Alabama licenses Associate Licensed Counselors (ALC) and Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC). Supervised hours count only once the ALC license is issued. Everything below comes from the board's own pages and rules, checked October 18, 2026. Fees and rules change, so confirm on the linked pages before you pay.
Check with your board. Counselor Ticket is a study aid. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE), the American Counseling Association (ACA), CACREP or any state counseling board; NCE and NCMHCE are NBCC's marks, used here only to name the exams. Laws on confidentiality, duty to warn, reporting and licensing differ by state; follow your state's law, your agency and your supervisor.
Alabama at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
ALC (Associate Licensed Counselor)
NCE (now or deferred)
A qualifying counseling master's and a board-approved supervisor. $200 application + $150 license.
LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)
NCE
3,000 hours of supervised experience as an ALC: 2,250 direct, 750 indirect. $200 application + $300 license.
Alabama, step by step
Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling
Degree: since January 1, 2024, the board defines a counseling master's as a single degree of at least 60 graduate semester hours (90 quarter) from a CACREP-accredited (or, per the board's FAQ, CACREP-equivalent) program at a regionally accredited school; degrees before 2024 needed 48 hours. Check the board's academic requirements FAQ for your case.
The exam: Alabama requires a passing exam for licensure; NBCC lists the NCE for the Alabama LPC. ALC applicants may take it when they finish their education or defer it until they complete the experience requirement.
ALC: apply with the $200 application fee and $150 license fee and a board-approved supervising counselor. No supervised hours count until the ALC license is issued.
Supervised experience (255-X-3):3,000 hours of supervised experience in professional counseling with board-approved supervision, including at least 2,250 hours of direct counseling with individuals, couples, families or groups and 750 hours of indirect services (documentation, consultation, referral).
LPC: apply for the LPC from the ALC; the LPC license fee is $300, renewed for $300.
The steps that hold nearly everywhere: a counseling master's degree (usually 60 semester hours, often CACREP-accredited), your board's approval, an NBCC exam, about two years of supervised experience, then the full license. The NCE has 200 questions (160 scored) in 3 hours 45 minutes; the NCMHCE is 11 clinical case studies in the same time; either can be retaken after 30 days (NBCC/CCE candidate handbooks). The full walk-through: How to get your counseling license.