Praxis II Fee Waiver Request for School Counseling Students
Professional School Counseling Students can visit ETS Fee Waiver Information(opens in a new tab) to learn more about the eligibility requirements and application process to request a fee waiver. It is crucial that students read through all the information provided, as there are several requirements for eligibility.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Students must be receiving financial aid.
- They should be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program and able to provide a current Enrollment Verification Certificate (note that those with a master’s or doctoral degree are ineligible).
- Students need to provide the 2025-2026 FAFSA Submission Summary showing an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) of $3,000 or less.
- They must be required to take a Praxis test by an authorized score recipient.
How to Apply for a Fee Waiver:
- Complete the Fee Waiver Request Form (PDF) (see the attached flyer).
- Obtain a current Enrollment Verification Certificate (contact the UNCP registrar’s office). It must include a school seal, National Student Clearinghouse watermark, or the signature of the registrar.
- Obtain the 2025-2026 FAFSA Submission Summary.
- Submit your request by email: scan all documents, attach them to your email, and send to .
Students are eligible for a fee waiver only once during a testing year, and there are a limited number of waivers available per test date and institution. All requests are processed on a first-come, first-served basis ETS-Fee-Waiver-Request
ACES Statement on the US Supreme Court Decision on Chiles v Salazar
The Association for Counselor Education and Supervision and ACES Regional Division leadership teams are deeply concerned about the implications of the US Supreme Court ruling in Colorado this week with regard to client welfare and professional counseling practice.
Counselor educators and supervisors have long recognized that Professional Counseling is grounded in research, training, and evidence-based interventions to provide effective treatment. Research by both medical and mental health professionals has indicated that Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts (SOGICE), including conversion therapy practices, present significant risk of harm to clients. This is particularly harmful and damaging for youth. This research has further informed the stance of unified position of medical and mental health organizations standing united in opposing these practices.
Though the US Supreme Court decision in Chiles v. Salazar held that Colorado’s law suppressed speech based on viewpoint, the ruling was narrow. The Court did not speak to the safety or efficacy of conversion therapy. Our ethical code and values as Counselors recognize that we must strive to do no harm and to protect clients using safe, ethical, and evidence-based interventions.
If you would like to review the Supreme Court’s decision, it can be found at this link.
ACES is working with our mental health coalition partners to draft a joint statement in reaction to the decision. We also hope to offer resources for use by members.
Mental Health Access and Provider Support Act (S.B. 4202 / H.R. 8081)
Mental health counselors are essential providers for Medicare beneficiaries, but current reimbursement rates limit access to care for older adults and individuals with disabilities.
We’re asking you to take a minute to make your voice heard.
The Mental Health Access and Provider Support Act (S.B. 4202 / H.R. 8081) would improve reimbursement rates and expand access to mental health services for underrepresented communities. Your outreach can help move this forward.
Thank you for advocating for the profession and the clients we serve,
NBCC Government Affairs Team
Official Statement: NCCA on the Supreme Court Decision in Chiles v. Salazar
| The North Carolina Counseling Association (NCCA) is closely monitoring the implications of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Chiles v. Salazar, which struck down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors. The Court’s ruling classifies “talk therapy” as protected speech rather than strictly professional conduct, asserting that the government cannot restrict a counselor’s communications based on viewpoint.
Our Position The NCCA remains steadfast in our commitment to the ACA Code of Ethics and the principle of “Do No Harm.” While the Supreme Court has redefined the legal boundaries of “talk therapy” under the First Amendment, our professional standards are governed by clinical efficacy, the welfare of our clients, and the ethical mandate to provide affirming, evidence-based care. We recognize the complexities this ruling introduces to state-level regulation and the potential for confusion among practitioners. Our priority is to ensure that North Carolina counselors are equipped to navigate this changing legal landscape while maintaining the highest ethical standards for our diverse client populations. “The legal definition of speech may have shifted, but our ethical duty to provide safe, competent, and evidence-based mental health services remains unchanged.” Member Resources & Guidance To assist our members in understanding how this federal ruling interacts with North Carolina state laws and licensing board (NCBLCMHC) regulations, we have compiled the following:
NCCA will continue to monitor developments from the NCBLCMHC and the North Carolina General Assembly and will update these resources as new guidance becomes available. Resources ACA Position on Conversion Therapy ACA Statement on Supreme Court Ruling ACES also released a statement sent to emails of registered members. Additionally, for more opportunities to get involved in advocacy with ACA, please see |
Rule Finalized Reducing Access to Federal Student Loans
Rule Finalized Reducing Access to Federal Student Loans
The Trump Administration has finalized its rule reducing counseling students’ access to federal student loans. Starting July 1, 2026, new borrowers for graduate programs will only be able to borrow $20,500 annually ($100,000 aggregate) in federal student loans.
ACA is deeply disappointed with this decision. We are concerned that students who cannot cover the cost of tuition with federal loans may be pushed towards expensive private lenders or discouraged from pursuing counseling altogether.
Therapodcast: Chiles v. Salazar decision
The group digs into the tension between professional ethics, counselor autonomy, and constitutional protections, raising hard questions about where guidance ends and coercion begins. With perspectives grounded in counselor education, licensure boards, and national policy, the discussion moves beyond headlines to explore real implications for practice, training, and regulation.
This is not a surface-level conversation. It’s a candid look at a field navigating legal pressure, ideological divides, and the challenge of staying grounded in both care and clarity.
Practice Forward by Dr. Monica P. Band
Each piece tries to hold both the practical and the harder-to-name parts of the work: the stuff that rarely makes it into a syllabus or a supervision hour, but lives quietly in our heads anyway!
Provisional Aspirations with Thomas W. Moore
Provisional Aspirations with Thomas W. Moore
Mainly psychodynamic and neurophilosophical discussion with a clinical edge.
Radical Attunement By Denise Takakjy PhD
International Institute for the Advancement of Counseling Theory
Consider joining the International Institute for the Advancement of Counseling Theory (IIACT). Everything on IIACT’s website is FREE and includes such things as their quarterly newsletter, videos, research they’ve conducted, podcasts, access to books and videos, a theoretical orientation survey, and much more.
It’s all free and underwritten by my endowment. Please join and let others know about our institute.
AMCD Stands Firm Against Social Injustice and Human Rights Violations
The Social Injustice Crisis
The current sociopolitical climate in the United States continues to threaten the psychological and physical safety of People of The Global Majority (PGM) and marginalized communities who do not conform to White supremacist ideologies—a pervasive state of crisis since the inception of this nation. The terror witnessed and experienced by marginalized communities and People of the Global Majority has only been exacerbated over the past year due to the Trump administration and continues to leave impenetrable wounds that will have adverse, lasting effects on future generations.
The criticality of the current moment lies in the shift from a state of structural violence to one resembling authoritarian governance that terrorizes communities. The absence of clear rules or predictability within this chaos leaves many communities living in a persistent state of fear. For example, when explicitly focusing on ICE and immigration-related violence—the kidnapping and detention of civilians regardless of immigration status without due process, and the gassing of unarmed protestors—the imprints on families and communities will be long-lasting.
Children are in detention centers writing letters to the public, some without their parents; they are alone. Medical neglect and sexual abuse of detainees are rampant (ACLU, 2026). One recent case of medical neglect of a minor includes a 2-month-old baby, Juan Nicolás, in a San Antonio, Texas detention center. He is now being deported with the rest of his family (San Antonio Current). Another recent case involves the medical neglect of Emmanuel Damas, a 53-year-old Haitian asylum seeker who died of a tooth infection in an Arizona detention center (CBS News).
Individuals continue to be murdered as a result of ICE violence, including the high-profile murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Nicole Good, the tragic death of Dr. Linda Davis (WTOC), and many others within just the first two months of 2026 (The Guardian). These are the latest examples of state-sponsored violence and murder and serve as a reminder that no one is truly immune to these atrocities and social injustices. Witnessing and experiencing these horrific realities constitute the foundation for immediate and long-term psychological harm, contributing to interpersonal and community trauma, vicarious trauma, and complex trauma later in life.
Call to Action
Lamenting on the ongoing situation without taking action can only deepen the helplessness felt by many. Thus, this social injustice crisis offers a call to respond and lead with care, courage, and fearlessness. As Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee says, “You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.”
The message to counselors is that we cannot and must not remain silent. This must include a commitment to resisting injustice from counselors within majority-identity communities; these injustices affect all of us. We call on other ACA counseling divisions to use their platforms to take a clear stance against the harm being done by the current administration. Neutrality, silence, and ambivalence are dangerous and only stoke the oppression being experienced.
Engaging Our Crisis Counseling Skills as Counselor Activists
In this unforeseen space we are living in, AMCD proposes to ground our actions in the work of those who have fought similar battles against racism, white supremacy, and ethnic cleansing before us—our ancestors. One lesson they left us with is that no one goes it alone in a crisis, and what we seed or plant today may flourish in the years ahead.
Several endeavors of care are proposed. These include:
- Creating safety planning with clients, students, peers, and ourselves.
- Finding creative ways to educate about current realities and help others release hard emotions (e.g., art therapy, poetry, spoken word, tai chi).
- Being intentional about creating safe moments in or out of the classroom for students to share their feelings.
- Maximizing the power of group work to create culturally affirming and counter-spaces for clients (i.e., using approaches that honor healing informed by Indigenous practices).
- Staying present.
- Not going it alone—finding allies and doing the work collectively and interdependently.
- Inviting like-minded individuals and groups who may be left out so they do not feel isolated.
- Being more intentional about including those often left at the margins—people with unique disabilities, the elderly, and the youth.
- Applying crisis counseling skills to respond to a sense of loss and distress and provide resources for healing and safety.
- Lobbying state representatives to ensure they understand the direct impact of these atrocities on the mental wellness of communities. These advocacy efforts can include sharing research data, meeting with legislators to address structural violence inherent in current and new policies, and resisting funding cuts targeting diverse marginalized communities.
Counselor Wellness
While supporting and caring for others during these hard times, we must also recognize that counselors do not live in vacuums. We feel and experience distress, tiredness, and vicarious trauma ourselves. Our feelings may range from exhaustion, rage, depression, anxiety, and apathy to an obsession with social media—or maintaining that sense of fire that pushes us to help and intervene.
Therefore, we must create communities of care within AMCD and with our peers and colleagues in the workplace. To continue to show up with fortitude and clarity of thought, counselors must recognize their limits and seek support when needed.
In Solidarity,
The Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD)
Tiphanie Gonzalez, Ph.D., President