ASHA New Dues Information

To meet rising costs caused by inflation, ASHA will change its dues for the 2025 membership year. Certified Member dues will rise to $250 (a $25 increase) beginning in 2025. Some types of membership and affiliation will also increase 11%. Initial application fees for new professionals will be reduced.

The updated membership dues structure is outlined below.

General Information About the Dues Increase

• When will the change affect me?
• How were these decisions made? By whom?
• What specific factors did the Board consider when voting to raise dues?
• Why are my ASHA membership dues more this year?
• Why are fees decreasing for new applicants?
• Has ASHA been blocking member comments about the dues increase on social media?

Financials

• Where does all of ASHA’s revenue go?
• Does the ASHA Board of Directors (BOD) receive any financial compensation for their work with ASHA?
• Why do we pay more for membership in our Association than physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) pay for membership in their respective associations?

Membership

• Why join ASHA?
• What are my member benefits?
• What is the cost of ASHA membership?
• Is access to journals included as part of my ASHA membership?
• Why aren’t professional development opportunities included in my dues?

Certification

• Why should I maintain my CCCs in addition to my state license?
• How can I become a certified non-member?

Advocacy

• What are you doing to advocate for us?
• What are you doing to help school-based SLPs with their salaries?
• Instead of raising dues, why aren’t you addressing salaries and caseloads?
• Does ASHA advocate for the Certificates of Clinical Competence (CCCs) to be required for practice?
• How does ASHA work with state associations?
• How does ASHA determine which politicians to donate to?
• What is the difference between advocacy and lobbying?

ASHA Dues and Fees
Category	2025 Price
Certified member	$250
Graduate student certified member	$150
Member without certification	$90
Certified nonmember	$221
Life member	$71
International affiliate	$75
Certified assistant	$125

 

ASHA Discount Application Fees
Application Type	2025 Fee
New Professional Membership Package	$490
NSSLHA to ASHA Membership Conversion Discount	$240

General Information About the Dues Increase

When will the change affect me?

Payment for the 2025 membership year is due by December 31, 2024. You can pay your 2025 ASHA dues beginning in September 2024.

As of 2025, ASHA’s dues are as follows:

• Certified members pay $250/year.
• Graduate student certified members pay $150/year.
• Members without certification pay $90/year.
• Certified nonmembers pay $221/year.
• Life members pay $71/year.
• International affiliates pay $75/year.
• Certified assistants pay $125/year.

How were these decisions made? By whom?

The ASHA Board of Directors (BOD) votes to set dues every year. This year, the Financial Planning Board (FPB) recommended dues increases to meet rising costs. After careful analysis, the BOD approved the FPB’s recommendation.

What specific factors did the Board consider when voting to raise dues?

We’ve continued to work diligently with our members to find ways to mitigate increasing costs for the past 15 years, but rising inflation and operational costs have finally made it necessary for a membership dues increase.

According to the Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, $225 in 2009 has the same buying power as $327.20 today. By not increasing dues for 15 years, ASHA has been absorbing the cumulative cost of inflation.

Membership and certification dues go toward supporting advocacy for the betterment of professionals, existing programs, services, resources, and products and infrastructure updates (including increased investment in cybersecurity protections to ensure the security of member data). ASHA’s advocacy positively impacts the practice of our certified members in both professions.

ASHA’s operating budget has 29% allotted to professional development, education and support. 28% goes towards day-to-day organization operations, 12% towards communications, 11% towards advocacy efforts, 9% to research and academic affairs, 8% to professional setting standards, and 3% to scholarly publications.

Why are my ASHA membership dues more this year?

We’ve continued to work diligently with our members to find ways to mitigate increasing costs for the past 15 years, but rising inflation and operational costs have finally made it necessary for a membership dues increase.

According to the Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, $225 in 2009 has the same buying power as $327.20 today. By not increasing dues for 15 years, ASHA has been absorbing the cumulative cost of inflation.

Membership and certification dues go toward supporting advocacy for the betterment of professionals, existing programs, services, resources, and products and infrastructure updates (including increased investment in cybersecurity protections to ensure the security of member data).

ASHA’s operating budget has 29% allotted to professional development, education and support. 28% goes towards day-to-day organization operations, 12% towards communications, 11% towards advocacy efforts, 9% to research and academic affairs, 8% to professional setting standards, and 3% to scholarly publications.

Why are fees decreasing for new applicants?

ASHA recognizes the need to ease barriers to resources for early-career professionals. ASHA made this choice to encourage and invest in the new audiologists and speech-language pathologists joining our community.

Has ASHA been blocking member comments about the dues increase on social media?

We have not turned off comments on our social media posts and are leaving all comments on our posts visible, except for those that include profanity or bullying violations against other members and comments that violate our community guidelines.

We did turn off our Facebook reviews because of misinformation and inaccuracies being included in reviews.

We do not control Google reviews, but Google uses automated spam detection measures and will remove reviews that they classify as spam.

Financials

Where does all of ASHA’s revenue go?

For information on how ASHA’s revenue is allocated, and what you get for your dues, please visit Understanding Where Your ASHA Dues Money Goes.

Does the ASHA Board of Directors (BOD) receive any financial compensation for their work with ASHA?

Except for the ASHA chief executive officer (CEO), who is a non-voting member of the BOD, ASHA Board members are unpaid volunteers. Board members must be current ASHA members. Their member dues are not compensated by the Association. Although the Board does receive reimbursement for required travel undertaken as part of their official duties, they receive no compensation for their volunteer work.

Why do we pay more for membership in our Association than physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) pay for membership in their respective associations?

Dues for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) are $295 annually. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) recently started offering three tiers of membership; their middle (most popular) tier is $229 annually. Both fees cover membership only. Certification is an additional cost.

Membership

Why join ASHA?

ASHA offers both certification and membership to support audiology and speech-language pathology professionals. We understand the challenges that are impacting professionals, and we continuously advocate for policies that will positively improve the professions. We focus on transforming lives by ensuring our certificate holders and members have the resources to provide accessible and quality care for all. ASHA members have access to information needed to stay up to date on the latest developments and issues within the audiology and speech pathology field.

Additionally, ASHA advocates for the things that matter most to its certificate holders and members. Its core goal is to serve its members and ensure the safety and security of the profession now and in the future. We fight for increased pay, reimbursement and better working conditions.

Certified members play a crucial role in driving the direction of the association. As a certified member, you have a say in the association via voting rights, committees, boards and councils, survey group access and further contributions to organization priorities.

What are my member benefits?

A summary of your ASHA benefits is below. To make sure you’re taking full advantage of ASHA’s support, visit your ASHA member benefits webpage.

ASHA is committed to collaborating with members to advocate for your needs, promote your work’s value, and provide trusted practical tools. As a member, you have access to a deep network to help you problem-solve.

If you want to advocate for an issue, if you want to talk through a professional challenge in a one-on-one consultation, or if you wish you had a specific tool to make your work easier, contact ASHA’s Action Center. We’ll connect you to ASHA’s supports. Your question may inspire a new resource!

What is the cost of ASHA membership?

• Membership without certification: $84 (increasing to $90 in 2025)
• Membership with certification: $225 (increasing to $250 in 2025)
• Certification without membership: $199 (increasing to $221 in 2025)

ASHA also offers discounted rates for graduate student members and those members who meet the criteria for Life membership, as well as International Affiliation and Assistant Certification.

ASHA expenses support certified clinicians (including those who do not hold ASHA membership) and educators (including members without certification). Because of the overlap between these two groups, we can offer a package discount to those who want to be certified members.

Is access to journals included as part of my ASHA membership?

Yes! All ASHA members have free access to all four of ASHA’s scholarly journals as a benefit of their membership. The four scholarly journals include the following:

• American Journal of Audiology (AJA)
• American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP)
• Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR)
• Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS)

The scholarly review journal, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, is available only to those who are current Special Interest Group (SIG) affiliates. If you are a member of any of ASHA’s 20 SIGs, you have access to all Perspectives content.

If you are a current ASHA member and are unable to access ASHA journals, please make sure that you are logged in to your ASHA account. If you are still having trouble, please contact the Action Center.

Why aren’t professional development opportunities included in my dues?

We understand the importance of continuing education for maintaining licensure and certification and for staying current in the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology. Although ASHA does offer a variety of continuing education opportunities—including webinars, courses, and events—we typically do not provide free courses for ASHA CEUs.

However, we want to assure you that ASHA strives to offer affordable, accessible continuing education options for our members. We offer discounted rates on many of our professional development resources. We host free or low-cost events and webinars for members. If you are unable to pay for any professional development programs, please apply for the ASHA Learning Pass Hardship Access.

We also encourage you to check out CEFind to search for continuing education from hundreds of approved providers.

Certification

Why should I maintain my CCCs in addition to my state license?

The Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) reflects that you have met and continue to meet a national set of standards and are committed to an ethical code of conduct that is consistent across states. As a practical matter, it also eases the burden of practicing in multiple states and conducting teletherapy. Without national certification standards, existing challenges to the professions—including concerns related to reimbursement and salary issues, as well as scope creep—may increase.

Holding the CCC indicates that you as a clinican have met either the Standards for the CCC-A and/or the Standards for the CCC-SLP, which are the product of both qualitative and quantitative data collection from subject-matter experts following best practices in standards-setting and are regularly reviewed to ensure that they meet current practice requirements.

How can I become a certified non-member?

To become a certificate holder only, you may do so by contacting the Action Center. Please note that when resigning from or dropping your ASHA membership and/or certification, refunds are not permitted after January 1 for the year in which the fees apply.

If you make the switch now, you will lose access to all member benefits, and you will be invoiced for just the cost of certification for your 2025 renewal.

A few things to keep in mind when making the decision to drop membership:

• You will no longer have access to content, data, and resources from the ASHA journals, the National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS), and other member-specific resources.
• You will no longer have access to member discounts, including professional liability insurance, and you will be subject to higher rates for items such as the CE Registry or the ASHA Learning Pass, should you choose to purchase them.
• You will no longer be able to vote for ASHA Board members; serve on Committees, Boards, and Councils; or be tapped to participate in focus groups, surveys, and other volunteer opportunities that help shape the direction of the Association.
• Any break in membership will impact your ability to qualify for the reduced Life Member rate in the future.

Advocacy

What are you doing to advocate for us?

• Through yearly Capitol Hill Days and expert government affairs teams, we fight for what matters most for our certificate holders and members: fair pay, managing caseloads, the interstate compact, telehealth access and more.

  • Throughout the year, our team works closely with policymakers at the local, state and federal levels to raise awareness of the importance of SLPs in schools, and advocate for fair funding and resources to support competitive salaries.
  • ASHA helped facilitate and continues to be instrumental in expanding the Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC), which provides ease of access to CSD field positions across the country, regardless of state or territory.

• Our best advocates—and most effective changemakers—are our certificate holders and members. As a certified ASHA member, Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) professionals can participate in committees, boards, councils, and special interest groups that address the most pressing issues facing the CSD field.

• Certificate holders and members can participate in surveys to inform the professions and association activities and provide powerful data for advocacy work. They can also strengthen the association through many additional volunteer opportunities.

For the latest advocacy news and updates, visit Advocacy News

What are you doing to help school-based SLPs with their salaries?

ASHA is committed to supporting school-based SLPs and to advocating for fair wages.

Here are some ways in which ASHA is working to help increase wages for school-based SLPs:

• Advocacy Efforts: ASHA actively advocates for policies that support fair and competitive compensation for school-based SLPs. We work closely with policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels to (a) raise awareness of the importance of SLPs in schools and (b) advocate for adequate funding and resources to support competitive salaries.
• Research and Data: ASHA conducts research and collects data on salary trends and compensation practices in the profession of speech-language pathology, including specific data on school-based SLPs. This research helps inform advocacy efforts and provides valuable information for SLPs and employers alike. The ASHA Schools Survey is sent biannually to a sample of SLPs in schools to obtain updated information and to monitor state and national trends. Information from the ASHA Schools Survey provides members with an awareness of what their compensation is in order to assist with practice-based and self-advocacy.
• Collaboration With Related Professional Organizations: ASHA collaborates with other organizations to highlight school-based concerns and issues, such as salaries, workload, and critical shortages. Some of these organizations include the following: National Education Association (NEA); National Alliance of Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (NASISP); National Coalition on Personnel Shortages in Special Education and Related Services (NCPSSERS); and State Education Agencies Communication Disabilities Council (SEACDC).
• Resources and Tools: ASHA provides resources and tools to help school-based SLPs negotiate fair compensation and advocate for themselves in their workplaces. This includes salary negotiation tips, advocacy toolkits, and resources for understanding salary trends and benchmarks in the field.
• Professional Development: ASHA offers a wide range of professional development opportunities to help school-based SLPs enhance their skills and qualifications, which can lead to increased earning potential. From continuing education courses to certification programs, ASHA supports lifelong learning and career advancement for SLPs in all settings. View our recent Town Hall on the topic.
• Professional Consultation: Staff members of the ASHA School Services Team in Speech-Language Pathology are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., EST, to provide resources, support, and consultations regarding school-based concerns. They can be reached at schools@asha.org.

ASHA is committed to advocating for fair wages and supporting school-based SLPs in their efforts to achieve professional success and financial security. We are and will continue to be tireless in our efforts to ensure that school-based SLPs receive the compensation they deserve.

Instead of raising dues, why aren’t you addressing salaries and caseloads?

ASHA works to advocate for state legislation that proposes salary supplements for educational audiologists and school-based SLPs. This work is done in partnership with state associations (see “How Does ASHA Work with State Associations?”)

Does ASHA advocate for the Certificates of Clinical Competence (CCCs) to be required for practice?

ASHA believes in the CCC and the standard of practice that it signifies. Before state licensure, the CCC afforded state licensure, government agencies, and employers the assurance of quality and accountability for service delivery and health plan provider enrollment in the states. ASHA’s CCC offers indicators of quality and training that may not always be consistently required across states, including compelling certificate holders to abide by an ethical code of conduct and requiring professional development in ethics and ethical decision making, as well as cultural competency, cultural humility, culturally responsive practice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The CCC also provides clinicians with the portability afforded by a national standard of training and education; if a certified clinician moves from one state to another, the CCC requirements remain uniform and can provide an efficient means to demonstrate standards when individual state licensing requirements differ. The CCC also protects against changes in state licensure standards due to deregulation of licensing requirements in different professions. Some state licensing laws mimic those of ASHA’s standards for the CCC, and some do not. ASHA recommends the CCC at the state level to align with statutes already in place that require the CCC.

Ensuring consistency and agreement in licensure requirements across states further supports our efforts to continue adding states to the Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC), which will offer advantages to audiologists and SLPs by reducing costs and easing the burden of practicing in multiple states.

How does ASHA work with state associations?

ASHA and state associations work together to advocate at the state level. Every state association has direct access to ASHA’s State Affairs team to collaborate on state legislative and regulatory issues. ASHA assists state associations with various activities, including advocacy, member recruitment, and association management. ASHA also supports recognized state associations by:

• Providing grant funding for state advocacy initiatives
• Working closely with an extended network of representatives (SEALs, STAMPs, and STARS, all appointed by their state association)
• Networking and information sharing
• Supporting outreach to ASHA membership around urgent advocacy issues
• Providing expert advocacy support and consultation as states navigate state and local legislation as well as member needs
• Providing information and data on state trends in public policy areas
• Consulting with professionals in state association event planning, membership recruitment, and strategic planning
• Sending action alerts to ASHA members in their state on legislation/regulations impacting the professions or those we serve.

We encourage everyone to join and remain active with their state association.

How does ASHA determine which politicians to donate to?

The ASHA Political Action Committee (ASHA-PAC) has an established contribution criteria and considers politicians’ stances and statements on relevant federal legislative issues that impact audiologists and SLPs. ASHA-PAC also supports legislators whose leadership and committee roles position them to influence the success of ASHA’s legislative priorities. ASHA-PAC donations go directly to the congressional campaigns of candidates who support legislation that benefits ASHA members, your students, your clients, and your patients.

ASHA-PAC is funded by member donations—not member dues. The decision to support the political action committee’s work on behalf of members is up to you. However, not one cent of membership dues go to the ASHA-PAC.

What is the difference between advocacy and lobbying?