Best School Psychology Programs in New Hampshire Rankings for 2026
NASP-approved EdS and specialist programs in New Hampshire, with the NH Department of Education certification pathway, the route to private practice, internship requirements, and school psychologist salary data for 2026.
Key Takeaways
- New Hampshire school psychologists earn a median of $73,490, about 23% below the $95,990 national median (BLS, May 2025). The state employs about 360 of them, and the top 10% clear $98,850. The number looks lower than a state like California, but New Hampshire has no state income tax on wages, so more of that paycheck lands in your pocket.
- You get certified through the New Hampshire Department of Education, not a separate licensing board. There is no required Praxis content exam for the state School Psychologist credential. You finish a state-approved specialist or doctoral program, log a 1,200-hour supervised internship, and apply.
- New Hampshire is a one-to-two-program state. Plymouth State University runs the NASP-approved EdS in School Psychology, and Rivier University offers a state-approved EdS option. Many New Hampshire students also look just across the border at Massachusetts programs.
- The state credential requires a state-board-approved program of at least 60 semester hours (54 exclusive of internship) plus a 1,200-hour supervised internship, with up to 600 of those hours substitutable. That is the standard specialist-level structure most school psychology jobs are built around.
- School psychologists are in short supply nationwide, and New Hampshire is no exception. NASP recommends one school psychologist for every 500 students, and the real national ratio sits well above that. You can track the gap on the NASP state shortages dashboard. Steady demand means steady job security.
New Hampshire is a small school psychology market, but a steady one. The state employs about 360 school psychologists and pays a median of $73,490 a year, according to May 2025 BLS data. That median sits below the national figure of $95,990, and you should know that going in. The trade-off is that New Hampshire charges no state income tax on earned wages, so a $73,490 salary here keeps more take-home pay than the same number in a high-tax state, and your pay still climbs on the district salary schedule as you add experience and graduate credits.
Here is the part that matters for planning. New Hampshire keeps school psychology simpler than states like California that split the job across two agencies. To work in New Hampshire public schools you earn a School Psychologist credential from the New Hampshire Department of Education. There is no required Praxis content exam for that state credential. You finish a state-approved specialist or doctoral program, complete a 1,200-hour supervised internship, and apply through the Department. If you later want to see clients in private practice outside the school system, that is a separate path: you would pursue licensure as a psychologist through the NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification and the Board of Mental Health Practice, which is a longer, doctoral-leaning route most school psychologists never take.
On programs, be realistic. New Hampshire has one to two specialist programs, not the dozen a big state offers. Plymouth State University holds the NASP-approved EdS, and Rivier University offers a state-approved EdS option. Because the in-state list is short, a lot of New Hampshire students compare three routes: an in-state EdS, an online specialist program from out of state, or a program just over the line in Massachusetts. Below you will find the New Hampshire programs, exactly what the state credential requires, real salary numbers by metro, and how to pick the path that fits where you want to work.
Best School Psychology Programs in New Hampshire Rankings (NASP-Approved EdS & Specialist)
All 2 programs ranked in this guide, with tuition, format, and accreditation at a glance.
| # | School | In-State Tuition | Format | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plymouth State University: EdS in School Psychology | See program (USNH graduate per-credit tuition + fees) | On-campus | |
| 2 | Rivier University: EdS in School Psychology | Private university (per-credit tuition; see program) | On-campus |
Plymouth State University: EdS in School Psychology
In-State
See program (USNH graduate per-credit tuition + fees)
Out-of-State
See program (nonresident per-credit tuition + fees)
Length
3 years (EdS, specialist level)
Field Hours
1,200-hour supervised internship (specialist-level, school-based)
Concentrations
- The NASP-approved school psychology program in New Hampshire, so you graduate eligible for the NCSP national certification
- Specialist-level EdS built around the standard 1,200-hour internship that the NH credential requires
- Located in central New Hampshire, a pipeline into the small and rural districts that work hard to recruit
- Coursework maps directly to the NH Department of Education School Psychologist credential, so your degree and your certification line up
Rivier University: EdS in School Psychology
In-State
Private university (per-credit tuition; see program)
Out-of-State
Private university (per-credit tuition; see program)
Length
3 years (EdS, specialist level)
Field Hours
1,200-hour supervised internship (specialist-level)
Concentrations
- Specialist-level EdS designed to meet the NH Department of Education School Psychologist credential requirements
- Located in Nashua, minutes from the Massachusetts border and a short drive from Manchester-area districts
- Confirm the program's current NASP approval status directly with Rivier before you apply, since NASP status drives NCSP eligibility
- A second in-state option in a state where the program list is short
New Hampshire School Psychologist Certification Requirements
The licensing board, exam pathway, and supervised hours you'll need to practice independently.
Licensing Board
New Hampshire Department of Education: Bureau of Educator Credentialing
(603) 271-3494
New Hampshire keeps the school side of this credential under one roof, which makes the path easier to map than in states that split it across two agencies. To work as a school psychologist in New Hampshire public schools, you earn the School Psychologist credential from the New Hampshire Department of Education. Here is the step-by-step.
Step one: finish a state-board-approved program. You complete a specialist-level or doctoral school psychology program approved by the New Hampshire State Board of Education, totaling at least 60 semester hours, with at least 54 of those hours exclusive of the internship. This is the standard EdS structure that Plymouth State and Rivier are built to satisfy.
Step two: complete the supervised internship. The credential requires a 1,200-hour supervised internship in school psychology. Up to 600 of those hours may be substitutable under the state rules, so confirm how your program structures the internship year and what counts.
Step three: skip the content exam, if you only want the state credential. New Hampshire does not require the Praxis School Psychologist content exam for the state School Psychologist credential. You can earn the credential without it. Many graduates still choose to take the Praxis School Psychologist exam (#5403, passing score 155) voluntarily, because passing it plus graduating from a NASP-approved program earns the Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) credential, which makes moving to another state much easier later.
Step four: apply through the Department. Your program recommends you, and you submit your application and clear a background check through the NH Department of Education Bureau of Educator Credentialing.
One more thing worth knowing. The Department of Education credential covers school-based work, which is where the large majority of New Hampshire school psychologists are employed. If you want to practice privately outside schools, that is a different and longer road: licensure as a psychologist through the NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification and the Board of Mental Health Practice, which generally expects doctoral-level training. Most school psychologists in New Hampshire stick with the Department of Education credential and never need the separate psychologist license.
New Hampshire School Psychologist Credential (NH Department of Education)
Practice as a school psychologist in New Hampshire public K-12 schools: assessment, counseling, crisis response, and intervention design
Hours
1,200
Duration
typically a 3-year specialist (EdS) program
Exam: No Praxis content exam required for the state credential. The Praxis School Psychologist exam (#5403, passing 155) is optional and is taken voluntarily to earn the NCSP.
Licensed Psychologist (private practice, NH OPLC / Board of Mental Health Practice)
Independent private practice of psychology outside the public school setting: assessment, counseling, and consultation
Hours
N/A
Duration
Associate
Exam: Psychology licensure exam(s) administered through the NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification. Most school psychologists do not pursue this route.
New Hampshire participates in interstate credentialing reviews rather than rubber-stamping out-of-state credentials. If you trained or worked as a school psychologist in another state, you apply to the NH Department of Education, and the Bureau of Educator Credentialing reviews your preparation against New Hampshire standards. Holding the NCSP national certification helps a lot here, because it signals your program met NASP standards and your internship met the 1,200-hour benchmark. If you trained just over the border in Massachusetts or Maine, plan to document your graduate coursework and your supervised internship, and start the paperwork well before your first New Hampshire school year.
School Psychologist Salary in New Hampshire
BLS state median wages by counseling specialty, with national comparison and top-paying metros.
New Hampshire pays school psychologists below the national median, and you should plan around that honestly. The BLS May 2025 data puts the New Hampshire median at $73,490, against a national median of $95,990, a gap of about 23%. The range runs from roughly $38,680 at the 10th percentile to $98,850 at the 90th, with the 25th percentile near $45,070 and the 75th near $93,380. Pay follows district salary schedules, so where you start and how fast you climb depends on the contract in the district that hires you.
Two things soften that below-median number. First, New Hampshire has no state income tax on earned wages, so a $73,490 salary here stretches further on take-home pay than the same figure in a state that taxes wages. Second, the metro picture is better than the statewide median suggests. The New Hampshire OEWS metro data shows Manchester-Nashua leading at a $82,450 median (about 70 jobs), with the Northern New Hampshire nonmetro area at $81,060 (about 30 jobs) and the Central New Hampshire nonmetro area at $80,060 (about 60 jobs). In other words, the populated southern corridor and the rural areas both pay in the low-to-mid $80,000s at the median, noticeably above the statewide $73,490 figure. If you are choosing where to work, the metro you land in matters as much as the headline number.
School Psychologists (BLS 19-3034)
National median: $95,990
Top metro: $82,450 (Manchester-Nashua)
School Psychologists, Northern NH nonmetro (BLS 19-3034)
National median: $95,990
Top metro: $81,060 (Northern New Hampshire (nonmetro))
School Psychologists, Central NH nonmetro (BLS 19-3034)
National median: $95,990
Top metro: $80,060 (Central New Hampshire (nonmetro))
New Hampshire School Psychology Job Market and Shortage
Major employers, mental health shortage context, and loan repayment programs that erase debt for service.
New Hampshire is a small market, but a tight one, and that works in your favor when you are looking for a job. The state employs about 360 school psychologists, and the work that drives demand is the same work schools are legally required to do. Every special education eligibility decision rests on a psycho-educational evaluation, and a school psychologist has to run it. Add the post-pandemic push to expand school-based mental health, and caseloads have grown faster than districts can hire.
NASP recommends one school psychologist for every 500 students. The real national ratio sits well above that, and small New England states feel the pinch because there is no large local pipeline of graduates. You can watch the gap on the NASP state shortages dashboard. In New Hampshire the employers are mostly public school districts, SAUs (School Administrative Units), regional special education collaboratives, and a handful of charter and private schools. The northern and central parts of the state, where the BLS shows fewer jobs but solid pay, are exactly the rural areas that struggle to recruit, so a willingness to work outside the Manchester-Nashua corridor can turn into leverage at the negotiating table.
Here is the honest workforce trade-off for New Hampshire. Because the state has only one to two specialist programs, local supply is thin, which keeps demand for new graduates high. But the same thinness means you may train out of state or online and then credential in. Either way, the job security is real: school districts cannot run special education without school psychologists, and there are not enough to go around.
Loan Repayment & Scholarship Programs
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). School psychologists employed full-time by a New Hampshire public school district or SAU qualify for federal PSLF, which forgives the remaining balance on Direct Loans after 120 qualifying payments. Eligibility is based on your public employer, not your job title, so this is the most reliable relief available to you.
No state income tax on wages. New Hampshire does not tax earned wages, so your repayment dollars come out of a paycheck that keeps more take-home than the same salary in a state that taxes income. It is not a forgiveness program, but it changes the math on what you can afford to repay.
Watch for teacher-only programs. Many state loan-repayment and forgiveness programs are written for classroom teachers and quietly exclude school psychologists. Before you count on a state program, confirm in writing that the school psychologist role qualifies. Do not assume it does.
District and SAU incentives. In hard-to-staff rural districts, individual SAUs sometimes offer hiring stipends or relocation help for credentialed school psychologists. These are negotiated locally, so ask the districts you are targeting what they currently offer.
How to Choose the Best School Psychology Program in New Hampshire
Decision factors that actually matter, not generic checklist filler.
With one to two in-state programs, choosing a school psychology path in New Hampshire is less about ranking a dozen schools and more about picking the right route for your life. Here is how the realistic options sort out.
If you want the NASP-approved in-state EdS: Plymouth State University runs the NASP-approved school psychology program in New Hampshire, so you graduate eligible for the NCSP and the state credential lines up cleanly with your degree.
If you want to stay near the southern population corridor: Rivier University in Nashua puts you minutes from the Massachusetts line and a short drive from Manchester-area districts, which is also where the BLS shows the highest metro pay. Confirm Rivier's current NASP approval status before you apply.
If you want the strongest cross-state mobility: choose a NASP-approved program and take the Praxis School Psychologist exam voluntarily to earn the NCSP, even though New Hampshire does not require the exam. The NCSP makes it far easier to move to another state later.
If the in-state options do not fit your schedule: compare an online specialist program from an out-of-state university. Just confirm it is NASP-approved or clearly meets the NH Department of Education program standards, and that its internship hours satisfy the 1,200-hour requirement.
If you live near the border: look at Massachusetts and Maine programs too. Many New Hampshire students train just over the line and then credential back into New Hampshire through the Department of Education review.
If you want to work in rural New Hampshire: the northern and central parts of the state pay in the low-to-mid $80,000s at the median and compete hard for graduates. A program that places you in rural school-based practica gives you a head start on those jobs.
If private practice is your long-term goal: understand up front that the NH Department of Education credential covers school work only. Independent private practice means a separate, doctoral-leaning psychologist license through the OPLC and the Board of Mental Health Practice, so plan your degree level accordingly.
Related Pages
School Psychologist Career Guide
What school psychologists actually do day to day
School Psychologist Salary
Salary data by state, experience, and setting
School Psychology Programs by State
Browse school psychology programs in every state
School Psychology Programs in Massachusetts
NASP-approved programs just over the New Hampshire border
School Psychology Programs in Maine
School psychology EdS and specialist programs in Maine
Sources
- NASP: Graduate Program Approval & Accreditation
- Plymouth State University: School Psychology (EdS)
- Rivier University: Graduate Education Programs
- New Hampshire Department of Education: Educator Credentialing
- NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification: Board of Mental Health Practice
- NASP: Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) Eligibility
- NASP: State Shortages Data Dashboard
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: OEWS New Hampshire, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: School Psychologists (19-3034)