The present study includes an Motivational Interviewing-Existential Psychotherapy (MI-EP) group counseling program development and assessment of its effectiveness for college students having depressive symptoms. The program, consisting of 8 sessions over 4 weeks, was developed based on MI-EP to reduce depression and enhance a sense of meaning in life. The analysis, using a quasi-experimental design, demonstrated a significant decrease in depression of the experimental group. The sense of meaning in life was higher in the experimental group than in the control group. These results remained persistent during the follow-up test period, extending one-month post-treatment. The theoretical implications for the development and effectiveness verification of the MI-EP group counseling program were discussed, and suggestions were made for further research.