CIHS Newsletter March 2010

As many prospective students were aware, private state approved schools were not permitted to enroll students undertaking the program for licensure during 2009; as the Bureau for Private Post Secondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) was only performing a caretaker role pending revised legislation being passed by the Californian legislature. It was not however providing the oversight role the Board of Psychology considered adequate to maintain the standards required for licensing.

The legislature passed a Bill in December 2009 to reinstate the full functioning of the Bureau under a new name of Bureau for Private Post Secondary Education (BPPE). As a result, the Board of Psychology will once more accept students from state approved schools for licensing in the state of California. This license is accepted in most other states, although some states require that licensees write an additional ethics exam if the laws regarding professional ethics differ from California's laws; this, however, also applies to accredited schools.

During the Meetings between The Board of Psychology and the private schools in December we were able to show from statistics that private schools had a higher percentage of graduates that passed the licensing exam and that they had scored higher marks is the exam than those in the accredited schools.

A recent survey by one of the California non-accredited schools also shows that private school graduates earned a minimum of $6 million dollars of living wages (excluding office rents). A possible reason for this is that 30 year or older students are rare in accredited schools whereas in private schools below 30 year old students are in the minority. This seems to suggest that the students attending private schools are more mature, clearer and more committed to their career paths.

The disclosure form that students who are enrolling in the psychology program for licensure are required to sign tends to create the impression that there are serious limitations in undertaking the degree at a non-accredited school. The only limitation that students need to consider is whether they are likely to move out of state and whether the degree can be completed online as well as the fact that the licensing exam has to be undertaken in California.

CIHS graduates like those of other private schools in California, who have become licensed have obtained positions in the public sector or are in private practice. Some students who already have MFT licenses take our Ph.D. program as it offers many electives in energy, integral and transpersonal psychology to learn new and effective modalities, which they find enriches their therapeutic repertoire.