Who Gets to Become a Social Worker?
October 2026 | The CESWP Leadership Letter
We hear a lot about workforce shortages in social work.
We need more social workers in schools, hospitals, community mental health, child welfare, and countless other settings where the need for services continues to grow.
But there's another question we need to be asking: Who can actually afford to become a social worker?
For many roles in our profession, graduate education is required. That education can be extraordinarily expensive, and compensation after graduation often doesn't reflect the cost of becoming qualified to do the work.
Recent changes to federal student-loan policy are making that tension even more consequential.
When Earnings Determine Access
Two federal developments deserve our attention.
First, new federal borrowing limits distinguish between graduate programs and those classified as "professional degree" programs. Social work is not currently included in the category eligible for higher borrowing limits.
Under the new structure, graduate students are generally limited to $20,500 annually and $100,000 in aggregate graduate borrowing. New graduate borrowers also lose access to Grad PLUS loans, with exceptions for some existing students.
The Department of Education emphasizes that the "professional degree" designation is a technical borrowing classification, not a judgment about whether social workers are professionals. Nevertheless, the financial consequences are significant.
Read the Department of Education's Explanation β
A second policy introduces an earnings-accountability framework under which individual graduate programs can lose eligibility for federal Direct Loans if their graduates' earnings repeatedly fall below a benchmark based on bachelor's-degree holders' earnings.
Read More About the Earnings-Accountability Policy β
The stated goal is to protect students and taxpayers from expensive programs with poor financial outcomes.
That's a concern worth taking seriously. Graduate education is expensive, and students deserve transparency about tuition, debt, and realistic earnings.
But there's another side to this.
Restricting access to financing does not increase social worker salaries, reduce tuition, or change the graduate education requirements built into much of our profession.
When access to education increasingly depends on the economic return of the profession, we have to ask who will still be able to enter it.
This Month's Reflection
Think about the social workers entering our profession ten years from now.
Who will have the resources to pay for graduate education? Who can manage unpaid internships, living expenses, and the years between graduation and independent licensure?
And when people cannot afford those barriers, whose perspectives, experiences, and future leadership will our profession lose?
These aren't only higher-education questions. They're workforce questions.
What's Happening at CESWP
Play Therapy Supervision Group | November 2
I'm excited to share an upcoming group from Erin Johnson, LCSW, RPT-S, ACS, a Social Work Entrepreneur Fellow affiliated with CESWP.
Erin specializes in justice-oriented, child welfare-informed play therapy and clinical supervision. Her group begins November 2 and offers clinicians pursuing play therapy credentials an opportunity for reflective, developmentally informed supervision.
Explore Erin's Play Therapy Supervision Group β
Upcoming CE Training | October 28
I taught Beyond Supportive Supervision: Facilitating Growth Through Developmental and Reflective Practice through You Need a Training this week. A recording of the training will be available for self-study purchase in the coming days.
This three-hour virtual training explores how supervisors can intentionally support professional growth through developmental frameworks, reflective practice, and purposeful supervisory interventions.
3 NBCC credit hours | Use code RAAB5 for $5 off registration.
Institutional Training & Consultation
In August, I provided a half-day clinical supervision training for the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System. I'm continuing to expand CESWP's customized training and consultation for healthcare organizations, behavioral health agencies, universities, and other organizations supporting social workers.
Explore Training & Consultation for Organizations β
Meanwhile, at Fireweed...
Furnished therapy offices are available at Fireweed Professional Spaces in southwest Denver, with flexible rental options, shared amenities, and free parking.
Fireweed is part of the same larger commitment to building practical infrastructure that helps clinicians do their work.
Explore Therapy Office Rentals β
Out in the Community
Earlier this month, CESWP exhibited at the Rocky Mountain Social Work Conference in the Denver Tech Center. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with colleagues, introduce more social workers to our training and consultation offerings, and continue building relationships across the profession.
The future of social work doesn't depend only on whether people want to do this work.
People do.
It depends on whether we create a profession they can afford to enter, remain in, develop within, and eventually lead.
A workforce shortage cannot be solved only by asking more people to enter a profession. We also have to examine what we're asking them to overcome in order to get here.
Until next month,
Bethany
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