AICP renewal

[RU_Planning]

I have been AICP for about 5 years now and I have been a member of APA for 7 or 8 years.

I recently accepted a position with a not-for-profit and will no longer have a company paying for my APA & AICP memberships.

Is there anyway to just have AICP dues and not be a member of APA?

I am willing to pay the $120 or so for AICP, but I do not want to spend close to $300 on the APA membership.

If anyone has any experience with this, please let me know. Thanks.

[nrschmid]

AICP members must be dues-paying members of both National APA and the APA Chapter. There are someexceptions due to economic hardship but it is treated on a case by case basis. I would contact AICP directly.

[RU_Planning]

Thanks.

Off of the top of your head, do you know how long before a non paying AICP / APA member has until they would forfeit their license and have to retake the exam?

[nrschmid]

AICP is not state licensure. It is certification.

Check AICP Exemption Category 2 for Inactive Membership. AICP membership will be inactivated for up to four years depending on the situation (parental leave, military service leave, health, care leave, foreigh residency, or other). The "other" category, again, is reviewed on a case by case basis.

Keep in mind, if you are selected for temporary inactive membership status, you cannot use your AICP credentials during this period. You must apply for the inactive status prior to the expriarion of your membership. I don't know if this is AICP membership or APA chapter membership so you would need to contact AICP with additional questions. You would still need to pay all APA and chapter dues during this time. You must reactivate your AICP membership within four years of the effective date of inactive status AND pay 20% of back dues owed (AICP dues). If you are inactive for more than four years, you will need to retake the AICP exam to rejoin ACIP and regain the AICP credentials.

If on the otherhand, you decide not to file for temporary inactive membership status, and you let your membership lapse for logner than six months through non-payment of dues or failure to meet the CM requirements, you may be reinstated by completing a formal process tha includes payment of back AICP dues and fulfillment of CM requirements. See http://www.planning.org/aicp/reinstatement.htm#4 for more details.

I can understand your concern since you work in New Jersey and are required to be licensed. $300 is not cheap but it is not terribly expensive either. Will you need to retain your licensure to practice planning in this job? You may want to contact your local APA chapter to find if they a policy for waiving chapter dues. Even if you are granted a waiver on state and APA dues, I don't know how AICP honors that since you need membership for both to retain your AICP designation.

[RU_Planning]

Well I will no longer be working in NJ or doing anything that really requires me to have my AICP or my PP. I am going to be doing economic development in NYC. While planning is somewhat related, AICP does nothing for me, especially when it is coming out of my pocket. I just hate to lose the certification I earned.

I mean I am not the biggest fan of the whole AICP thing, but I earned it and who knows if it can help me down the line.

[nrschmid]

Every certification/licensure has a price. $300.00 is not a huge amount of money.

I said on a few othe threads that I am considering switching careers entirely within the next 7-10 years. I have a stable job working as a planner but I am getting tired and fed up with the recurring and volatile cycles of instability every 10-15 years, moreso than many other professions. Hopefully one day I would like to serve on a plan commission and ultimately a chairman where the real decisions are made. Plan commissioners are barred from taking the exam as plan commissioners. However, if I earned the credentials while practicing as a planning professional, I could still keep AICP even while working in a different field. There are no requirements (at least not yet) that states that I have to continue practicing planning once I earn the credentials: I just have to pay dues and log the CM credits. I don't feel a need to work as a planner to still contribute to planning, even if that means forking over money to keep the AICP.

[Dharmster]

nrschmid is correct. When I interviewed for a job about five years ago, I had listed in my resume that I was formerly a member of AICP. One of the first questions from the first panel of interviewers was why I let my AICP lapse. He went onto to say never let a professional certificaiton lapse.

For young planners AICP can be expensive. However, APA/AICP has made it much cheaper by letting student members of APA convert their membership to a "young member" cateogry for the first few years. That softens the blow from going from paying less than $50 a year to signficantly more.