What You Can Do With a Health and Human Services Degree

You like the idea of helping people get food, housing, health care or counseling, and a health and human services degree keeps coming up, sometimes as a short online associate program. The question is what jobs it actually leads to. A health and human services degree usually prepares you for support roles such as human service assistant, case aide or community health worker; a bachelor's opens more roles in case management and health education, and any clinical counseling or clinical social work job requires a master's degree and a state license.

Job figures below come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook, checked on November 9, 2026.

Know What the Degree Covers

Health and human services programs combine an introduction to the U.S. health care system with social services topics: social welfare, family dynamics, counseling basics, ethics and community health. They train you to help clients find and use services, not to diagnose or treat them.

Ultimate Medical Academy's online program is a good example of the associate level. Its program page lists a 64-credit Associate of Science or Associate of Applied Science that takes about 18 months, with core courses such as Introduction to Health and Human Services, Introduction to Counseling, Public and Community Health, Social Welfare, Medical Terminology and a capstone. The school notes that required courses differ in some states, so read the catalog for yours.

Match the Degree to the Jobs It Leads To

These are the occupations in the BLS handbook that a health and human services degree most often points to:

A few notes from those profiles:

• Social and human service assistants help clients figure out what aid they need, help them apply for programs such as food assistance and Medicaid, and follow up to make sure the services work. BLS lists job titles such as case work aide, family service assistant, social work assistant and human service worker. Training is often on the job, but some employers prefer an associate's or bachelor's degree in human services, and BLS projects about 48,900 openings a year.
• Community health workers connect people in a community with health care and social services. BLS says some states require certification, which may include an approved training program, so check with your state's health, nursing or human services board.
• Health education specialists usually need a bachelor's degree, typically in health education or health promotion, and employers may require or prefer certification.

Pay varies by employer, region and experience, and a degree doesn't guarantee any of these jobs.

Decide Between an Associate and a Bachelor's

If you start with an associate, ask early how many credits transfer into a human services or social work bachelor's. An Associate of Applied Science often transfers less cleanly than an Associate of Science, so the choice matters if you think you'll keep going.

Don't Confuse Human Services With Social Work

This is the mistake that costs students the most time. A human services degree is not a social work degree, and it does not lead to a social work license.

According to BLS, a bachelor's in social work (BSW) is the most common requirement for entry-level nonclinical social worker jobs. Clinical social workers, who diagnose and treat mental, behavioral and emotional issues, need a master's in social work (MSW), supervised clinical experience and a license in the state where they practice. All states license clinical social workers; only some license nonclinical social workers.

So if your goal is to become a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) or a licensed counselor:

1. A health and human services associate or bachelor's can be a starting point and can get you working in the field while you study.
2. You will still need a master's degree in social work or counseling, supervised experience and your state board's license.
3. Check your state's social work board for its specific rules before you choose a graduate program.

Compare Programs in the Directory

The CollegeHub directory lists these health and human services, human services and related programs, all in an online format:

Three of these fit the most common search paths:

• At the associate level, Ultimate Medical Academy lists its Health and Human Services associate degree as online with monthly start dates. The school is institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES), a national accreditor, which can affect how other colleges treat its credits. If you think you will go on to a bachelor's, ask the bachelor's school in advance how it would evaluate them.
• For a path across levels, Purdue Global lists human services at the certificate, associate, bachelor's and master's levels, which can make it easier to move from one level to the next at the same school.
• At the bachelor's level, The University of Arizona Global Campus lists a BA in Health and Human Services, the closest bachelor's match by name, plus an MA in Human Services, with monthly start dates.

If you are sure you want a social work career, compare BSW and MSW programs instead. Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University both list social work degrees in the directory. If health care administration interests you more than direct client work, see our guide to careers in healthcare management.

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Looking for an online human services program? Compare program levels, start dates and accreditation for accredited schools in the CollegeHub directory.

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