Bachelor's degree in social work

There are online for-profit colleges, which many employers won't accept, and there are online arms of existing, fully accredited colleges and universities. Those are pretty much universally accepted because the institutions confer the same degree to someone who completes the program online as they do to someone who completes the program in-person. 

That said, for healthcare, online-only is not going to be an option because there are too many practicums required. 

I know the CC here has a dental hygiene program and has a waiting list that is just as long as their nursing program's wait list. 

I guess I'm a little late to the party but I have a BSW and an MSW.  I have a clinical board certification and licence. I have been a social worker for more than 30 years.

There are a few jobs with the BSW but the field has evolved into requiring the MSW for most positions.  The BSW rarely offers a living wage.

The best thing about an MSW is you can work in any area - schools, hospitals, businesses, criminal justice, counselling centers, with all ages and every kind of special concern you can imagine.

I started off with a BSW in child protective services.  Then I worked in a high school in the classroom with special education students. 

After I got my MSW I worked in the area of inpatient mental health in a community hospital.  I went back into the Air Force and worked as a social worker in drug/alcohol, medical social work including NICU, peds ICU, peds, psych, HIV and oncology, domestic violence and child abuse.
Then I went to an outpatient clinic setting where I was the Chief of Mental Health and worked with active duty military, families and special needs population.

I left there and went to work as a social work supervisor in an Army hospital.  I left there and went to the VA where I work with long term spinal cord injury.  I am also a union activist, as most all social workers are very liberal.

It is a female dominated profession and most men in the field rise to the positions of management.  Because social workers generally help the disenfranchised, marginalized people of the world and because most are women, the profession is low paid compared to comparable professions.  A Masters degree will generate an income often equal to or less than other professions with a bachelors degree.

If you get a BSW, some schools have an advanced standing masters where you can get the masters in 1.5 years instead of 2 years.  You can support your family with an MSW.  I do.  But you will not support them with all the bells and whistles.  The good thing is you will generally always find a job.

I have to comment that I believe it probably depends where you are. I am a public school SLP in IL. I am on the exact same salary schedule as our classroom teachers, as are our school psychologists and social workers. Where I am, this is not a bad thing. We are well compensated, but not any more so than any of our other staff. There isn't anyone here who can tell our Principal to shove it (and not that we would want to, as she is the best), LOL. The only 'perk' that we get is that the school district reimburses us for our state licensure and ASHA certification, as this is required for employment and is above/beyond what is required of the teaching staff. We have teaching certification just as the teaching staff does. All of this is in our contract, as we are all part of the educator's union, and we all consider ourselves to be equal, yet specialized in terms of the jobs that we perform. I like that. 

School-based speech-language pathology is challenging. I work for a well-paying district, but when we have openings it is difficult for us to find candidates. The money is good, but the caseload and workload is crushing and school-based SLPs aren't perceived with the same prestige as our colleagues working in other settings, even though we are no less qualified. Most younger graduates these days are looking for hospital-based or clinic-based work (so I hear from the graduate intern I supervised this past spring). It can be a bit lonely, too. I'm definitely part of a team, but I am the only one in my position in my building. I have to problem-solve about certain things on my own, unless I do so via email with my other colleagues in the district (which I do, but face-to-face would be better, and there is no time for that unless we do it on our own, and we are so stretched as it is). 

I love my job but this is most definitely NOT a situation where you are able to walk out the door when the bell rings and show up the next day. There is a ton of outside work that must be done in order to keep one's head above water. I'm off most of the summer, but that varies from year to year, and I do a lot of preparation during that time and am always getting calls to read through evaluations, talk with parents, attend meetings, etc. I honestly am not sure whether having the summer time is worth squeezing what is very easily a 12 month job into 9 1/2 months, and the sacrifice to my personal and family time during the workweek. I'm struggling a bit with burnout after 23 years, so I am working hard to try to keep that at bay. 

Just my thoughts on this subject. As I type this I am actually still at work, taking a break from writing up diagnostic reports and treatment notes from earlier today. 

My boss is an LCSW. She has her BSW, her MSW, and some additional training. She has a counseling practice and is insurance billable. She makes fairly good money and is her own boss. She also finds her job very rewarding. It is incredible the things people have endured in their lives.

A family friend was one but she had to go to a technical college for it and it was 3 gruelling years of Xray technology and then specialized in ultrasound. She loved her job and retired a couple of years ago because she is retirement age. (She wants to travel and spend time with the grandkids. She loved her job. If you can become an medical sonographer in 2 years that is awesome. The pay is excellent, very interesting work, her working conditions were excellent and she loved it!

Good advice about avoiding the for profit online universities...such as University of Phoenix. I have 32 credits with University of Phoenix just to keep my credentials and the classes were a joke.

There are plenty of jobs for BSW. A Masters of Social Work is more for those who want to do clinical work, counseling, etc. I have a BS in Human Services, the difference between it and BSW is the internship is much shorter than if I had gotten a BSW. I worked for a non-profit social services agency for 5years, now I work in workforce development.

Our program can only hold 30 students at a time. They have to do lots of clinical hours. We have our own dental hygiene clinic that the school owns, and it provides dental hygienic care for a very low cost (there is a supervising dentist), but it can only hold so many students. So our students typically do a year to a year and a half of pre-reqs and then apply to the DH program. Ours is very competitive, with not only academic standards but also community service requirements; there are applicants with biology degrees from large universities who have to apply two or three times in order to get in.

I work in a hospital and we are just looking at hiring a clinicial social worker for one of our outpatient practices. During a planning meeting an administrator commented that they will be hiring a clinicial social worker (Masters degree) rather than someone with a Bachelors degree because 1. He can pay them what they would pay someone with a bachelors degree and 2. we can bill for services and recoupe some of the cost. I was somewhat taken aback by that. How awful that the person with the advanced degree is not being paid more. That statement just bothered me. My sister is a social worker and she worked with children for years and just burnt out. Now she works in a nursing home and loves it. Though she is not doing social work.

I would highly suggest anything in the medical field. The need is just increasing. I agree with others on the sonographer. Its a 2 year degree and the pay is excellent. The local college has a wait list for that program but its worth it.
Nursing is a great career to get into. The pay is excellent and you can work in many areas and places. Don't just think hospitals and 3rd shift. You can do many other things as a nurse.

another suggestion would be looking into the Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant program. They are rewarding careers. They are masters degree level but you are working with patients. We hire PA in the practices and in the ER. Our NP's work in our clinics and practices. its a great career and they are very well paid. Another bonus is that when we hire a PA or NP we pay for the majority of their student loans. We pay for licensing, continuing education, yearly bonuses. Just a thought.

If you have any questions let me know.
Best of luck to you and I'm so sorry hear about your loss.