Notices

Eligibility Requirements

Effective with the Winter 2025 application cycle, Student Affairs Educator Core and Specialty Certification eligibility requirements have been updated to the following:

All certifications require either a graduate/master’s-level degree and three years of qualifying work experience as outlined below or a bachelor’s or associate’s degree and four years of qualifying work experience as outlined below. 

Qualifying Education

To be eligible for certification, an individual must meet one of the following two education requirements:

1.     A master’s degree (or higher graduate-level degree) from an accredited institution of higher education. This may include a masters-level degree in a field such as student affairs, higher education, college student personnel, higher education leadership and policy, counseling and college counseling, as well as areas of study in addition to those named (e.g., law, business administration, sports management, sciences).

2.     A bachelor’s or associate’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education.

Qualifying Employment Experience

Applicants may satisfy the employment experience eligibility requirement for certification in one of the following two ways:

1.     Applicants with a graduate-level degree as defined above in option 1 above must have a minimum total of three (3) years (measured as 36 months) of full-time qualifying employment experience as detailed below. 

2.     Applicants whose highest earned degree is either a bachelor’s or associate’s degree as described in option 2 above, must have a minimum total of four (4) years (measured as 48 months) of full-time qualifying employment experience as detailed below. 

“Qualifying Employment Experience” is defined as being employed full-time in student affairs or student services in a higher education setting. Full-time work experience that occurred outside of higher education, but in roles that correspond with domains of practice, may be counted towards eligibility up to the maximum amounts listed above (i.e., up to one year if holding a graduate-level degree; up to two years if highest degree earned is a bachelor's or associate's).

Two years of a graduate assistantship (9 to 12 months) will be equivalent to one year of full-time work experience.

Volunteer service, unpaid service, part-time work, and undergraduate work experience are not eligible to meet this requirement.

Background on Update

Given recent workforce trends and observations in the profession, a Certification Eligibility Task Group (TG) was charged by the Consortium Board of Directors to reconsider current certification eligibility requirements including education, work experience, and time in alignment with the certification practice analysis to support student affairs professionals in benefiting from certification. The TG had two co-chairs and representatives from each of the six specialty certification groups. The TG met on September 30 and November 14, 2024, to consider and discuss the Board’s charge, and generate recommendations. Both meetings were facilitated by  the psychometric firm, Dainis & Co. The TG recommendations were shared with the Consortium Board of Directors and approved on December 20, 2024.