Continuing Education

NIRSA provides the opportunity to earn CEUs at all educational events. CEUs can be used towards admission and renewal into the Registry of Collegiate Recreational Sports Professionals.

One Continuing Education Unit (CEU) is defined as ten contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible partnership, capable direction, and qualified instruction: 1 hour = 0.1 CEU.

At a NIRSA event, you may use the CEU Participation Form available at registration to keep track of the sessions you attended. Keep these forms for your records.

All NIRSA events that award CEUs must adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Identify a Point of Contact - this person will maintain contact with the NNC Event Management Coordinator regarding session proposals, awarding of CEU's.
2. Maintain Oversight, Consistency and Control - the point of contact agrees to maintain the standard of awarding CEU's based on the model of one CEU is defined as ten contact hours of participation.
3. Provide Proper Learning Environment - the point of contact asserts that the event will maintain a proper learning environment appropriate to the CEU's being awarded.
4. Ensure Relationship to Core Competencies - Each learning event is planned in coordination with one or more of the eight (8) collegiate recreational sports core competencies.
5. Ensure Qualified Instructional Personnel - Instruction shall be provided by a qualified individual(s) based on their education, experience, and expertise as related to the instructional topic.
6. Identify Learning Outcomes - identify between one (1) and five (5) learning outcomes for each educational session or presentation. 
7. Ensure Appropriate Content & Instruction - Learning outcomes will be taught with appropriate content and instruction.
8. Provide Evaluation Mechanism - Provide an evaluation and assessment mechanism for individual educational session or training activity that measures the success of learning outcomes.
9. Conditional Information Transfer (CIT) - For NIRSA activities only, unless an 'Opt-out' option is exercised by a presenter, speaker, author, etc., all 'PowerPoint presentations, articles, handouts, videos, and digital photos, or other similar materials presented at NIRSA events may be used by NIRSA on a non-exclusive basis to further its Mission. CIT information must be communicated to potential speakers and educational session presenters through the proposal submission process.

To calculate CEUs earned at a non-NIRSA event, first be sure that educational sessions adhere to the above NIRSA CEU guidelines. Then, divide the number of contact hours by 10 to get the number of CEU. CEU may be expressed in tenths of a CEU (i.e., 5 contact hours = .5 CEU). Do not express the CEU past the tenths place (i.e., if your calculation should be 1.58, express this as 1.6 CEU; or 1.52 hours = 1.5 CEU).

Aerobics & Fitness Association of America (AFAA)

The Aerobics & Fitness Association of America's continuing education certification is a NIRSA-endorsed program. NIRSA is pleased to offer AFAA CEUs for qualified educational sessions. Participants who register for AFAA CEUs and successfully complete their criteria will be eligible to receive their CEUs through AFAA, 15250 Ventura Blvd, Ste 200, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. Please see the AFAA website or your Recertification Information brochure for details on earning CEUs.

Note: As commonly used in the fitness industry, AFAA calculates CEUs as 1 contact hour=1 CEU.

American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)

For those who are ACSM certified, continuing education credits from NIRSA may be applied towards the ACSM recertification process.

Formal documentation of these credits will be required following notification from the ACSM Certification Department.

Policy on Retention and Releasing Permanent CEU/CEC Records

• Retention: NIRSA will retain records for a maximum of 7 years for learners who successfully complete courses, programs and activities offered by NIRSA.
• Record Release: The learner may request his/her records via (1) email from personal account, (2) fax with photocopy of license and signature, or (3) mail with photocopy of license and signature. Records will be mailed directly to the learner or others authorized in writing no later than four weeks after receipt of request at the NIRSA National Center.