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M.S. Program Description

Residential Track

Students complete a six-semester program of study that draws on the rich and diverse clinical opportunities on campus and in the Tampa Bay area. The residential track is full-time, with clinical rotations and coursework each semester. Students gain clinical experiences in the ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵSpeech-Language-Hearing Center, clinics on campus, and outside of USF. Off-campus sites include VA hospitals, medical centers, children's hospitals, schools, private speech & hearing clinics, and rehabilitation clinics. 

Students will complete four in-house clinical rotations and will spend two semesters at separate externship sites. These experiences are designed to provide the breadth and depth of clinical experiences necessary for clinical certification and state licensure. 

Coursework is divided into two areas: core (required) courses and specialty courses. The core courses are designed to help students meet the academic and clinical competencies per ASHA in their knowledge and skills acquisition (KASA) standards. Students will choose specialty courses based on their clinical interest areas. 

Pre-requisite courses are usually completed during the year before entry into the master’s program. Students typically will have completed or begun the pre-requisite coursework and apply for graduate school by the Jan. 15 application deadline. If the pre-requisite courses are completed prior to the start of the graduate program in August, a student will be eligible to apply to the master’s program. Please explain how you will complete the courses prior to entry into the master’s program in your personal essay, if applicable. Once admitted to the graduate program, students must complete, or have completed, the necessary guided clinical observation hours prior to earning clinical clock hours in the fall semester. 

Suncoast Consortium Track

Students complete a nine-semester program of study specifically designed to assist bachelor's level professionals working full time as Speech-Language clinicians in a Consortium school district. The Suncoast Consortium track uses a combination of distance and on-site teaching to offer the same curriculum as taught on the Tampa campus, with adult-based clinical rotations during the summer semesters. 

For a list of the public school districts within the Suncoast Consortium, please click here. Students must be employed full time in a participating Florida public school district as a Speech-Language clinician, and the school must provide mentorship and supervision throughout the student’s program of study. Suncoast students complete the same curriculum as Residential students via distance learning. Pediatric clinical experiences are obtained at students’ worksites, and adult-based practicum are completed in summer semesters. Students should be aware that there is an additional technology fee for distance courses. Once accepted into the program, students must maintain full-time employment as a bachelor’s level Speech-Language clinician in a collaborating school district. 

The Suncoast program requires students to have access to computers with high-speed internet connections and peripheral hardware (e.g., combined microphone/headsets, video recording equipment etc.). Students will complete practicum experiences in the collaborating school district in which they are employed. Students must also complete at least one clinical practicum at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center in Lakeland, Florida, and one externship experience during two of the summers of their three-year program. A limited number of students will be admitted each year, and these students will progress through the program as a cohort. 

A limited number of students are admitted to the Suncoast Consortium each year, and students will progress through the program as a cohort.