Michigan LPC Requirements: Hours, Supervision, Exams and Fees

The LLPC Comes First

Michigan calls the pre-license credential a "limited licensed counselor" (MCL 333.18101(c)), commonly written LLPC. The full credential is the "licensed professional counselor," an individual "licensed under this article to engage in the practice of counseling without supervision" (MCL 333.18101(b)). The titles "licensed professional counselor," "licensed counselor," "professional counselor" and "l.p.c." are restricted to those licensed under Part 181 (MCL 333.18105(3)).

Before an LLPC works with clients, Michigan requires a professional disclosure statement to every prospective client (MCL 333.18113(1)). The LLPC's version has to add a statement that the LLPC practices under the supervision of a Michigan LPC in good standing, that supervisor's name, business address and phone number, and "a signed statement from the supervising licensed professional counselor about the licensed professional counselor's supervising qualifications, including how the supervising licensed professional counselor in this state satisfies the requirements in R 338.1781(1) and (2)" (R 338.1772(c)). One statement covers each practice location, and changes must be filed within 30 days (MCL 333.18113(3)).

LARA's active counts for September 23, 2026 list 2,526 limited licensed counselors and 10,556 licensed professional counselors, the credential the LLPC leads to.

The Qualified Program

A qualifying degree comes before the LLPC issues: a master's or doctoral degree in counseling from a CACREP-accredited program, or a program evaluated as CACREP-equivalent by the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE) or a National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) member, at the applicant's own expense (MCL 333.18101(f); MCL 333.18111(1)(b); R 338.1765).

The credit-hour floor depends on when the applicant entered the program: 48 semester hours for anyone who entered on or before June 30, 2023, and 60 semester hours for anyone who entered on or after July 1, 2023 (R 338.1765(b)).

The 3,000-Hour Requirement

A master's-level LLPC needs "not less than 3,000 hours accrued in not less than a 2-year period, with not less than 100 hours of regularly scheduled supervision" (R 338.1774(1)(c)(i)). A doctoral-level applicant instead needs "not less than 1,500 hours accrued over not less than a 1-year period, with not less than 50 hours" of supervision (R 338.1774(1)(c)(ii)).

The statute restates the duration floor in its own words: "at least 2 years of counseling experience under the supervision of a licensed professional counselor," and "an applicant shall not be licensed before completing 1 year" (MCL 333.18107(1)(c)).

When the Clock Starts, and Where It Runs

Supervision, and the hours it covers, "begins on the issuance of the limited license and continues until the licensed professional counselor license is issued" (R 338.1774(1)(c)(i)). An applicant accruing hours in Michigan has to have held the limited license for the whole period (R 338.1774(2)); LARA's guide states it plainly, that supervised experience gained prior to obtaining the limited license cannot be counted toward licensure (LARA Limited Licensed Counselor guide, rev. 1/26/2026).

The setting has to qualify too: "an organized education, business, health, private practice, or human services setting," with "an opportunity to work with a broad range of the population" (R 338.1774(1)(c)).

What Michigan's Rule Does Not Set

Michigan's counseling rule leaves several things unstated. It sets no direct-hour minimum inside the 3,000 hours, no weekly hour cap, no per-week or per-month supervision rate, and no individual-versus-group split for the 100 supervision hours (R 338.1774(1)(c)). The requirement runs on two totals, the overall hours and the supervision hours, measured against the 2-year duration floor.

Supervision: 100 Hours, Not a Rate

The 100 hours, or 50 for doctoral applicants, is a total accrued across the whole limited license, not a monthly or weekly figure (R 338.1774(1)(c)(i), (ii)). Delivery mode is stated directly: "in the immediate physical presence of the supervisor or via 2-way real-time audiovisual technology that allows direct, contemporaneous interaction by sight and sound between the supervisor and the supervisee" (R 338.1774(1)(c)).

Supervisor eligibility runs through R 338.1781: broadly, a Michigan LPC in good standing who completed supervision training and meets a post-master's practice threshold, or who currently holds the Approved Clinical Supervisor credential from CCE. For the full breakdown of who qualifies, the training requirement, and the written statement a supervisor owes a supervisee before supervision starts, see Michigan LLPC supervision requirements.

The LLPC Renews for Up to 10 Years

The limited license "may be renewed annually, but for no more than 10 years. Relicensure of the limited license is considered the same as renewal" (R 338.1777(3)).

An applicant still short of the hours near that limit can request a hardship extension: "A maximum of three 1-year extension requests will be considered from an individual," each request emailed to BPLHelp@michigan.gov not less than 30 days before the last regularly scheduled board meeting before expiration, and covering the ten items in R 338.1777(4)(a) to (j), from the hardship itself to every supervisor and employer the applicant has had and every exam attempt (R 338.1777(4)). LARA's extension guidelines are explicit that the extension is not automatic: "The board does not automatically grant the request ... The board may deny the request" (Extension Request Guidelines, rev. 12/12/23).

The Exam: One of Three

Michigan accepts a passing score on one of three national exams: the National Counselor Examination through the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the certified rehabilitation counselor examination through the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC), or the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE), also through NBCC, each scored to the passing threshold the testing body sets (R 338.1773).

The exam is a requirement of the LPC application itself (R 338.1774(1)(d)). Nothing in the rule ties its timing to the limited license, so an LLPC sits it whenever they are ready rather than on a schedule tied to the 3,000 hours.

Verifying the Hours: the Counseling Work Experience Form

Once the hours and supervision total are complete, each supervisor fills out a Counseling Work Experience form (LARA/BPL-COUNSELEXP, 4/25), one page, with a separate form required from each supervisor. The applicant's section asks for name, date of birth, phone number and LLPC license number; the supervisor's section asks for the agency, a date range, the total hours worked, and the hours of supervision within them, then a signature and license number.

LARA's guide lists a completed Counseling Work Experience form as part of the LPC application, submitted to its office. See the Michigan Counseling Work Experience form.

What LARA Publishes for Fees

Fees are current as of the LARA licensing guides revised January 26, 2026, paid by card through MiPLUS.

LPC Renewal: Every 3 Years, No CE Beyond the Required Trainings

The full LPC license runs a 3-year term, and Michigan sets no continuing education requirement beyond the implicit bias and human trafficking training every licensee owes, 3 hours of implicit bias per cycle plus human trafficking certification (LPC guide FAQ 2, rev. 1/26/2026; R 338.7004). That is different from the LMSW track, which does carry a continuing education load; see Michigan LMSW requirements for that track's numbers.

Licensed Elsewhere? Endorsement to the LPC

Michigan endorses a full LPC license from another state or Canadian province on a qualifying degree and a passed exam. An applicant fully licensed in another state for 5 or more years is presumed to satisfy the degree and exam requirements for endorsement (R 338.1775). That presumption applies to endorsement only; it has no bearing on the LLPC's 3,000-hour or supervision requirement, which runs through R 338.1774 regardless of how someone ultimately qualifies for the LPC.

Relicensure After a Lapse of More Than 3 Years

A license expired more than 3 years requires retaking and passing one of the three national exams, or showing current certification from NBCC, CRCC or an equivalent program (LARA Professional Counselor Licensing Guide, rev. 1/26/2026). R 338.1776 adds that passing the exam under R 338.1773(3) counts as that retake.

Two Deadlines That Apply Regardless

All licensure requirements must be completed within 2 years after LARA receives the application, or the fees are forfeited and the application is void (MCL 333.16307(3)). That clock runs from the application date, separate from the LLPC's own 10-year renewal limit.

A license not renewed by its expiration date can still be renewed within 60 days after expiration, with a late fee, and practice is allowed during those 60 days. After 60 days the license is "null and void." Relicensure is available within 3 years of expiration; more than 3 years after expiration, the person has to apply as a new applicant and retake any required exam (MCL 333.16201(2) to (4)).

A Timeline at 30 Hours a Week

Take an LLPC logging 30 hours a week. At that pace, 3,000 hours arrives in 100 weeks, about 23 months. That is arithmetic, and it finishes before the rule's actual floor: "not less than a 2-year period" (R 338.1774(1)(c)(i)), which the statute restates as "at least 2 years of counseling experience" (MCL 333.18107(1)(c)). The hour count alone would allow licensure sooner than 2 years; the stated duration floor is what actually controls, so the LPC license cannot issue before the 2-year mark regardless of how quickly the 3,000 hours accrue.

The 100 supervision hours fit inside that same period without a pace requirement of their own, since the rule states only a total (R 338.1774(1)(c)(i)). An LLPC on a slower pace, say 20 hours a week, reaches 3,000 hours in 150 weeks, about 35 months, comfortably past the 2-year floor on hours alone. At 30 hours a week or faster, the 2-year duration is the binding constraint; at a slower pace, the hour count itself becomes the binding constraint instead.

Common Mistakes on the Michigan LPC Track

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FAQ: Michigan LPC Requirements