Updated for 2026

Georgia LPC & APC Continuing Education Requirements

Georgia counselors must complete 35 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their LPC / APC license, including 5 hours of ethics and 15 hours of core counseling.

35hours every 2 years
Topic minimums, counted within the 35
15core counseling
5ethics

Next deadline: September 30, 2028The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by September 30 of even years.

What the board saysGeorgia board rule
Thirty-five (35) hours1 of continuing education are required to be obtained within the two (2) year biennial licensure cycle1 to renew each license … A minimum of five (5)2 of the thirty-five (35) hours shall be specifically designated as continuing education in professional ethics2 … Ethics hours shall be obtained through synchronous activities only. (c) Of the remaining thirty (30) hours, a minimum of fifteen (15) shall be core hours3 and not more than fifteen (15) shall be related hours4. (d) A maximum of ten (10) hours5 of continuing education may be obtained asynchronously5 for each two-year renewal period … Independent Study is limited to five (5) hours6.
What it means
  1. 35 hours every two years
  2. 5 hours of professional ethics
  3. At least 15 core hours in your own specialty
  4. No more than 15 related hours from other specialties
  5. No more than 10 hours of asynchronous (self-paced) study
  6. No more than 5 hours of independent study
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 135-9-.01Last verified August 2026Ruleset 2026.6How we verify
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Requirements

Georgia LPC & APC requirements

Total

35 hoursYou need 35 hours every 2 years. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by September 30 of even years.

Topic minimums, counted within the 35

The remaining 15 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
Core Counseling
15
You need 15 hours each cycle.
Ethics
5
You need 5 hours each cycle.

Limits on how the hours are earned

Related
max 15 hrs
Home study / self-study
max 10 hrs
Independent study
max 5 hrs
Ethics via live
min 5 hrs
Single activity
max 20 hrs per activity

Up to 10 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.

At least 5 hours of ethics must be earned live.

Cycle and record rules

Renewal
The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by September 30 of even years.
Renewal fee
Renewal fees by license status
Status / feeAmount and conditions
Active renewal$100. Biennial base fee; mailed forms add $10.
Board fee schedule
Late renewal total$150. October 1–31 total; mailed forms add $10.
Board fee schedule

CE course costs are separate. Late renewal does not authorize practice on an expired license.

We verified these fees on 2026-09-30. Board fee schedule.

New licensees
The first renewal is different. New licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements, such as prorated hours or first-cycle-only rules, and we apply them automatically.
Approved providers
Qualifying CE may be offered or sponsored by national professional association, regional professional association, state professional association, accredited university, governmental agency, licensed hospital, and licensing board other jurisdiction and recognized associations in counseling, mft, social work, psychology, psychiatry, and psychiatric nursing.
Board audit
The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
Late renewal
A late renewal adds a $50 late fee.
Provisional renewal
The board allows a provisional/conditional renewal for up to 6 months before full compliance is required. Audit-deficiency cure: when a CE audit disqualifies hours, the Board renews the license conditionally and provides 6 months from the notice of deficiency to obtain the required hours. Not renewable; failure to cure may result in discipline.

To keep your proof in order, see what to keep for a CE audit, which covers every state’s retention period and what the audit notice asks for.

Your hours

Check where you stand

Enter the hours you have completed this cycle to see what is left before September 30, 2028.

Your result appears here as you enter hours.

Open the full LPC CE hours calculator

Also hold a Georgia LMFT or LCSW license? Each board runs its own CE cycle. See the Georgia LMFT and Georgia LCSW requirements.

Full board policy details
  • At least 25 of the 35 hours must be obtained through synchronous (live, real-time interactive) activities. A maximum of 10 hours per cycle may be obtained asynchronously (self-paced, recorded). Live webinars with full real-time participation qualify as synchronous and are treated equivalently to in-person training.
  • Independent study (self-directed activities such as writing papers/books, preparing presentations, research, etc.) is capped at 5 hours per cycle. Independent study hours may NOT be used to satisfy the ethics requirement or the core hours requirement. Documentation via notarized affidavit required if audited.
  • The 5 required ethics hours must be obtained through synchronous activities only (live in-person or live interactive webinar). Recorded or self-paced ethics courses are not accepted.
  • No more than 20 hours of continuing education may be claimed from any single CE program, course, workshop, presentation, or academic course. Multi-session conferences with multiple distinct workshops are not subject to this single-event cap.
  • Academic coursework conversion: 1 semester hour = 15 CE hours; 1 quarter hour = 10 CE hours, up to a maximum of 20 CE hours per course. Graduate course must be from an academic department in the relevant specialty at an accredited institution.
  • Course repeat restrictions: The rule does not explicitly prohibit repeating the same CE course for credit within a cycle, but the 20-hour per-single-activity cap applies. Instructor/presenter credit is not separately awarded; preparing and delivering a presentation falls under independent study (capped at 5 hours per cycle regardless of how many times the same material is taught).
  • License status rules: Full licensees (LPC) may elect Inactive status (not available for Associate Professional Counselors). While inactive, no CE or renewal fees are required. Inactive status is limited to 5 years; failure to reactivate within 5 years results in administrative revocation. To reactivate, the licensee must submit evidence of 35 hours of continuing education (including 5 ethics hours, per Rule 135-9) obtained within the 2 years preceding the reactivation application. After more than 5 years inactive, reinstatement under Rule 135-6-.04 is required.
  • Hardship waiver: The Board may waive CE requirements for up to 12 months upon a licensee's satisfactory showing of undue hardship (per O.C.G.A. § 43-10A-16).
  • Dual-license credit reuse: A licensee holding more than one license under the Composite Board (e.g., dual LPC/LMFT) may apply the same CE hour toward renewal of both licenses, provided the hour meets the requirements for each specialty. Each license's core-hour distribution must still be satisfied independently.
  • Audit deficiency cure: If a post-renewal audit disqualifies CE hours and the licensee no longer meets requirements, the license is renewed conditionally and the licensee has 6 months from notice of deficiency to obtain the required hours. Failure to cure within 6 months may result in discipline.
  • Supersession carve-out to the first-renewal CE exemption: when an Associate Professional Counselor (APC) license is superseded by issuance of a full LPC license (or, on the MFT side, when an Associate MFT license is superseded by an LMFT license, or an MSW by an LCSW), the first-renewal CE exemption does NOT apply to the upgraded license. The licensee must satisfy the full 35-hour CE requirement at the first renewal of the new license. The engine does not currently detect supersession (LicenseContext has no previously held license type field), so this constraint is enforced descriptively rather than structurally, reviewers auditing first-renewal exemptions must manually confirm the licensee was not promoted from an associate-level license.
  • Standards Committee discretion: the Board's Standards Committee may, at its discretion, accept CE hours obtained from sources substantially similar to the provider types and disciplines enumerated in credit admissibility (national/regional/state professional associations, accredited universities, governmental agencies, licensed hospitals, other-jurisdiction licensing boards, and the listed mental-health disciplines). This is an equivalency catch-all, providers not literally on the list may still qualify if the Committee deems them substantially similar. Informational only; the credit admissibility lists remain the structured qualifying-provider definition.

Georgia LPC & APC CE: frequently asked questions

How many CE hours do Georgia LPC / APC licensees need?

Georgia requires 35 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a LPC / APC license. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by September 30 of even years.

How many ethics hours are required for Georgia LPC / APC licensees?

Of the total, 5 hours must be in ethics.

How often do Georgia LPC / APC licensees renew?

The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by September 30 of even years.

How much does Georgia LPC / APC license renewal cost?
Renewal fees by license status
Status / feeAmount and conditions
Active renewal$100. Biennial base fee; mailed forms add $10.
Board fee schedule
Late renewal total$150. October 1–31 total; mailed forms add $10.
Board fee schedule

CE course costs are separate. Late renewal does not authorize practice on an expired license.

We verified these fees on 2026-09-30. Board fee schedule.

Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Georgia LPC / APC licensees?

Yes. In addition to ethics, Georgia requires 15 hours of core counseling.

Can Georgia LPC / APC licensees complete CE online or by home study?

Up to 10 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. At least 5 hours of ethics must be earned live.

Is the first renewal different for new Georgia LPC / APC licensees?

The first renewal is different. New licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements, such as prorated hours or first-cycle-only rules, and we apply them automatically.

Sources and verification

State source
Georgia board rule
Fee schedule
Georgia board fee schedule
Profession source
NBCC continuing education guidance
Last verified
August 2026
Ruleset version
2026.6

We reviewed this page against the Georgia board source, and we refresh it from the compiled ruleset above. Methodology and disclaimer. Compliance data is for guidance only, not legal or board advice. Always confirm requirements with your licensing board before renewing. See something wrong? Report it

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Georgia guides & data

What to keep for a CE audit →Learn what boards ask for in a CE audit, how long each state says to keep certificates, and what the notice looks like, then use the printable checklist.Georgia mental health workforce data →27,494 active providers, or 243.3 per 100,000 residents, ranked 49 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Georgia CE requirement pages

Georgia LMFTGeorgia LCSWGeorgia PsychologistGeorgia PMHNP

LPC CE requirements in other states