Counselor educators are essential leaders for the counseling profession. Counselor educators teach, mentor, supervise, and support the growth of counseling students and help students establish connections to the profession and the resources they will need for long-term success. The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) strongly commends counselor educators for their courageous and valuable leadership and offers resources to help educators prepare students to engage with the profession and advance their professional development:
Hear from counselor educators about NBCC’s participating universities program and how your students can jumpstart their counseling careers.
With the National Certified Counselor (NCC) application options for participating universities, you can give your students the opportunity to apply for the NCC and sit for the National Counselor Examination (NCE) or the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE) while still enrolled.
Learn more about your department’s roles and responsibilities for facilitating the student application process.
Apply to participate and join the more than 350 campuses nationwide offering this unique opportunity to their students.
In addition to the benefits your students will receive from certification and taking exam before graduation, your program will receive aggregate score information on students’ exam performance, including comparisons to national data. Many students look for programs that participate in the NCC application, making it an effective recruitment tool.
Learn more about how the program can support your students.
To participate in the NCC application, your program must be at an institutionally accredited university or college. For complete eligibility requirements, download the application to participate.
Please note that your program cannot use the NCC application process or NCE or NCMHCE examination as a program exit requirement. If your program is looking for a psychometrically sound exit examination for counseling students, you want the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), from the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE).
In addition to nominating a campus coordinator to communicate with NBCC and submit a list of eligible students, participating programs must ensure that students understand the NCC application process and what it means.
NBCC is offering a unique grant program for institutionally accredited institutions seeking first-time accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) for master’s-level counseling programs of 48 or more semester hours in addictions counseling; career counseling; clinical mental health counseling; clinical rehabilitation counseling; marriage, couples, and family counseling; rehabilitation counseling; school counseling; and student affairs/college counseling. Institutions with currently approved CACREP tracks are not eligible to apply.
"Our program would not have been able to apply for this accreditation without the NBCC Grant Award. The funding was extremely helpful and the award also sparked additional investment by my university, particularly from administrators who had previously been reluctant to authorize pursuit of the accreditation. Thank you and NBCC for your continued support!"
Funds will be awarded to university programs in three phases: $2,500 for the preapplication phase, $2,500 for the application phase, and $4,000 for the site visit phase.
The application for the 2025 - 2026 grant is available until May 30, 2025. Funds will be awarded in fall 2025.
If you have questions about the process, your program’s eligibility, or the materials you need to submit, please email campusinquiry@nbcc.org.
The application process is simple and straightforward. To apply, please complete and submit this application.
The information provided by the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. (NBCC) on the nbcc.org website (site) is for general information purposes only. NBCC makes significant efforts to maintain current and accurate information on this site. We are not responsible for any information concerning NBCC or our programs, services, or activities that is published or displayed on any third-party website(s). These websites are maintained by third parties over which we exercise no control, and for which we have no responsibility. Individuals should verify any information obtained from third-party sources by referring to our official site or contacting our customer service team directly.
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