Master’s in Criminal Justice Programs in South Carolina

Updated October 7, 2026

South Carolina has seven institutions offering a graduate program in the criminal-justice family, with admissions and tuition that vary school by school. BLS puts South Carolina’s May 2025 median wage at $73,700 for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives and $77,110 for First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers, two related leadership-track occupations, not outcomes the degree itself guarantees.

A master’s in criminal justice is a credential, not a commission. It won’t promote you, and it won’t put you behind a different desk by itself. Agencies set their own promotion and hiring rules, and the degree is one factor among several they weigh. What it does is put you in the room for roles that ask for graduate-level training: policy analysis, corrections administration, research positions, and supervisory openings where a master’s is listed as preferred. South Carolina has seven schools running a program in the CJ family right now, though they don’t all teach the same thing. Six are built around Criminal Justice. One, Lander University, routes its graduate CJ-family offering through Homeland Security instead.

Featured Programs:

What a Master’s in Criminal Justice Can Open Up in South Carolina

Graduate-level criminal justice work in South Carolina generally clusters around three things: supervisory or command roles within an agency, policy and program-analyst positions at the state level, and research or teaching work if you go further. Which of those doors actually open for you depends on your agency, your prior experience, and that agency’s own promotion and hiring structure, not on the degree by itself.

Sworn law enforcement officers in South Carolina train through the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy (SCCJA), under the state’s Law Enforcement Training Council. The Academy told WIS-TV in December 2025 that its Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) course runs about 12 weeks and puts heavy emphasis on communication and de-escalation. That course applies to certified law enforcement officers specifically. Corrections officers, detention staff, and telecommunicators complete separate SCCJA curricula with their own length and requirements, and none of this training is tied to holding a graduate degree. A master’s sits alongside that process. It doesn’t substitute for it or shorten it.

Related Occupations and Pay

The figures below describe occupations, not degree outcomes. Neither BLS nor the College Scorecard tracks what graduates of a specific South Carolina master’s program go on to earn or what title they end up holding, so treat this as a benchmark for the kind of leadership-track roles a criminal justice background can lead toward, not a projection tied to this degree.

As of May 2025, BLS puts South Carolina’s median annual wage for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives at $73,700, and for First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers at $77,110. ProjectionsCentral’s 2024-34 long-term outlook projects South Carolina’s First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives growing 8.9%, from about 1,430 jobs to 1,560. That’s a separate measure from the roughly 110 average annual openings ProjectionsCentral estimates for the same occupation, a figure that reflects replacement turnover as well as growth. ProjectionsCentral doesn’t publish a South Carolina long-term projection for First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers.

May 2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives and First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers. Long-term (2024-34) job growth projections from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, ProjectionsCentral. Figures reflect state-level data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed October 2026.

Earning a Criminal Justice Graduate Degree in South Carolina

Admissions Requirements Vary by School

Admissions requirements differ from program to program, and they change often enough that no directory can promise current accuracy. In general, expect a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school, as virtually any master’s program requires. Beyond that, GPA minimums, whether the GRE is required or waived, and which undergraduate majors are considered competitive are decisions each school makes on its own. Confirm current requirements directly with the admissions office of any program on your shortlist before you invest time in an application.

Cost Varies by School and Format

Tuition for a CJ-family master’s in South Carolina isn’t one number. It depends on the specific school, whether you’re a public-university resident or nonresident (five of the seven schools on this list are private, where that distinction generally doesn’t apply the way it does at a public university), the program’s format, and the academic year you enroll. Get a direct quote from each school’s financial aid office rather than budgeting off a sitewide average.

If you’re already working in corrections or law enforcement, it’s worth asking whether a professional association tied to your field offers scholarship support. The South Carolina Correctional Association lists scholarships and awards on its site, though its published 2025 recipients were undergraduates in unrelated fields. Confirm current eligibility, and whether a graduate CJ credential qualifies, directly with the association before counting on it.

Coursework and Program Structure

Curriculum, and whether a program offers a thesis track, a non-thesis track, or only one of the two, is set by each school individually. Topics commonly covered in criminal justice graduate study nationally include policy and management, corrections and institutional administration, research methods, and electives like juvenile justice or cybercrime, but which of those any given South Carolina program actually teaches, and in what sequence, is in that program’s own catalog, not in this overview. Request the current course sequence and culminating requirement (thesis, capstone, or comprehensive exam) directly from each school. Any comprehensive exam here is an academic degree requirement the school sets. It isn’t a South Carolina professional licensing or certification exam, and it has no connection to SCCJA certification.

Where to Study a Master’s in Criminal Justice in South Carolina

Seven South Carolina institutions report a graduate program in the criminal-justice family at the master’s level to the U.S. Department of Education, six built around Criminal Justice and one, at Lander University, built around Homeland Security. “Distance-only” below is an institution-level federal classification. None of these seven carry it, but that describes the school overall, not whether this specific program is offered on campus, online, or hybrid. Confirm delivery format directly with each school.

Institution	City	Control	Program Area
Anderson University	Anderson	Private nonprofit	Criminal Justice
Charleston Southern University	Charleston	Private nonprofit	Criminal Justice
Claflin University	Orangeburg	Private nonprofit	Criminal Justice
Columbia College	Columbia	Private nonprofit	Criminal Justice
Lander University	Greenwood	Public	Homeland Security
South University-Columbia	Columbia	Private for-profit	Criminal Justice
University of South Carolina-Columbia	Columbia	Public	Criminal Justice

This reflects what each school reported to the Department of Education as of the 2025 Scorecard snapshot, not necessarily this year’s catalog. Confirm current enrollment, format, and admission requirements directly with the school before you apply.

School and program data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, institution file May 2025 and field-of-study file April 2025. Data accessed October 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a bachelor’s in criminal justice specifically to apply?

Generally no. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited school is the common baseline, but any undergraduate-major requirement and GPA minimum are set by each individual program. Check the specific admissions page for any school you’re considering.

How long does the degree take?

It depends on the school, the format, and whether you enroll full-time or part-time. Program length isn’t standardized across South Carolina’s seven CJ-family master’s programs, so ask each school for its typical completion timeline.

Is the GRE required?

It depends on the program. Some require it, some waive it under certain conditions, and policies change. Confirm the current GRE policy directly with each school rather than relying on a general rule.

Will earning this degree get me promoted in South Carolina law enforcement or corrections?

Not automatically. Promotion processes are set by individual agencies and typically weigh factors like time in grade and performance, sometimes alongside an agency-specific exam. A master’s can be one factor an agency considers, but it isn’t a substitute for that agency’s own promotion requirements, and there’s no statewide promotion exam tied to this degree.

Does earning a CJ master’s come with any South Carolina professional certification?

No. Sworn law enforcement certification runs through the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and the state’s Law Enforcement Training Council, a process entirely separate from graduate school. Corrections and other criminal-justice positions follow their own agency-specific requirements. An academic degree, including any comprehensive exam a program requires to graduate, isn’t the same thing as a state certification or license.

Key Takeaways

Seven schools, two program areas – six built around Criminal Justice and one, Lander University, around Homeland Security, per federal education data.
Admissions, tuition, and structure vary by school – there’s no statewide standard for GPA, the GRE, cost per credit hour, or thesis/non-thesis options. Confirm directly with each program.
The degree isn’t a license – South Carolina law enforcement certification runs through the SCCJA and Law Enforcement Training Council as a separate process, and corrections roles follow their own agency requirements.
Promotion depends on the agency, not the degree alone – individual departments set their own promotion rules, and a master’s is one input among several.
Related leadership-track roles pay well in South Carolina – BLS puts the May 2025 median at $73,700 for First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives and $77,110 for First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers, figures that describe the occupations generally, not this degree’s outcomes.

Because admissions, cost, and program structure all vary school by school, the most useful next step is a direct conversation with the programs on your shortlist. Ask what they require this cycle, not what a directory says they required last year. If you’re already working in corrections or law enforcement, it’s also worth asking your agency, and any professional association you belong to, whether either offers tuition support for your situation.

Want the bigger picture? Read the full guide to Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice.