Licensure and Certifications
- For NJ certification, you can be certified after graduation from Rider and no additional exams are required.
- Please see instructions here from the Office of Field Placement and State Certification for how to apply for your NJ state certification. You may come in for an appointment during your last semester prior to graduating from the program.
- View most current NJ certification requirements (in addition to forms and applications).
- For PA certification, please contact the PA Department of Education for the most updated information on certification:
Division of Certification Services
Pennsylvania Department of Education - School Leadership and Teacher Quality
333 Market Street | Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333
Phone: 717.728.3224- Visit PA certification website for more information
- PA also has praxis testing requirements in order to be certified
- While not required for school counseling certification in NJ, school counseling students may want to consider taking National Counselor Exam (NCE), as many states require that exam for professional licensure as a counselor.
Students who complete the SAC requirements at Rider will receive the Rider SAC Certificate after graduation, but need to obtain the Student Assistance Coordinator Certificate of Eligibility with Advanced Standing (SAC CEAS) from the New Jersey Department of Education. Below are the steps to obtain this certification:
- Please see instructions here from the Office of Field Placement and State Certification for how to apply for your NJ state certification. You may begin this process during your last semester prior to graduating from the program.
- If you are also applying for your School Counselor certification, you can apply for both certifications.
- After receiving the SAC CEAS through the NJ Department of Education, students complete several steps in order to qualify for a standard New Jersey Student Assistance Coordinator certificate. These requirements are determined by the NJ Department of Education. An individual must attain a position as a SAC, and, in tandem with this full-time or part-time employment, must apply for and receive a provisional SAC certificate and complete a registered SAC residency approved by the state.
- Visit the NJ Department of Education website for full information on the SAC CEAS and the standard SAC certificate.
NJ Licensed Professional Counselor
- 60 credit counseling degree
- Pass the National Counselor Exam (NCE)
- Supervised clinical experience: 4500 hours (3 years full-time or 6 years part-time)
- This can be reduced to 3000 hours if you have 30 additional credits in counseling
- LAC: Licensed Association Counselor this needs to be acquired in order to accrue supervised hours for licensure
- To be an LAC, you need a 60 credit counseling degree and must pass the NCE.
- You must complete and submit an application to obtain an LAC
- The most current NJ licensure requirements (in addition to forms and applications) can be found here
PA Licensed Professional Counselor
- 60 credit counseling degree
- Pass the National Counselor Exam (NCE)
- Supervised clinical experience: 3000 hours (2-6 year time-frame)
- This can be reduced to 2400 hours if you have a doctoral degree
- The most current PA licensure requirements (in addition to forms and applications) can be found here
*As licensure and certification regulations and laws may change and this document does not contain/summarize all the requirements pertinent to licensure and regulation, students are advised to consult the organizational materials (e.g., websites) which certify or license professionals (i.e., school counselors, SACs, and professional counselors), rather than relying only on the summary provided in this document.
Suggested Rider University courses to fulfill certain academic requirements for the NJ LAC and LPC (45 semester hours in specific content areas)
The most updated application for NJ LAC and LPC licensure can be found on this site.
Please consult this website for the most updated application.
Part of the application will ask you to indicate which Rider courses fulfilled certain academic requirements for the NJ LAC and LPC. You must indicate 45 semester hours distributed in 8 specific content areas (there are a total of 9 content areas and applicants must list courses in at least 8 of these content areas). Below is a suggestion for how you might complete this portion of the application.
NOTE: If applicants wish to count the fieldwork hours accrued in practicum and internship as part of their supervised hours for licensure, those courses cannot be listed as fulfilling the academic requirements below. Also, students who have taken an independent study (COUN 600) that focuses on one of the topic areas below may consider including that study on their application in the relevant topic area.
This is only a suggestion/guideline for students of courses to fulfill certain academic requirements for licensure.
Counseling theory and practice:
- CNPY 502: Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy (3 semester hours)
- CNPY 518 Counseling Children, Adolescents and Their Families (3 semester hours)
- COUN 555 Introduction to Play Therapy (3 semester hours)
- COUN 556 Parent-Child Play Therapy (3 semester hours)
- COUN 660 Counseling Supervision (3 semester hours)
- COUN 521 Cultivation and Implementation of Trauma-Informed Counseling in Community & Educational Settings
The helping relationship:
- COUN 550: Counseling Techniques Laboratory (3 semester hours)
- COUN 516: Strategies in Addictions Counseling (3 semester hours)
- COUN 512: Disaster Response, Trauma, Crisis, and Grief Counseling (3 semester hours)
Human growth and development and maladaptive behavior:
- EDPS 503: Human Growth and Development (3 semester hours)
- CNPY 514: Psychopathology (3 semester hours)
- COUN 515: Substance Abuse Counseling (3 semester hours)
- CNPY 516: Advanced Psychopathology (3 semester hours)
- COUN 502 Prevention and Intervention for Body Image and Disordered Eating (3 semester hours)
Lifestyle and career development:
- COUN 505: Vocational/Career Development (3 semester hours)
- COUN 504: Vocational/Career Development in Educational Settings (3 semester hours)
Group dynamics, processing, counseling and consulting:
- COUN 503: Group Counseling (3 semester hours)
Appraisal of individuals:
- EDPS 520: Tests and Measurements (3 semester hours)
Social and cultural foundations
- COUN 520: Multicultural Counseling & Relationship Development (3 semester hours)
Research and evaluation
- EDUC 500: Introduction to Research (3 semester hours)
The counseling profession
- COUN 500: Introduction to Counseling (3 semester hours)
- COUN 508: Foundations of Clinical Mental Health Counseling (3 semester hours)
- COUN 530: Legal and Ethical Issues in Counseling and Psychotherapy (3 semester hours)
The Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (DMTCB), an independent affiliate of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), oversees the registration and certification of qualified dance/movement therapists. Upon completion of the CMHC program with a concentration in Dance/Movement Therapy at Rider, you can apply for the entry level credential here as a registered dance/movement therapist (R-DMT). The R-DMT is a national credential that will allow you to work as a dance/movement therapist in clinical and educational settings anywhere in the United States. After two years of full-time practice as R-DMT, you can seek board certification (BC-DMT).