Psychologist Licensure in Pennsylvania: Degree, Supervised Hours and the EPPP

Pennsylvania issues one psychology licence, and section 41.11(b) ties the work and the title together: only the holder of a current licence may practise psychology or use the title psychologist, unless the Professional Psychologists Practice Act's section 3 exemptions apply.

The chapter's unlicensed statuses are the psychology intern (a doctoral student on internship), the psychology resident (a doctoral graduate fulfilling the supervised-experience requirement) and the psychology trainee — statuses, not credentials the board issues.

Section 41.58 employment and the act's exempt settings are the other supervised lanes, described under scope.

The rule requires a doctoral degree in psychology or a field related to psychology, and it polices the degree through paperwork: within 1 year from the award of the degree, the program must carry APA, CPA or PCSAS accreditation or ASPPB/National Register Designation Project designation, evidenced by a verification form the program's director completes, plus an official transcript.

Graduates of foreign programs take a National Register credential review the Board decides on, and a foreign-degree applicant who does not meet that evaluation's criteria can cure the deficiency with supplemental education or training from an accredited or designated program, whose director certifies it makes them equivalent to a graduate of that program.

The list of acceptable accreditations is what the August 2025 amendment expanded.

Section 41.32 requires one year of acceptable postdoctoral supervised experience, and defines the year precisely: at least 12 months and at least 1,750 hours, counting no fewer than 15 and no more than 45 hours in any week.

Half the hours must be performing diagnosis, assessment, therapy, other interventions, supervision or consultation while receiving supervision or consultation; the rest may come from teaching, psychological research or those same categories.

All of it must fall within 10 calendar years of the doctoral degree, with a written hardship waiver at the Board's discretion.

As written, the rule gives no way to count pre-degree internship or practicum hours toward this year, and no hour may be earned where the resident acts independently.

Hours earned at more than one entity simultaneously need at least 6 consecutive months and at least 15 hours per week at each, with no more than 45 hours counted across the settings.

Licensure takes a passing score on the EPPP and on the Pennsylvania Psychology Law Examination; the sections read state no passing score for either.

The exam gate sits late in the file: an applicant needs the doctoral degree and the complete section 41.31 education record before sitting, and the application must include the internship verification form and job description.

After a first failure the retake window opens at 6 months and closes at 2 years; later retakes wait 60 days, with no more than four examinations in any 1-year period.

No EPPP Part 2 requirement appears in the rules read — a time-limited answer, since ASPPB's integrated EPPP becomes the exam for first-time takers in fall 2027.

Choose the employer and the supervisor together: the primary supervisor must be currently licensed while providing supervision, qualified by training and experience to practise in the resident's areas of supervised practice, and must own, be employed by, or hold a contract with the entity where the resident works — and may not be subject to the resident's control or influence.

The supervisor meets the resident individually face-to-face for an average of at least 2 hours per week and may delegate at most 1 hour of that to a delegated supervisor.

A supervisor may not be related to the resident by blood or marriage, have treated the resident, stand in a dual relationship, or be under active suspension or revocation, and may not accept fees or gifts from the resident.

Since December 1, 2015, primary supervisors must also have completed a course in supervision from a psychology doctoral degree program or 3 hours of continuing education in supervision — check that before accepting a supervisor.

Quarterly evaluations and a final competence evaluation feed the licence application.

There is no master's-level psychology licence in Pennsylvania.

Section 41.58 instead sets standards for employing unlicensed persons with graduate training in psychology — defined as 15 graduate semester hours in a doctoral degree program in psychology — who work under a licensed psychologist's full direction, control and supervision.

One supervisor may oversee no more than three full-time employes or their part-time equivalent; the supervised status must be disclosed to clients, payors and the public, and reports sent outside the practice must be countersigned as reviewed and approved.

Section 41.56 lets a Department of Education-certified school psychologist carry on private practice only of school psychology acts, while employed in a school.

No prescriptive authority is recorded.

The PSYPACT Commission map, as read in September 2026, lists Pennsylvania as a member in effect: SB 67, enacted May 8, 2020, effective July 8, 2020.

A Pennsylvania psychologist can use the compact to practise telepsychology into, or take temporary in-person assignments in, other participating states, through ASPPB's E.Passport or Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate plus the matching PSYPACT authorization; temporary in-person practice is capped at 30 calendar days a year.

PSYPACT is doctoral-only, so the unlicensed psychology resident — and supervised employees under section 41.58 — cannot rely on it.

Three doors lead in.

Under section 41.52, the Board may exempt from the examination an applicant holding a current licence from another jurisdiction with equivalent standards, and anyone who scored at or above Pennsylvania's passing score on the National portion need not repeat it; a licensed psychologist from elsewhere may also take a temporary assignment here for up to 6 months on written notification and the Board's written permission, extendable once, with an aggregate of no more than 14 days exempt from notification.

Endorsement under section 41.52a, added in 2022, demands all of the following: a current licence in good standing under standards substantially equivalent to or exceeding Pennsylvania's; competency by 2 of the last 5 years in practice or 30 qualifying CE hours in 24 months; no section 8 grounds and no issuing-jurisdiction discipline, unless the Board in its discretion decides otherwise; the initial application fee; updated criminal-history and Child Abuse History clearances under § 41.30(b)(2) and (3); and 3 hours of DHS-approved child-abuse training.

A personal interview may be required; a provisional endorsement licence can bridge the wait.

Licences expire on November 30 of each odd-numbered year, and the biennium runs from December 1 of an odd year to November 30 of the next.

Renewal takes a minimum of 30 contact hours (3 CEUs), including at least 3 contact hours in ethical issues and at least 2 in board-accepted child abuse recognition and reporting courses.

Up to 10 excess hours carry into the next biennium, but surplus ethics hours cannot satisfy the next ethics requirement, and child-abuse hours never carry over.

A psychologist licensed within 2 years of the first renewal application is exempt from everything except the 2 child-abuse hours; home study and instruction count up to 15 hours each per biennium, professional writing up to 10.

Three dated changes matter for applicants.

Section 41.31 was amended effective August 2, 2025 (55 Pa.B.

5116) — the change that added PCSAS accreditation and ASPPB/National Register designation to the accepted degree evidence.

Sections 41.11 and 41.30 were amended effective December 30, 2023 (53 Pa.B.

8229) under the Child Protective Services Law, and their current text puts a criminal history report, a Child Abuse History Clearance and 3 hours of approved child-abuse training in the application file.

The endorsement route, sections 41.52a and 41.52b, took effect January 22, 2022.

The supervised-experience rule, section 41.32, shows no amendment after June 5, 2010; the statute itself was not among the sources read.