 2023-2024 7 in process in process in process 2022-2023 5 in process in process in process 2021-2022 7 83% 100% in process 2020-2021 2 0% in process in process 2019-2020 3 in process in process in process Loma Linda University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Graduation rate (45%) 76.8%over 5 cohorts
- Job placement rate (35%) 100%over 4 cohorts
- Licensure rate (20%) n/anot published, score renormalized
34 students admitted since 2015
- #2
University of Louisiana at Monroe (PhD)
Monroe, LA
70
outcome score
Blended or hybridDoctoral4 yearsAccredited since July 1, 20015 scored cohortsWhat University of Louisiana at Monroe publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time33.3%typical is 33.3%
- Working in the field100%typical is 100%
- Reached licensure100%typical is 100%
From 5 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
What the record shows
University of Louisiana at Monroe teaches this one in Monroe, LA over 4 years. Individual years swing hard, though, from 0% in 2019-2020 to 100% in 2016-2017, so the average is doing some hiding. Direction of travel is the worry, falling from 75% in the earlier cohorts to 0% in the later ones. Finishing is the hard part here rather than getting hired: 33.3% graduate on time, and 100% of those who do find relevant work. Taking the last cohort with complete figures, its 2020-2021 intake of 3: 0% finished on time. Scale is the caveat: 18 students across the scored cohorts, against a median of 34 among online and hybrid doctoral programs. Several cohorts are still running, 4 of them, the most recent entering in 2024-2025. Much of the published table is still pending, 5 cohorts complete out of 9. Accreditation dates to 2001 and runs to its next review in 2027.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 2 in process in process in process 2023-2024 2 in process in process in process 2022-2023 2 in process in process in process 2021-2022 0 in process in process in process 2020-2021 3 0% in process in process 2019-2020 4 0% in process in process University of Louisiana at Monroe program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Graduation rate (45%) 33.3%over 5 cohorts
- Job placement rate (35%) 100%over 3 cohorts
- Licensure rate (20%) 100%over 3 cohorts
18 students admitted since 2015
- #3
National University (PhD)
San Diego, CA
61.4
outcome score
OnlineDoctoral4 scored cohortsWhat National University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time32.4%typical is 33.3%
- Working in the field98.6%typical is 100%
From 4 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
What the record shows
National University runs this doctorate from San Diego, CA, fully online. Individual years swing hard, though, from 25.4% in 2016-2017 to 39.5% in 2018-2019, so the average is doing some hiding. No licensure rate is published, so the score rests on graduation and placement alone, as it does for 2 of the 3 programs here. Curriculum runs to 63 credits. Coursework named on its own page covers cognitive behavioral therapy, Gottman method and play therapy. Several cohorts are still running, 6 of them, the most recent entering in 2024-2025.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 32 in process in process in process 2023-2024 42 in process in process in process 2022-2023 47 in process in process in process 2021-2022 38 in process in process in process 2020-2021 58 in process in process in process 2019-2020 52 in process in process in process National University program page The address COAMFTE lists for its outcome data
Score breakdown
- Graduation rate (45%) 32.4%over 4 cohorts
- Job placement rate (35%) 98.6%over 4 cohorts
- Licensure rate (20%) n/anot published, score renormalized
454 students admitted since 2015
The remaining 2 accredited programs, not scored
These complete the field. They are accredited and their graduates are license-eligible, and they are placed below rather than in the order above because neither has published enough completed cohorts to be scored. Ordering them against programs with a track record would be inventing a comparison the data does not support.
-
Not scored
Alliant University (PsyD)
Irvine, CA · Online
It has published cohorts but none has completed yet, so there is no rate to score. That is a statement about its disclosure and its age, not about its teaching, and it is worth asking the program directly for its cohort figures.
-
Not scored
Antioch University New England (PhD)
Keene, NH · Blended or hybrid
It publishes no outcome table we could read at the link on file. That is a statement about its disclosure and its age, not about its teaching, and it is worth asking the program directly for its cohort figures.
Why are there so few online doctoral MFT programs?
There are so few online doctoral MFT programs because doctoral training is built on the three things that are hardest to deliver at a distance: close supervision, a cohort seminar that actually argues, and a dissertation committee that knows you. Of 27 accredited doctoral programs nationally, only 5 are offered online or hybrid at all.
The economics point the same way. A doctoral cohort is small, often single figures, and the marginal cost of running it remotely is not much lower than running it in a room. The distance model works at master's level, where cohorts are larger and coursework is more standardized, which is why 29 programs across the field offer it and almost all of them are master's degrees.
What does an online MFT program mean at doctoral level?
An online MFT program at doctoral level usually means hybrid: 2 of the 3 programs scored here require you on campus for scheduled residencies, and only 1 is listed by the accreditor as fully online. Assume travel until a program tells you otherwise in writing.
Ask for the residency schedule before you apply, in days per year rather than in adjectives. Some programs run a single intensive week each summer, which is manageable alongside a job. Others run several long weekends a term, which is not, if the campus is a flight away. This is the detail that decides whether a hybrid doctorate is compatible with the life you already have, and it is almost never on the marketing page.
Should you do an online MFT doctorate at all?
You should do an online MFT doctorate only if you want a specific outcome it delivers: a faculty post, funded research time, the training behind an approved supervisor designation, or a clinical directorship. Do not do one to become a better therapist or to charge more, because a master's plus supervised hours plus licensure already gets you practicing, and the doctorate does not raise the license.
The wage evidence supports that framing. Marriage and family therapists earn a median of $66,940 on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025, and there is no separate federal series showing a doctoral premium within the occupation. Three to five more years of study is a large investment to make on a return nobody has measured.
How should you compare three programs?
Compare three programs on the advisor, not the institution. At doctoral level the person who supervises your dissertation, whether their research is close to yours, and whether they are currently taking students will shape your five years more than anything in the table above. Email them before you apply, and treat a non-reply as data.
After that, four questions separate these programs in practice: how many residency days a year and where; whether funding exists at all and for how many years; what the real median time to completion is, as opposed to the advertised length; and who the last five graduates are and where they now work. A program that answers all four precisely is worth more than one that scores two points higher here.
How were the best online doctoral MFT programs chosen?
The best online doctoral MFT programs here were chosen on the same model used across every ranking on this site, weighted 45% graduation rate, 35% job placement rate and 20% licensure rate, restricted to programs COAMFTE lists at doctoral level with an online or hybrid delivery mode. Delivery mode changes which programs appear, never how they are scored.
A program needs 3 completed cohorts and 12 students since 2015 to be scored, which is why 2 of the 5 accredited programs are absent. The methodology page has the full rules, and the doctoral ranking puts these three in the context of every doctoral program in the country.
What this page does not tell you
This page does not tell you which advisor will take you, which is the thing that decides a doctorate. It also cannot separate a low graduation rate caused by a weak program from one caused by two students in a cohort of four finishing a semester late, and at these cohort sizes that ambiguity is permanent rather than fixable with better data.
With three programs, treat the order as the least interesting thing here. Read all three tables in full, then talk to the faculty. The list exists to make sure you know the complete set, which is a genuinely hard thing to establish from a search engine.
Common questions about online doctoral MFT programs
How many online doctoral MFT programs are there?
Is a fully online doctorate in MFT possible?
Do you need a doctorate to practice as a marriage and family therapist?
Are online doctoral MFT programs respected?
What is the difference between a PhD, a DMFT and a PsyD here?
Sources
These are the sources behind every figure on this page, each also linked inline.
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs The complete list of accredited doctoral programs and the delivery mode recorded for each, which is what defines this page's population. Read 2026-08-21
- Each program's Graduate Achievement Data table Every graduation, job placement and licensure figure quoted here, by cohort, linked from the program's card. Read 2026-08-21
- Each program's own page
For what a program says about its own curriculum, schedule, concentrations and
cost. 5 of the 5 programs here publish one at the address COAMFTE holds for them. Read 2026-08-21
Show all 5 program pages cited
Loma Linda University (PhD) University of Louisiana at Monroe (PhD) National University (PhD) Alliant University (PsyD) Antioch University New England (PhD)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Every wage figure, for Marriage and Family Therapists (SOC 21-1013). Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national release