Social work BSW / LBSW / LMSW / LCSW

Typical public-Texas published cost

ACC's 2026–27 catalog still prints in-district Texas-resident tuition at $67 per credit hour. We do not turn that rate into a new 2+2 dollar total. Bachelor's sticker we re-confirmed: Texas State 2026–2027 resident tuition and fees $12,240 for 15+15 hours. Use the dated Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Alamo 2+2 pages for community-college-plus-university maps already sourced on this site.

Sources retrieved August 30, 2026: Austin Community College District; Texas State University Admissions; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Texas Constitution and Statutes; Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council; Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council; Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. All sources

Debt caution

Do not borrow four years of university rates for the first 60 hours when Social Work FOS is a completed THECB block. Do not borrow for a BSW thinking it is an LMSW or LCSW. Texas State Phase II / major admission is not guaranteed. Texas Direct does not reserve a seat. We do not publish a starting salary.

Why community-college to university can save money

THECB lists Social Work as a completed Field of Study (not one of the August 2026 asterisk rows). Completing the Core and that FOS at a public two-year college is the Coordinating Board's described path to a Texas Direct Transfer Degree and a block toward the major. Incomplete FOS is course-by-course, not the block. Admission is not guaranteed. Directed Electives are university-specific — THECB's February 2023 PDF sets them at 6 SCH by the receiving university. We do not invent a new 2+2 dollar total; use the existing sourced examples.

See the Austin 2+2 example for dated ACC, Texas State, and UT Austin arithmetic, the Houston HCC example, the Dallas College example, the Alamo / UTSA example, the Fort Worth / Tarrant County example, or the El Paso EPCC → UTEP example, or the Lubbock SPC → Texas Tech example, or the Corpus Christi Del Mar → TAMU-CC example, or the Tyler TJC → UT Tyler example, or the Amarillo AC → WTAMU example, or the McAllen STC → UTRGV example, or the Brownsville TSC → UTRGV example, or the Laredo LC → TAMIU example, or the Waco MCC → TAMUCT example, or the Beaumont LIT → LU example, or the Midland–Odessa OC → UTPB example, or the Victoria VC → TAMUV example, or the Texarkana TC → TAMUT example, or the Wichita Falls Vernon → MSU example, or the Abilene Cisco → ASU example, or the Bryan–College Station Blinn → TAMU example, or the Galveston GC → UHCL example.

Field of Study / Texas Direct status

Social Work Field of Study: listed as Completed on the THECB Texas Direct page retrieved August 30, 2026. It is not one of the rows footnoted as revised August 2026. THECB's February 2023 revised FOS: ENGL 1301 and 1302 (6 SCH designated core); SOCW 2361, 2362, 2389, and SOCI 1306 (12 SCH foundation); 6 SCH Directed Electives set by the receiving university; CIP 44.0701. ACC lists the FOS as 24 SCH. A live ACC Social Work AA program map we fetched (labeled 2025–2026) still prints Total Program Hours: 60–61.

Sources retrieved September 17, 2026: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Austin Community College Catalog; Austin Community College; Texas State University Catalog. All sources

Official language lives on the Texas Direct explainer.

AI-era note (qualitative only)

Undergraduate social work is classroom, community, and a supervised internship. Licensed practice is a later, exam-gated product. We do not invent a percent of either that 'goes to AI,' and we do not publish earnings or job counts.

How to read this path

Keep these products separate. First: the cheaper documented on-ramp to the same public CSWE BSW is Texas Core + completed Social Work Field of Study at a public two-year college, then transfer. Second: freshman-start at a public university is the higher published-tuition version of that BSW. Third: LBSW is the bachelor's-level LICENSE after a CSWE BSW and exams — the diploma is not the license. Fourth: LMSW requires a CSWE master's or doctoral degree and the ASWB Masters exam; a BSW does not meet that floor. Fifth: LCSW is a clinical specialty available only to an LMSW.

THECB's February 2023 revised Social Work FOS names ENGL 1301 and ENGL 1302 as the six-hour designated core, SOCW 2361 / 2362 / 2389 and SOCI 1306 as the twelve-hour foundation, and 6 semester hours of Directed Electives submitted by each receiving university, under CIP 44.0701. Directed Electives are university-specific. ACC's 2026–27 catalog lists the FOS as 24 lower-division hours. Texas State says 15 semester hours may transfer from a Texas public institution onto the 120-hour B.S.W.

Texas State's School of Social Work catalog page says the BSW is fully accredited by CSWE, that the degree is completed in three phases with a separate program-level application for a designated Phase II cohort, and that graduates “will be eligible to apply for the state social work licensure examination from the Association of Social Work Boards.” Eligible to apply is not a license. The B.S.W. catalog says Phase II requires a formal application; the committee may admit, conditionally admit, or deny; and admission into Phase II does not guarantee remaining in the program or advancement to the 400-hour internship. Texas Direct does not reserve that seat.

Occupations Code §505.351 bars using social worker, LBSW, LMSW, or LCSW titles without an appropriate license. Occupations Code §505.353 sets the degree floors: a CSWE (or candidacy) baccalaureate for the LBSW exam; a CSWE (or candidacy) master's or doctoral degree for the LMSW exam. Occupations Code §505.303 says the clinical social work specialty is available only to a licensed master social worker. BHEC's LBSW page still requires a CSWE baccalaureate, the ASWB Bachelors exam, and jurisprudence. BHEC's LMSW page still requires a CSWE master's or doctoral degree and the ASWB Masters exam. BHEC's LCSW page still lists at least 3,000 supervised clinical hours over at least 24 months, at least 100 supervisory sessions, and the ASWB Clinical exam.

What we will not say: we will not say anyone becomes an LMSW or LCSW with a BSW. We will not say the diploma is the LBSW. We will not invent a new 2+2 dollar total, university or Phase II admission, course availability, starting salary, earnings, or job counts. We will not collapse LBSW, LMSW, and LCSW.