Participation in the CSAEd™ certification programs are voluntary and open to anyone meeting candidate eligibility requirements at the time of application.
Eligibility Criteria
Individuals applying for CSAEd™ core or a specialty certification must meet detailed education and work experience requirements at the time of application submission. All certifications require either a graduate/master's-level degree and five years of qualifying work experience as outlined below or a bachelor's or associate's degree and at least seven 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:
A master's degree (or higher graduate-level degree) from an accredited institution of higher education in a higher education/student affairs focus or a non-student affairs field. 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, sciences).
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:
Applicants with a graduate-level degree as defined above in option 1 must have a minimum total of five (5) years (measured as 60 months) of full-time student affairs or services-related work experience as detailed below.
Applicants whose highest earned degree is either a bachelor's or associate's degree as described above in option 2, may qualify with a minimum total of seven (7) years (measured as 84 months) of full-time student affairs or services-related work experience as detailed below.
“Qualifying Employment Experience,” for purposes of Student Affairs Educator Certification, is defined as being employed full-time in student affairs or student services work in a higher education setting. A maximum of two years of graduate assistant work experience (9 to 12 month assistantships) may be considered as up to a maximum of one year (12 months) of full-time employment experience for purposes of eligibility. Qualifying employment experience may be as an exempt or non-exempt employee. Volunteer service, unpaid service, part-time work (exempting graduate assistantships), and undergraduate work experience are not eligible to meet this requirement.
Student affairs or services-related experience includes, but is not limited to, work on a college or university campus, as well as work supporting student affairs/services programs and activities in a non-college or university institution of higher education.
Employment experience as an instructor or faculty member will only qualify toward eligibility if it is within a higher education or student affairs program.
Applicants need only submit enough employment experience in their online application to meet the minimum length requirement (either 60 or 84 months). Applicants do not need to list their entire work history otherwise.
