Accreditation Costs and Fees

Application fees

The ACOE assesses programs seeking accreditation or preaccreditation an application fee. Application fees for new professional optometric degree programs should be submitted in conjunction with the program's  application for Stage One disignation. Application fees for optometric residency programs and optometric technician programs should be submitted with the program's letter of application. The current application fees follow:

Site visit costs

The cost of any on-site visit to evaluate a professional optometric degree, an optometric residency or an optometric technician program by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) is borne by the program visited. Following the visit, the program will be billed for the expenses of evaluation team members and Council staff.

Annual accreditation fees

All programs with an accreditation status are charged an annual accreditation fee. Professional optometric degree programs in Stage One designation, Stage Two designation, or Preliminary Approval status are charged an annual administrative fee equal to the annual accreditation fee for professional optometric degree programs. The following is the schedule of the current and future annual accreditation fees charged to each program. Annual fees include a 3% annual increase.  

Payment of accreditation fees and policy governing non-payment

All programs are expected to pay their fees by the due date. Programs which do not pay their annual fees by February 15^th or evaluation visit fees within ninety (90) days of receiving the invoice may be placed on administrative notice. The chief executive officer of the institution sponsoring the program and the program director will be notified of this status and informed that the ACOE intends to withdraw the Stage One designation, Stage Two designation, accreditation status, or Preliminary Approval status of the program at its next scheduled meeting if payment is not received.