How Much Does Continuing Education Cost for Mental Health Professionals?

By Heard

This blog post was written by our sponsor, Heard, as part of a paid partnership with CEU Creations and CE4Less. While CEU Creations and CE4Less do not receive any commissions or fees from the sale of Heard’s services, we are sharing this content to provide helpful financial insights for mental health professionals. As always, please consult with a licensed tax professional for advice specific to your situation.

According to one report, continuing education, after rent, is the expense most self-employed mental health professionals say is their highest.

The cost of the continuing education you undertake in order to retain your license can put a major dent in your bottom line, particularly if you run your own practice. So it’s natural to seek out the least expensive option—without, however, sacrificing the quality of the education you get.

One way you can do this is by signing up with a fully accredited online provider like CE4Less. Another is by deducting the cost of continuing education on your taxes—something you can only do with proper expense tracking and recordkeeping.

Here’s how to budget for continuing education, how to compare options and choose the one that works for you, and how to make the most of continuing education as a tax deductible expense.

What counts as continuing education?

To qualify as a tax-deductible expense, any continuing education course, workshop, or seminar you take should help you to upgrade and maintain your skills as a licensed mental health professional.

When it comes specifically to meeting education requirements for your license type, three important variables come into play:

• Your location. Each state and province sets different requirements for how many credit hours you must complete every one or two years.
• Accreditations. Different licensing boards recognize different programs and agencies when it comes to accreditation. For continuing education to qualify in your particular case, it must be accredited with your licensing board.
• License type. Within your state or province, different license types have different requirements for continuing education.

Any continuing education provider you choose should be able to clearly identify which programs and agencies they’re accredited with. Ideally, they should also offer tools to help you determine which courses allow you to meet the requirements for your license type and location.

How much does continuing education for mental health professionals cost?

You can break down the cost of continuing education by following these steps:

1. Determine how many hours of continuing education you need to complete every one or two years based on your license type and location
2. Find the average cost per hour of accredited continuing education
3. Multiplying your one- or two-year hour requirements from Step 1 by the hourly cost of education in Step 2.

Once you’ve determined how much continuing education will cost you on average each year, you can set your annual budget. More on that below.

How to find the average cost per hour of continuing education

There’s no quick and easy formula for finding the hourly cost of continuing education. The cost of continuing education varies considerably from one provider to the next.

What’s more, your licensing board may require you to complete a certain number of hours via live seminars. Live seminars may be priced differently compared to asynchronous seminars.

To determine how much you will need to spend for each hour:

1. Choose a continuing education provider
2. Survey courses or seminars you would consider taking in order to fulfill one or two years’ continuing education requirements
3. Add up the total cost of the courses
4. Divide the total cost of the courses by the number of credit hours they allow you to complete

This should give you a rough hourly rate.

For instance, if your license requirements include thirty-six hours of continuing education every two years, and the average cost of continuing education from your chosen provider is $50 per hour, you should plan on spending $1,300 every two years on continuing education.

For the sake of your budget, that’s $650 per year, or just over $54 per month.

You can use this method to compare the cost of continuing education using different providers. 

What are the continuing education requirements for mental health professionals?

Since continuing education requirements vary according to state and license type, the requirements that apply to you will depend on your particular situation.

Requirements vary considerably from one state to the next, both in terms of hours required and terms of timeframes. Some states specify a certain number of hours per year, others specify a certain number every two years.

For instance, a social worker in California must complete 36 hours of approved training every two years, while a social worker in Montana must complete 20 hours per year.

To compare requirements for different states and license types, and to find the requirements you yourself must meet, check out CE4Less State Requirements. 

How much does continuing education cost with CE4Less?

CE4Less is one of the most affordable and high quality, accredited options when it comes to online continuing education for therapists.

Also, CE4Less offers some of the most straightforward pricing. Generally speaking, for every course you complete with CE4Less, you will pay $11.99 per credit hour.

So, a one-hour course costs $11.99. A three-hour course costs $35.97. And a five-hour course costs $59.95.

If your license requires you to complete 36 hours of training every two years, the total cost will come to $431.64 when you use CE4Less. Naturally, if you plan to take more courses than strictly required, the cost will go up. 

The most flexible and affordable option: Yearly membership 

As well as offering individual courses, CE4Less allows you to sign up for an annual plan. 

Your best option, when it comes to affordability and flexibility, is the Unlimited + Live Plan.

For $249.99, you have unlimited access to all of CE4Less’s courses. That includes live and on-demand video webinars—so you can meet the live training requirements for your license type and state. 

The Unlimited + Live plan also allows you to pick up and drop as many courses as you like. With other providers, once you purchase a course, you’re committed. With CE4Less, if you begin a course and then decide you’d like to try something else instead, you can drop the course and choose a new one—with no negative financial impact.

The annual $249.99 rate also makes budgeting for continuing education simpler.

How to budget for continuing education as a mental health professional

Like the cost of rent, utilities, and software subscriptions, the cost of continuing education should be a line item in both your annual and your monthly budgets.

That applies even if, one year, you don’t take any continuing education courses, and the next you complete all the courses you need to meet your requirements. It also applies if you pay yearly for a CE4Less Unlimited + Live Plan. 

Your finances will be easier to organize, and your expenses easier to anticipate, if you distribute the cost of occasional courses—or a yearly plan—across multiple months.

Here’s how:

1. Calculate your total yearly continuing education expense
2. Divide that amount by 12
3. Enter the amount from Step 2 as a “Continuing Education Expense” item in your monthly budget

Each month, set aside that amount to pay for your continuing education. For instance, if you sign up for CE4Less Unlimited + Live, your annual continuing education expense will be $249.99.

Since $249.99 divided by 12 is $20.83, you should budget $20.83 per month for continuing education. 

How to record continuing education expenses with bookkeeping

For the sake of your bookkeeping, every continuing education expense must be labelled under “Continuing Education” or a similar account name. This account should be listed in your chart of accounts.

Every time you pay for continuing education, it’s labelled as a “Continuing Education” expense.

Then, generate monthly profit and loss statements (P&Ls) showing your expenses and income. Looking at your P&Ls, you can track how much you spend on continuing education from one month to the next.

After the close of the tax year, your annual P&L will show you how much you spent on continuing education over the course of the year. You can then report this as a deductible business expense on your tax return.

How to benefit from continuing education tax deductions

The cost of continuing education for self-employed mental health professionals is 100% tax deductible. 

If you’re not sure whether courses you have taken qualify as continuing education, check out Are Continuing Education Expenses Tax Deductible for Mental Health Professionals?

Sole proprietors and limited liability companies (LLCs) or professional LLCs (PLLCs) who elect to be treated as disregarded entities report their continuing education expenses on Schedule C of Form 1040.

S corporations (or LLCs electing S corp status) report the expense on Form 1120-S.

Besides accurately calculating your deductible expense for the year, the most important step to take when claiming continuing education on your tax return is to ensure you have complete records.

Any continuing education expenses you claim as deductions must be backed up by receipts or other proofs of purchase.

In the event of an audit, the IRS can request receipts for every deductible expense you have reported on your past three tax returns. But if something looks amiss and they suspect fraud, your auditors may request receipts for the past six years’ tax returns.

Always keep supporting information for tax deductible expenses safely stored and organized so they’re easy to access in the event of an audit.

Key takeaways

• The cost of continuing education for mental health professionals varies according to location and license type.
• To calculate your own continuing education expense, divide the total cost of courses by the number of credit hours to find an hourly rate.
• Budgeting for continuing education may be easier if you divide up your annual cost over the months of the year, setting aside money each year to cover the expense.
• Continuing education is 100% tax deductible for self-employed professionals.
• Keep receipts for any continuing education expenses you deduct so you can support your claim in the event of an audit.

Heard is the only financial management software built for therapists that enables you to manage your business and personal finances, all in one place. Schedule a free consultation to learn more here.

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