Psychologist Licensure in South Carolina: Degree, Supervised Hours and the EPPP

South Carolina issues one psychology licence: the licensed psychologist.

Practising without it is unlawful — a felony carrying a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars, imprisonment of not more than one year, or both.

The title rule is broad but not absolute: a psychological scientist employed by a recognized research laboratory, school, college, university or governmental agency may use the academic or research title conferred, and an APA member or member of an affiliated regional association, or someone eligible for membership, may present themselves as a psychologist — though neither may offer services to the public, or take pay for psychological services beyond their salaried institutions, without a licence.

Out-of-state visiting lecturers may use such titles on the same membership conditions.

Trainees in recognized training settings may use titles such as psychological trainee or psychological intern.

Doctoral applicants who file both application stages can seek a Temporary Permit, and a nonresident licensed or certified in another state the board deems to have equivalent standards may petition for a permit covering up to sixty days within a calendar year.

The statute asks for a doctoral degree in psychology from an institution that is regionally accredited (or authorized by provincial statute or royal charter), and from a program accredited by APA or CPA, or designated as a psychology program by the National Register's designation committee and ASPPB together.

The alternative route accepts a program with at least three years of full-time graduate study, not counting the predoctoral internship, as specified in the ASPPB Agreement of Reciprocity, with competence demonstrated by coursework in each content area the board names.

The board's rule frames the same expectation as four years of combined academic training in psychology and qualifying experience, including the doctoral degree.

A graduate checking whether their degree qualifies should start with the accreditation and designation line in § 40-55-80(2).

The statute requires two years of supervised experience, as approved by the board and specified in the ASPPB Agreement of Reciprocity.

The board's rule defines those two years as supervised professional experience in which at most one year may be pre-doctoral, so as the rule is written a post-degree year is still required.

Neither the statute nor the rule states hour totals; the requirement is counted in years, not hours, and a supervisor's written contract and reports carry the proof.

Timing matters too: all educational requirements, including the doctoral program and the internship or pre-doctoral supervision, must be satisfied on or before the application submission date.

The board may waive the supervised experience when it deems appropriate, but that is the board's discretion, not an applicant's planning assumption.

Two examinations stand between the applicant and the licence.

The written exam is the EPPP, with the passing score determined by ASPPB.

Then comes an oral exam, conducted by a board member, covering scope of practice, professional ethics and jurisprudence; the applicant must personally appear, though the board may delegate the oral to an individual member.

A candidate who fails the oral must wait six months before retesting, and the statute likewise bars licensure within six months of a failed board exam.

As of September 2026, no requirement for EPPP Part 2 appears in the rules read.

That landscape is changing nationally: ASPPB is moving to a single integrated EPPP for first-time takers from fall 2027, so applicants should check the board's exam page for the version they will sit.

The supervisor must be a psychologist in good standing, licensed in South Carolina or holding an equivalent licence from another state, and supervision must fall within the supervisor's area of competency.

The rule sets the contact terms: a minimum of one hour per week of face-to-face supervision under a written supervision contract, and at least fifty percent of supervision hours must be in-person.

When applicable, the supervisor must notify the board in writing of the agreement's details before it begins and at its conclusion.

Separately, the board's unlicensed-personnel rules cover individuals performing revenue-producing services of a psychological nature, such as assessment, test administration and scoring, interviewing, psychotherapy and behavior modification, under a licensed psychologist's supervision; trainees and employees in state or federal agencies and facilities are not included and are not subject to those requirements.

The supervising psychologist must register the required information with the board at biennial licence renewal, keep supervision direct and continuing, work in the same physical setting unless the board approves otherwise, and take no more than the equivalent of three full-time supervisees at once.

There is no master's-level psychology licence under chapter 40-55.

The statute does exempt psychologically trained individuals who do not meet licensing requirements, letting them render psychological services under the direct supervision of a licensed psychologist who assumes professional responsibility and keeps the board informed of the nature and extent of those services, but that is an exemption from the licence law, not a licence, and it gives the supervisee no independent standing.

The list also covers board-approved postdoctoral trainees and school psychologists certified by the Department of Education — in regularly salaried employment within settings under the department's purview, or providing contract services of a psychological nature to public or private schools or federal or state agencies as their certification authorizes — who may not describe themselves or their services in terms that imply a licence; the school psychology credential sits under a different chapter this page does not cover.

The board assigns each licensee an area of specialization.

South Carolina psychologists have no prescriptive authority.

PSYPACT is in force for South Carolina, and it carries two dates worth keeping separate.

The compact entered state law as Article 3 of chapter 40-55, enacted by 2022 Act No. 159 (H.3833), effective May 13, 2022.

The PSYPACT Commission's map, as read in September 2026, records the state's participation as effective July 17, 2023 (H 3204, enacted May 16, 2023) — that is the date to use for when a South Carolina psychologist could first practise under the compact, and the commission's Final Legislation page lists pending changes for the state.

Through PSYPACT a licensed psychologist can practise telepsychology into other member states with an E.Passport, or take temporary in-person assignments under an Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate, capped at thirty days per calendar year for the temporary in-person route.

The board's rule states it has no formal reciprocity agreements and considers only applicants previously licensed by a board whose criteria are equal to or more stringent than its own.

The statute adds conditional routes.

It may waive the exam for one who meets the § 40-55-80 requirements and is qualified by educational and professional attainments, if the board deems the waiver in the public interest.

It may license without the assembled exam a person residing or employed in the state whom a similar board of another state with standards the board finds not lower has licensed or certified, or one who has practised psychology in another state with qualifications not lower and satisfies the board that a licence would be in the public interest, or one certified by the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology.

Nonresidents may petition for a temporary permit covering up to sixty days within a calendar year if licensed or certified in a state whose standards the board deems equivalent.

The three-year clock runs from Preliminary Application approval, extendable on sufficient proof of hardship.

Renewal is biennial.

Each licensed psychologist must earn a minimum of twenty-four approved continuing education credits during each two-year biennial licensure period, of which at least twelve must come from Category A offerings; Category B can supply at most twelve, and a licensee may elect to earn all twenty-four from Category A.

Credits do not carry over between periods, and the board checks compliance at renewal through a randomly selected sample.

A renewal filed within two months after the deadline costs a late fee; a licence not renewed within two months after the renewal deadline is considered expired, and except under extraordinary circumstances approved by the board, an expired licence is reinstated only upon successful completion of a new application for licensure.

The current shape of the application and exam rules dates to a 2024 amendment: SCSR 48-5 Doc. No. 5256, effective May 24, 2024, amended Regulations 100-1 and 100-2, among other chapter 100 rules.

The version now in force includes the requirement that at least fifty percent of supervision hours be in-person; the amendment document amended both rules together, so the change was not isolated to a single provision.

The same document repealed the appendix that carried ASPPB's program criteria.

On the compact side, the PSYPACT Final Legislation page listed South Carolina with pending changes as of the September 2026 read, so compact-related law may move; verify current status with the board or the commission before relying on it.