The practicum year · 78 California programs · read 11 August 2026
Your practicum is the part of the degree your program controls least — and 29 of 78 will not tell you how it works.
In short
How does the practicum work for a California MFT student?
The seven trainee rules, all 78 programs compared on who finds your site, and the 1,300 hours only one of the three licenses lets you bank
29 of 78 programs publish nothing about placementWhat a trainee may legally do, who is responsible for finding your site, how many client hours each program wants before it will graduate you, and which of those hours the Board will still be counting three years later.
What a trainee may doWho finds your siteAll 78 programsHours your program wantsThe supervision ratioWhat counts toward 3,000Degree to registrationSources
The sentence that catches people out
“A trainee shall not perform services in a private practice or a professional corporation.”
That is section 4980.43.3(b)(1), and it is absolute. Not as an employee, not as a volunteer, not with a willing licensed supervisor who has room and would be glad to have you. An associate may work in a private practice once the Board has issued the registration. A trainee never can. People arrange the placement first and read this second.
What a trainee may do
Seven rules, and where each one lives.
These are the ones that decide whether a placement is usable. They sit in four different sections of the Business and Professions Code, which is most of the reason hardly anyone has read all of them.
The setting has to be something that is neither — and that “lawfully and regularly provides mental health counseling or psychotherapy” and provides oversight of your work. § 4980.43.3(b). Agencies, clinics, schools, county programs and nonprofits qualify; the solo practice down the road does not, however good the supervisor.
“A trainee, associate, or applicant for licensure shall only perform mental health and related services as an employee or volunteer, and not as an independent contractor.” The hour and supervision rules apply identically either way, so a 1099 does not buy anybody flexibility — it just makes the hours uncountable. § 4980.43.3(a).
You may be paid only by your employer. You may not take a fee, a co-pay or a gift from the person you are seeing, and you may not have any proprietary interest in the employer’s business, lease or rent space from it, or pay for its furnishings, equipment or supplies. § 4980.43.3(e) and (f). The second half of that is what rules out the arrangement where a trainee “rents a room” from a practice.
No hour of experience counts if it was gained before you finished them. § 4980.43(c)(6). This is why practicum sits in year two of nearly every program on the list below.
With one exception, and it is worth knowing precisely: you may keep counseling clients through a gap in enrollment of fewer than 90 calendar days, if that gap is immediately preceded by a practicum course and immediately followed by another one or by finishing the degree. § 4980.42(c). That is the rule that lets a summer work.
“The school shall approve each site and shall have a written agreement with each site that details each party’s responsibilities, including the methods by which supervision shall be provided.” It must also provide for regular progress reports and evaluations. § 4980.42(e). Read that next to the table below: even where you find the site, the agreement is the school’s obligation.
Nor by anyone with whom you have a personal, professional or business relationship that undermines the authority or effectiveness of the supervision. § 4980.43.3(d). The second clause is broader than people assume and it is the Board that decides, after the fact.
The one that costs the most to learn late
If you gained hours at a school other than the one that confers your degree, you carry the burden of proving to the Board that they were gained in compliance — not the school. § 4980.42(e), last sentence.
Which is a reason to keep your own copies of the site agreement, the supervision log and the weekly hour sheets from the first week rather than the last. The Board is reading them up to six years later, and what happens when a signature cannot be produced is a matter of public record.
Who finds your site
29 of 78 publish nothing about it at all.
Every one of the 78 programs on this site was read for a single question: when practicum comes, whose job is it to find the seat? Five answers were possible. This is how they fell.
| What the program says | Programs | Share | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guaranteed | 3 | 4% | The program states every student gets a seat. |
| Program places you | 6 | 8% | The program assigns the site. You may be consulted; you are not doing the finding. |
| Approved-site list | 27 | 35% | A list of sites the school has already contracted with. You apply and interview, but you are choosing from a shelf that already exists. |
| You find it | 13 | 17% | Finding the site is your job. The school approves it afterward — and by statute has to hold a written agreement with it. |
| Not published | 29 | 37% | Nothing on the public site, catalog or fieldwork handbook says. This describes the disclosure, not the practice: some of these place students well. You cannot tell before you enroll, which is the finding. |
Where a program runs two stages — an in-house clinic first, an external traineeship second — it is classified on the stage that carries the risk, because that is the one that can go wrong. The notes explaining those calls are printed with the programs below.
Read the first row and the last row together. 13 programs tell you plainly that finding the site is your job, which is hard but honest. 29 say nothing either way — and a prospective student comparing two schools cannot tell which kind of year they are buying. That is not the same as a bad program. It is a gap in disclosure about the highest-variance part of the degree.
The close calls
12 needed a judgment, and here it is.
- Daybreak University — not published Has an on-site counseling center and says time there counts toward the requirement, but never says every student trains there or that a seat is assured. Owning a clinic is not a placement model.
- San Diego State University — not published Genuinely two-stage. The first practicum is in-house at the Dede Alpert Center; the external traineeship, where SDSU says the majority of hours accrue, does not say who secures the seat. Classified on the stage that carries the risk.
- Alliant International University (CSPP) — you find it Reclassified after the placement page put the code beside the quote. The program's own sentence is "you are fully responsible in securing your practicum site", with nothing published about a list or a coordinator. It had been coded assisted, which the evidence does not support.
- University of Massachusetts Global (formerly Brandman) — you find it "Students are responsible for securing a practicum site while actively collaborating with their CFR." A named faculty contact to collaborate with is real help, but the responsibility and the searching are both the student's and no approved-site list is published.
- Western Seminary — you find it "It is the student's responsibility to find a Practicum/Internship placement. However, we are continuously expanding our resources to better assist students in this process." Classified on the first sentence; the second describes an intention rather than a list.
- California Institute of Integral Studies — approved-site list Owning three clinics is not the same as holding a seat in one. CIIS's own Field Placement Office says practicums are competitive and advises applying to at least six sites. This is the reclassification that moved a featured school down, and it is the honest reading.
- San Francisco State University — approved-site list Kept as assisted, narrowly. Placement is "the responsibility of the student", but the program names three staff who work with them on it - faculty advisor, specialization coordinator and internship coordinator - which is more structure than the student-sourced programs publish.
- Cal Poly Humboldt — program places you “You will be placed in CAPS or a community agency”, and the handbook has placements arranged by the student's faculty supervisor. The program drives it, so this is placed rather than in-house even though year one is in its own clinic.
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — program places you “Interviews are then arranged and, eventually, trainees are selected and placed.” The on-campus clinic is stage one; the program places the community traineeship.
- California Lutheran University — guaranteed Its own words: a 12-month placement in the on-site Community Counseling Center, described as providing the clinical training itself. There is no external site search in the published model at all.
- Chapman University — guaranteed “All students in our program” complete the practicum year in the on-site Frances Smith Center. “All” is the load-bearing word.
- Sentio University — guaranteed The only school on the list that states the guarantee explicitly and draws the contrast itself: students in good standing “receive guaranteed clinical training placement”, unlike “programs that offer 'practicum support' but leave students to find their own field placements”.
33 of the 78 run a clinic of their own
33 / 78An in-house training clinic changes the shape of the year: the first hours happen in a building the program controls, with supervision it employs, and the placement question moves to the second stage rather than the first. It is the single most useful thing to ask about on a campus visit, and it is marked for every program in the table below.
It is not automatically better. A clinic seat is often part time and the caseload is whatever walks in, so a student who needs relational hours — the couples-and-families hours the Board requires 500 of — can find them harder to get there than at an agency.
All 78 programs
Ordered by how much of the finding falls on you.
Not published first, then student-sourced, then the ones that get progressively more administered. The quoted column is the program’s own wording, not a characterization of it — where the cell is empty, nothing public said anything.
| Program | Who finds the site | Own clinic | Client hours | In the program's own words |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| America Evangelical University / Kairos Pacific University | Not published | — | 300 h | “Internships are an integral part of the program, providing students with supervised practical experiences in real-world settings, crucial for…” |
| Antioch University Los Angeles | Not published | Yes | — | “Beyond the classroom walls, you have the opportunity to implement your learning by practicing therapy under professional supervision at one of over…” |
| Antioch University Santa Barbara | Not published | — | 225 h | “Clinical traineeships are an integral component of the MACP program. These experiences prepare students for psychotherapy and counseling work, and…” |
| Biola University (Talbot School of Theology) | Not published | Yes | 225 h | “Students may not interview for practicum sites until they have successfully passed the PQE” |
| California Baptist University | Not published | — | — | “We have over 100 well established organizational relationships that provide our students with experience in a diverse range of clinical settings...…” |
| California Southern University | Not published | — | 285 h | “Practicum and internship placement, supervision, and circumstances must be preapproved by the MA Director of Clinical Training.” |
| California State University, Bakersfield | Not published | Yes | 150 h | “students must be available at least 20 hours per week during regular business hours (Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) for their clinical field…” |
| California State University, East Bay | Not published | Yes | — | “Marriage and Family Therapist trainees begin working in their placement sites during their second year of training. Fieldwork Placement sites are…” |
| California State University, Long Beach | Not published | Yes | — | “All trainees in the CSULB Counseling Psychology program begin clinical training (Practicum) on-site at the Community Clinic for Counseling and…” |
| California State University, Los Angeles | Not published | Yes | — | “These Clinic courses provide the opportunity for students to work in the Cal State LA's School-Based Family Counseling Clinic with families from the…” |
| California State University, San Bernardino | Not published | Yes | — | “The M.S. program operates an on-campus psychology clinic for clinical training purposes.” |
| California State University, Stanislaus | Not published | — | — | “Supervised client contact hours in individual, couples, family, or group counseling depending on agency providing practicum experience. Emphasis on…” |
| Concordia University Irvine (Townsend Institute) | Not published | — | 280 h | “Requiring 100 hours, you'll need a minimum of 40 direct client contact hours. You'll have weekly individual and group supervision from a Concordia…” |
| Daybreak University | Not published | Yes | — | “The University has its own on-site counseling center, in Southern California, so you can gain real world experience and practice counseling both…” |
| Fuller Theological Seminary | Not published | Yes | — | “All students have access to a broad range of practicum options through our dozens of site connections.” |
| Golden Gate University | Not published | — | — | “Practical application of assessment, counseling, consultation and case management skills in an approved mental health setting.” |
| Jessup University | Not published | — | 280 h | “you'll also be paired with a California clinical practitioner to complete in-person practicum hours” |
| La Sierra University | Not published | — | 280 h | “An opportunity for the student to participate in the counseling of individuals and groups under supervision, as a laboratory experience, prior to…” |
| Life Pacific University | Not published | — | — | “a 12-month practicum” |
| Notre Dame de Namur University | Not published | — | — | “The Clinical Training Program, led by the Director of Clinical Training (DCT), nurtures professional interests. It includes a year of supervised…” |
| San Diego State University | Not published | Yes | 300 h | “The practicum is where students begin to work with clients and this is conducted at the Center for Community Counseling & Engagement during the first…” |
| Simpson University | Not published | — | — | “During the final year of study, students also experience excellent clinical training at a variety of trusted practicum sites within the broader…” |
| Southern California Seminary | Not published | — | — | “CO-771 Counseling Practicum 1, CO-772 Counseling Practicum 2, CO-773 Counseling Practicum 3 [...] CO-778 Practicum Continuance (optional)” |
| University of La Verne | Not published | — | 280 h | “Provides training and supervision that augments and enhances the training students receive at their approved practicum sites.” |
| University of San Francisco | Not published | Yes | — | “During their final year in the program, students enter a traineeship with Bay Area community-based and school-based partners.” |
| University of Southern California (Rossier) | Not published | — | — | “Conduct supervised field experience in a clinical setting that focuses on the development of novice therapists in a small group setting.” |
| University of the Pacific (Benerd College) | Not published | — | — | “Counseling Practicum entails the supervised application of psychological procedures in appropriate settings.” |
| University of the West | Not published | — | — | “Students are required to gain 6 units of fieldwork (practicum) at an approved practicum site. Upon completion of 18 units of coursework students may…” |
| Weimar University | Not published | — | 280 h | “Students will complete 6 units (600 hours) of practicum thus completing 280 hours of direct client contact in a supervised clinical placement…” |
| Alliant International University (CSPP) | You find it | — | 300 h | “As a student of the CFT program, you are fully responsible in securing your practicum site.” |
| California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) | You find it | Yes | 300 h | “The student is responsible for selecting a site that will provide the type of counseling experience that is of interest to his/her individual…” |
| HIS University | You find it | — | 250 h | “A Practicum referral list is available in the office. However, the student has complete responsibility for selecting and negotiating with their…” |
| Meridian University | You find it | — | — | “Students in degree programs that require field placement (internship) are responsible for utilizing the University's Fieldwork Handbook and support…” |
| Pacifica Graduate Institute | You find it | — | 280 h | “How do I find a practicum site? It is the student's responsibility to research and explore opportunities in your community. In the event that you are…” |
| Rhombus University | You find it | — | — | “Students will be directed by Rhombus University administration on engaging their local community to identify a counseling agency qualified to be a…” |
| San Jose State University | You find it | — | 225 h | “You want to apply to and interview at 3 places minimally [...] If you apply to agencies that we have not been (or have not been in a while), you MUST…” |
| Sofia University | You find it | — | 225 h | “A minimum of four quarters of practicum coursework is required, and all students will need to secure a traineeship position at an approved local site…” |
| Touro University Worldwide | You find it | — | 300 h | “TUW is not responsible for finding the clinical placement site and/or agency for students. The student is responsible for finding the clinical…” |
| University of Massachusetts Global (formerly Brandman) | You find it | — | 300 h | “Students are responsible for securing a practicum site while actively collaborating with their CFR and are encouraged to seek guidance and support…” |
| University of Phoenix | You find it | Yes | 300 h | “Students are required to secure their own clinical placement site.” |
| Western Institute for Social Research | You find it | — | 150 h | “WISR Faculty believe that it is in each student's interest that they take responsibility for seeking out and establishing a Practicum site (necessary…” |
| Western Seminary | You find it | — | 280 h | “It is the student's responsibility to find a Practicum/Internship placement. However, we are continuously expanding our resources to better assist…” |
| Azusa Pacific University | Approved-site list | — | 300 h | “While students are responsible for securing a placement site, assistance is provided by the director of clinical training, site directors, and in the…” |
| Cal Poly Pomona | Approved-site list | — | — | “Our program provides a list of approved practicum sites. Students are then responsible for contacting these sites and going through their application…” |
| California Institute of Integral Studies | Approved-site list | Yes | — | “Students engage in a year-long practicum at one of our three award-winning Integral Counseling Clinics or an external site of their choosing.” |
| California State University, Chico | Approved-site list | Yes | 225 h | “During the third year of the program, MFT program students complete a clinical traineeship at one of our partner sites in the community. Students…” |
| California State University, Dominguez Hills | Approved-site list | — | 300 h | “The MFT program provides its students with a directory of sites with approved sites accessible in Tevera to eligible students after completing the…” |
| California State University, Fullerton (University Extension) | Approved-site list | — | 280 h | “Students are responsible for selecting their own placement site; however, the Clinical Training Director must approve their selection by reviewing…” |
| California State University, Northridge | Approved-site list | Yes | 500 h | “Apply and interview at field sites based on the approved list, available on the cohort's private Canvas page. ... Students may only work at sites…” |
| California State University, Sacramento | Approved-site list | Yes | — | “All counseling CIT's must interview with approved Internship sites, CIT's will not be placed at sites. ... CIT's may interview with up to three sites…” |
| Campbellsville University — Los Angeles Education Center (formerly Phillips Graduate University/Institute) | Approved-site list | Yes | — | “375 Hours Of Required Practicum Completed At A Phillips-Approved Agency ... Support Securing Clinical Placement Through The Clinical Placement Office…” |
| Fresno Pacific University | Approved-site list | Yes | — | “After you have been approved for Practicum via the successful completion of your Trainee-Practicum Assessment AND your cover letter(s) and CV have…” |
| Hope International University | Approved-site list | Yes | 300 h | “Students must obtain a trainee position at an approved clinical training site to complete the required hours.” |
| Loma Linda University | Approved-site list | Yes | 300 h | “Students work collaboratively with their department to secure practicum placements that align with their academic and professional goals.” |
| Mount Saint Mary's University | Approved-site list | — | 250 h | “Each student can select their own practicum from a pre-determined list or suggest new sites with the guidance and approval of the clinical…” |
| National University (absorbed Northcentral University and John F. Kennedy University) | Approved-site list | — | — | “While students are ultimately responsible for securing clinical sites and supervisors, the NU clinical faculty and staff bring to bear considerable…” |
| Pacific Oaks College | Approved-site list | — | 225 h | “The Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Program maintains relationships with clinics, county and community-based agencies, and schools throughout the…” |
| Palo Alto University | Approved-site list | Yes | 280 h | “Finding Your Fieldwork Site. PAU's Clinical Training Team will help you as you secure an ideal practicum or field placement in your community that…” |
| Pepperdine University (GSEP) | Approved-site list | Yes | 225 h | “Clinical training staff assist students in applying to practicum sites and provide guidance throughout the fieldwork/practicum.” |
| Point Loma Nazarene University | Approved-site list | Yes | 290 h | “PLNU will work with you to acquire a practicum experience and we have an on-site clinic where you will engage in hands-on therapeutic practices while…” |
| Saint Mary's College of California | Approved-site list | — | — | “Our program connects you with schools, clinics, and community organizations across the wider Bay Area, helping you secure field placements that match…” |
| San Francisco State University | Approved-site list | — | 280 h | “Traineeship placement is the responsibility of the student working with their faculty advisor, specialization coordinator, and the internship…” |
| Santa Clara University | Approved-site list | — | 225 h | “The Practicum Spreadsheet is a collection of clinical sites that contain descriptions of clinical sites throughout the Bay Area. This information…” |
| Sonoma State University | Approved-site list | — | — | “Both the Clinical Mental Health and School Counseling programs are affiliated with many counseling and school traineeship sites throughout Sonoma…” |
| The Chicago School | Approved-site list | — | 300 h | “The Director of Clinical Training (DCT) regularly connects with students to assist in the practicum placement and maintenance process. [...] The…” |
| The Wright Institute | Approved-site list | — | 280 h | “In their first year of the program, students gain access to our database of practicum sites. The Field Placement Office will be in contact with…” |
| University of Redlands | Approved-site list | — | — | “The University of Redlands must have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the practicum site before you can begin. Please review our Active…” |
| University of San Diego (SOLES) | Approved-site list | — | 400 h | “Students choose where to complete their clinical work from a list of pre-approved agencies and practicum sites that best matches their interests and…” |
| Vanguard University | Approved-site list | Yes | — | “The program will support and assist you in securing a placement at one of our more than 60 partner sites.” |
| Cal Poly Humboldt | Program places you | Yes | 150 h | “Begin establishing a counseling relationship with one to three clients at Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS), which provides Cal Poly…” |
| Cal Poly San Luis Obispo | Program places you | Yes | — | “The graduate program operates on a cohort model wherein classes are small, and students receive much individual attention in our on-campus practicum…” |
| Dominican University of California | Program places you | — | 280 h | “Dominican's well-established practicum works with over 50 community agencies to place 100 percent of our trainees in the field.” |
| Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences | Program places you | Yes | 225 h | “Clinical assignments for all programs are made by the clinical coordinator in collaboration with the program director. Students may be required to…” |
| Loyola Marymount University | Program places you | Yes | — | “At what kind of agencies does LMU place students? LMU contracts with a wide range of agencies for our students to provide services to complete…” |
| Northwestern University, The Family Institute | Program places you | Yes | — | “Do I secure my own placements? No. We have a dedicated clinical placement team that you will work with to secure your placement. Every site must be…” |
| California Lutheran University | Guaranteed | Yes | — | “A special feature of the program is a 12-month practicum placement in our on-site Community Counseling Center program.” |
| Chapman University | Guaranteed | Yes | — | “All students in our program have the unique experience of completing a one-year clinical practicum in our on-site community clinic, the Frances Smith…” |
| Sentio University | Guaranteed | Yes | — | “Yes. Students in good standing receive guaranteed clinical training placement at the Sentio Counseling Center, our telehealth training clinic. This…” |
Read 11 August 2026 from each program’s public fieldwork page, handbook or catalog. Wording changes; the linked program page carries the source for each one. A program named here is a program with a published page on this site or a record in the research file behind the program comparison. “Client hours” is the direct-client-contact minimum the program states for graduation, curated by hand — the full wording behind each one is on that program’s own page.
Hours your program wants
Half the published minimums sit exactly on a number the state wrote.
42 of the 78 state a direct-client-contact minimum you must reach before they will graduate you. They range from 150 to 500 — and the two commonest values are not arbitrary.
| Direct client contact required | Programs | Why that number |
|---|---|---|
| 150 hours | 3 | The face-to-face component of the LMFT floor, on its own |
| 225 hours | 9 | The LMFT statutory floor: 150 face-to-face hours plus 75 of either client-centered advocacy or more counseling. § 4980.36(d)(1)(B) |
| 250 hours | 2 | — |
| 280 hours | 12 | The LPCC statutory floor: 280 hours of face-to-face supervised clinical experience. § 4999.33(c)(3) |
| 285 hours | 1 | — |
| 290 hours | 1 | — |
| 300 hours | 12 | — |
| 400 hours | 1 | — |
| 500 hours | 1 | — |
Curated by hand from each program’s own wording rather than parsed, because the wording mixes counseling hours with supervision and observation hours and a pattern match gets roughly two thirds of them right — which is worse than not printing a number. 36 programs state a total that is not a direct-client-contact figure; their exact words are in the table above.
A program asking for 280 rather than 225 is usually not asking more of you for its own sake. It is holding the door open to the LPCC license as well as the LMFT, and the counselor statute wants 280. 63 of the 78 here advertise both. If you are certain you only want the LMFT, the extra 55 hours are still real hours in a real chair — they are simply not being asked for by the MFT statute.
The supervision ratio
A trainee is supervised twice as intensively as an associate.
Section 4980.43.2 sets the floor, and the trainee line is the strictest number in the whole chapter. If your site cannot meet it, the hours do not count — which is a question worth asking a site before you accept a seat, not after.
| Requirement | Trainee | Registered associate |
|---|---|---|
| Direct supervisor contact, per setting, per week | 1 hour | 1 hour |
| Extra supervision tied to caseload | 1 more hour for every 5 hours of direct clinical counseling that week | 1 more hour if more than 10 hours of direct clinical counseling that week |
| Maximum supervision credited in any one week | 6 hours | 6 hours |
| Must fall in the same week as the hours claimed | Yes | Yes |
| Individual or triadic, rather than group | — | 52 of the 104 weeks |
| Group supervision counts as | 2 hours face to face, 8 people maximum | 2 hours face to face, 8 people maximum |
Face-to-face means in person or two-way real-time videoconferencing, or a combination. A supervisor has to assess in writing, within 60 days of starting, whether videoconferenced supervision is appropriate for you at all — and may not use it if the assessment says no. § 4980.43.2(d).
The practical reading of row two: at a site where you carry ten direct counseling hours a week, a trainee needs two hours of supervisor contact and an associate needs one. Sites that take both sometimes budget supervision at the associate rate. That is the site’s error and your uncountable hours.
What counts toward 3,000
Only one of the three licenses lets your practicum count.
This is the single largest difference between the MFT track and the other two, it is decided before you enroll, and almost nobody states it plainly.
| License | Hours required | May any be earned before the degree? | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMFT | 3,000 | Yes — up to 1,300, of which no more than 750 may be counseling and direct supervisor contact | § 4980.43(c)(4), (5) |
| LPCC | 3,000 | No. The statute says “3,000 postdegree hours” | § 4999.46(c)(1) |
| LCSW | 3,000 | No. The statute says “post-master’s degree supervised experience” | § 4996.23(a) |
All three also require the experience to span at least 104 weeks, so banking pre-degree hours shortens the hour count and not necessarily the calendar. What it buys is slack: 1,300 fewer hours to find after graduation, in the period when you are also job hunting.
§ 4980.43(c)(4). Everything you accrue as a trainee counts against it, including nonclinical time.
Of those 1,300, no more than 750 may be counseling plus direct supervisor contact. § 4980.43(c)(5). So a program that wants 500 direct client contact hours is already two thirds of the way through your pre-degree counseling allowance before supervision is added.
Hours older than six years at the date the Board receives your license application do not count — except up to 500 hours of clinical experience gained in the required practicum, which are exempt. § 4980.43(c)(7). If life happens between the degree and the license, those are the ones that survive it.
No more than 40 hours in any seven consecutive days, at any stage. § 4980.43(c)(2). A site offering to sign for more is offering you hours the Board will strike.
Once you are registered, the arithmetic of the remaining hours is the 3,000-hour calculator, and what the Board will and will not credit from out of state is on the out-of-state page.
Degree to registration
Ninety days, and the clock starts at the degree award date.
The gap between graduating and holding an associate registration is the one stretch of the path with no institution looking after you. Three things decide whether it costs you anything.
Not postmark, not submit — receive, counted from the date the qualifying degree was granted. Do that and postdegree hours gained before the registration is issued still count, as long as the registration is subsequently granted. Miss it and every hour between the degree and the registration is gone. § 4980.43(b)(1)(A).
For anybody who completed graduate study on or after 1 January 2020, those pre-registration hours only count if the workplace required completed Live Scan fingerprinting before you gained them, and you file a copy of the form with your license application. § 4980.43(b)(1)(B).
§ 4980.43(b)(2) repeats the trainee rule for this window specifically. The 90-day grace period covers agency and clinic work; it does not open the private-practice door early.
What the wait actually is
The Board publishes how long it is taking to process each application type every quarter, and the numbers move a lot. The processing-time page tracks them, and the fee page covers what the application costs since the July 2026 reduction.
The other half of this window is the job. Why agencies hire pre-licensed clinicians at all is a billing rule rather than an hour count, and what those first jobs pay is on the associate pay page. If a placement or a first post asks you to work unpaid, the wage-claim page sets out what the law says.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
The statute
- Business and Professions Code § 4980.42 — what a trainee may do, the 90-day enrollment gap, and the school’s duty to approve each site
- § 4980.43 — the 3,000 hours, the 1,300 and 750 pre-degree ceilings, the six-year rule and its 500-hour exemption
- § 4980.43.2 — supervision ratios, the 6-hour weekly cap and the videoconferencing assessment
- § 4980.43.3 — employee or volunteer only, no private practice for trainees, no payment from clients
- § 4980.36 — the degree, and the practicum floor of 150 face-to-face hours plus 75
- § 4999.33 — the LPCC degree, and its 280-hour practicum floor
- § 4999.46 — the LPCC’s 3,000 postdegree hours
- § 4996.23 — the LCSW’s 3,000 post-master’s hours
The program data
Placement categories are a reading of what each program publishes, reduced by _dev/practicum.py. “Not published” means nothing public said, not that the program does not help — several of them place students well and simply do not write it down. Direct-client-contact figures are each program’s own stated minimum for graduation, not a Board requirement, and the program’s exact words are printed beside every one. Statutory text is quoted from the California Legislative Information site and was read 11 August 2026; sections are amended, so check the current text before relying on any of it. Nothing here is legal advice, and the Board decides what it credits.
