What you’ll learn in this article…
- Friends University will admit its final Wichita MFT cohort in fall 2026.
- The last class graduates in 2028 before Kansas City relocation.
- COAMFTE accreditation decision remains under substantive change review.
Friends University Is Ending Its Wichita MFT Program
What the Wichita closure means for current students, applicants, and local internship sites moving forward
The fall 2026 class will be the final Wichita cohort of Friends University's Marriage and Family Therapy program, and the class graduating in 2028 will be the last to finish in Wichita before the program moves to Kansas City.
Current students face immediate questions about teach-out protections, COAMFTE accreditation continuity, and whether Wichita clinical placements will stay intact. Program Director Chris Habben cited slowing enrollment and emerging market realities, but local internship sites say they were not notified before the announcement. A relocation is rarely a clean break: it reshapes supervised training pipelines and affordable community mental health access at the same time.
What Friends University Announced About the Wichita MFT Program
Program Director Chris Habben of the Friends University MFT program notified students by email that the fall 2026 class will be the final Wichita cohort, and the class graduating in 2028 will be the last to complete the program in Wichita. After the 2028 cohort graduates, the Marriage and Family Therapy program will relocate to Kansas City.
The announcement
Habben's message framed the change as a program relocation rather than an immediate closure. Current students and the fall 2026 admit cohort can finish their training in Wichita. The university has not described additional Wichita cohorts being admitted after fall 2026, which leaves this year's incoming group as the final Wichita class. For currently enrolled students, the email signals a clear finish line: complete coursework, practicum, and clinical hours through existing site partnerships before the transition.
Why Friends University says it is changing
Habben cited slowing enrollment and unnamed "emerging market realities" as the reasons. He said the move is intended to "better accommodate financial and practical realities facing prospective students" , a return on investment MFT degree calculation many applicants are weighing. KAKE News reported the announcement.1 Students and internship site partners told KAKE News they were not notified directly and learned about the change from a student-shared email. The university did not detail which market realities drove the decision in the initial announcement, and it has not released a specific Kansas City start date or admissions timeline for post-2028.
Timeline: Teach-Out Plan and the Fate of the MFT Stipend
Can current Friends University MFT students finish their degree in Wichita, or will they have to relocate to Kansas City before graduation?
What the timeline shows
Friends University has not published a separate, formal teach-out policy for MFT students admitted before fall 2026. Based on the announced schedule, the final Wichita cohort was admitted in fall 2026 and is expected to graduate in 2028. That suggests students already enrolled in earlier cohorts should be able to complete their current sequence in Wichita before the program consolidates in Kansas City. Treat that as a reasonable expectation, not a written guarantee.
The reported transition
An April 2026 KMUW report described the next step as a combined Wichita and Kansas City program shifting to a primarily online hybrid model beginning fall 2028. At that time, 122 students were enrolled across both locations. The program was still active in the graduate catalog, with Wichita graduate cohort schedules listed after that report.
Stipend funding
The same report tied MFT stipend funding to spring 2028, the semester before the hybrid shift, a cutoff that raises immediate questions about how to afford an MFT degree. Friends University received more than $967,000 in March 2026 through the Kansas Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, with roughly $250,000 directed toward MFT student stipends, a form of financial aid for MFT students. The university has not publicly updated the stipend dollar value or end date since then. The timing places the cutoff just before the hybrid shift, suggesting the funding is being wound down with the current site-based model rather than extended.
What remains unclear
The gap between the April 2026 reporting and the latest Wichita announcement leaves two practical questions open: whether the stipend will survive past spring 2028 for any transition cohort, and whether current students will receive a formal teach-out agreement in writing.
Accreditation Status: Will Friends University's MFT Program Remain Coamfte-Approved?
The tension here is straightforward: current students need certainty about licensure, while the university is still working through a process that has not produced a final public decision.
What a Substantive Change Review Is
Under COAMFTE Accreditation, programs must seek approval before changing a delivery format or relocating an accredited program. This is not a routine renewal; it is a review of whether the altered program still meets accreditation standards. The proposed shift is toward a primarily online hybrid model with two in-person residencies beginning in 2028, which is exactly the kind of change that triggers a substantive-change review.
Current Status: Pending, Not Resolved
Friends University's public Family Therapy M.S. page says it is seeking COAMFTE approval for a substantive change to the program's delivery model and that "This change is currently in process." That language means approval is pending. No public source viewed shows a decision granting, denying, or conditioning the change. As of now, the university has not published a final COAMFTE determination for the changed delivery model.
What This Means for Licensure in 2027 and 2028
Kansas requires a master's or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy or an equivalent related field, passage of a national standardized exam, and for master's-level licensure, 3,000 supervised clinical hours. Licensure disclosure typically depends on the state where the student resides. If the delivery-model substantive change is not approved before affected students complete the program, graduates may need to confirm whether their degree still meets state educational requirements. Public materials do not state whether students in the final Wichita cohort or earlier cohorts have a teach-out or grandfathering arrangement.
What to Watch Next
Monitor the public COAMFTE-Accredited Programs list and Friends University's family therapy page for a posted decision. If no decision appears before you enroll, ask the program director for written confirmation of the review stage and how it affects licensing in your home state.
For more than 10 years, Friends University's MFT program has partnered with Table of Hope Metropolitan Community Church, where 16 families (32 people) currently receive services. That local training and care pipeline is now caught up in the announced program shift.
Related Articles
The university calls it a response to financial and practical realities, but Wichita families and interns describe the same change as a sudden loss of a trusted clinical training pipeline.
How to Vet Any MFT Program's Stability Before You Enroll
The Friends University move is a reminder to verify institutional and program-level commitments before you enroll.
- Verify accreditation directlyCheck the program's current COAMFTE accreditation status on the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education website, not just the school's marketing page.
- Get teach-out assurances in writingAsk admissions whether a formal teach-out policy exists for currently enrolled students, and request written confirmation of how it applies to your expected graduation timeline.
- Review enrollment and cohort historyAsk for recent cohort sizes and enrollment trends. A shrinking or frequently restructured cohort can signal future program changes.
- Lock down funding commitmentsConfirm whether stipends, scholarships, or tuition discounts are guaranteed for your full enrollment period, and ask what happens if the program relocates or closes.
- Talk to current students and internship sitesAsk current students or recent alumni how clearly the program communicates changes and whether local practicum and internship sites have stable referral pipelines.
Alternatives for Prospective Wichita-Area MFT Students
Two COAMFTE-accredited universities currently serve Kansas graduate students in marriage and family therapy: Friends University and Kansas State University.1 For Wichita-area applicants who no longer want to enter the final Friends University Wichita cohort, the realistic degree paths are Kansas State University's on-campus program in Manhattan, Kansas, and Friends University's hybrid MSFT at its Overland Park location.
Kansas State University
Kansas State University offers an on-campus MS and PhD in Couple and Family Therapy in Manhattan, Kansas.2 The residential format requires relocation or commuting, but it is the only other COAMFTE-accredited MFT program in the state outside the Friends University system. Because it is Kansas-based, clinical placements are generally built around Kansas licensure standards, though applicants should verify supervision hours and whether the program places interns in south-central Kansas.
Friends University (Overland Park, Kansas)
Friends University's Master of Science in Family Therapy continues in a hybrid format at its Overland Park location. This is the same COAMFTE-accredited MSFT program, but delivered in the Kansas City metro after the Wichita cohort concludes in 2028.1 It may suit prospective students who can manage periodic on-campus intensives and either live in the Kansas City area or can reasonably travel for required residencies.
Check Accreditation Before Enrolling
Not every Kansas counseling-adjacent program is COAMFTE-accredited. Some directories list MidAmerica Nazarene University and Ottawa University as marriage and family therapy programs, but reliable COAMFTE listings confirm accreditation only for Friends University and Kansas State University.1 Before committing, confirm COAMFTE status directly and ask how many Wichita-area clinical sites currently accept the program's interns. The safest step for Wichita-area students is to contact both programs and request current clinical placement, supervision, and licensure-outcome data before applying.
