After the close of NCARB’s 2023 Annual Business Meeting, NCARB’s newly elected FY24 Board of Directors met for the first time on June 18, 2023. During their meeting, they approved NCARB’s FY24 budget, which included a 6% increase in fees for architect Record holders, which goes into effect on August 1, 2023. This increase addresses rising inflation and ensures that NCARB can continue to keep costs low for emerging professionals. NCARB’s Record fees for licensure candidates are not increasing at this time.

In addition to an increase in fees, the Board made a change to the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) rescheduling fee policy. Starting August 1, 2023, NCARB will continue to allow one free scheduling for each exam appointment, but will implement fees for any subsequent rescheduling of that appointment.

After removing exam rescheduling fees for candidates in 2022, NCARB saw a 43 percentage point increase in last-minute appointment cancellations. Unfortunately, this increase created more limited availability for candidates to schedule new appointments, making it a challenge to find exam appointments at a convenient time.

Updated Architect Fees
Starting August 1, 2023, the following fees go into effect for architects:

  • Annual Renewal Fee: $270
  • Record Transmittals: $450
  • Reactivations: $290 plus the cost of all outstanding annual renewal fees, up to $1,280

Architect Record fees maintain our certification program to support their professional mobility. They also fund the development of our Continuum Education (CE) program, which allows architects access to complete health, safety, and welfare courses at no additional cost to fulfill their CE requirements for licensure renewal.

In addition, a portion of these funds are used to subsidize the development and administration of NCARB’s key programs for emerging professionals, including the Architectural Experience Program® (AXP®) and ARE.

ARE Rescheduling Fees
Starting August 1, 2023, the following fees go into effect for active ARE candidates:

  • The first time a candidate reschedules a previously scheduled exam appointment, it will be free
  • The second reschedule of the same appointment will cost $50
  • The third and all subsequent reschedules of the same appointment will cost $100
  • This policy applies to individual exam appointments. For example, if a candidate had Practice Management and Project Management scheduled, the first time they rescheduled both appointments would be free

Learn more about NCARB's fees.