Requirements to apply for accreditation
Accreditation is a process that can take one to two years to complete. You can earn institutional accreditation for your entire school, or programmatic accreditation for a specific program. To begin the process, the requirements below must be met:
Institutional Accreditation Requirements
- You must have five students enrolled.
- All programs offered must be massage therapy/bodywork or esthetics/skin care programs.
- You must be legally organized and licensed by the appropriate state education and/or state licensing agency.
- You must offer instruction on the post-secondary level.
- You must offer at least one massage therapy or esthetics program that requires completion of the number of hours equal to or greater than that required for state licensure – if your state does not have a licensure hour requirement, you program must equal at least 600 clock hours.
Programmatic Accreditation Requirements
- You must have five students enrolled.
- Your program must be clearly identified as a professional massage therapy or esthetics educational program. Other professional education programs that include massage or skin care courses are not eligible.
- A specific entity or department must be responsible for the program. Identifiable faculty and staff must be assigned to and responsible for the program.
- The program must provide an organized plan of study. *see below
- The institution must offer a certificate, diploma or degree in massage therapy or esthetics to a body of students enrolled for the purpose of receiving such a credential.
- The parent institution must demonstrate its financial commitment to the massage therapy and bodywork program or aesthetics/esthetics/skin care program by allocating enough financial support to enable all enrolled students to complete the program.
- The program must be located in an institution that already has institutional accreditation from an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
*That equals or exceeds the number of hours required for state licensure or, in the absence of a state licensure hour requirement, the program is at least 600 clock hours.
