Section 1455

Section 1455.150 Qualifying Education Requirements; State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser; State Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser; Associate Real Estate Trainee Appraiser; Non-Resident Qualifying Education; In Lieu of Requirements; Foreign Degrees

a) Residential

An applicant for licensure as a State Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser shall meet the following criteria:

1) 1,500 hours of experience obtained during no fewer than 12 months is required, of which, no less than 50% must be in residential 1 to 4 families, USPAP compliant, appraisal work. While the hours may be cumulative, the required number of months must accrue before an individual can be certified;

2) 200 hours of modular appraisal education as stated in the Guide Notes (GN-1) of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria;

3) Utilize one of the six formal education options, as follows:

Option 1	Bachelor's Degree or higher or equivalent from an accredited college, community college or university; or
Option 2	Associates Degree in a field of study related to: ● Business Administration; ● Accounting; ● Finance; ● Economics; or ● Real Estate; or
Option 3	Successful completion of 30 semester hours of college-level courses in each of the following topic areas: ● English Composition – 3 hours; ● Microeconomics – 3 hours; ● Macroeconomics – 3 hours; ● Finance – 3 hours; ● Algebra, Geometry, or Higher Math – 3 hours; ● Statistics – 3 hours; ● Computer Science – 3 hours; ● Business Law or Real Estate Law – 3 hours; and ● Two elective courses in any of the previous topics in Option 3 or in: ● Accounting, Geography, Agricultural Economics, Business Management, or Real Estate – 3 hours each; or
Option 4	Successful completion of at least 30 semester hours of College Level Examination Program (CLEP) examinations that cover each of the specific topic areas in Option 3 (refer to the following CLEP Equivalency Table below); or
Option 5	Any combination of Option 3 and Option 4 that includes all of the topics identified; or
Option 6	No college-level education provided that the applicant held an active license as a Licensed Residential credential (in Illinois a 154 or 554 prefix) for a minimum of five years and have no record of any adverse, final, and non-appealable enforcement action affecting the Licensed Residential Appraiser's legal eligibility to engage in appraisal practice within the five years immediately preceding the date of application for a Certified Residential credential.

CLEP Equivalency Table
CLEP Exams	CLEP Semester Hours Granted	Applicable College Courses
College Algebra	3	Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, or Higher Mathematics
College Composition	6	English Composition
College Composition Modular	3	English Composition
College Mathematics	6	Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, or Higher Mathematics
Principles of Macroeconomics	3	Macroeconomics or Finance
Principles of Microeconomics	3	Microeconomics or Finance
Introductory Business Law	3	Business Law or Real Estate Law
Computer Science	3	Information Systems

4) If an individual applicant for licensure submits integrated course credit for approval, the course must have been approved by the Course Approval Program of the AQB and a topic matrix revealing the exact number of hours for each section of course content must be provided for review. Only integrated course credit bundled together to equal a module will be accepted. Partial credit toward a module will not be accepted. It is the applicant's responsibility to demonstrate compliance as part of the application.

b) Any person who makes application for an Associate Real Estate Trainee Appraiser License shall be required, as a pre-requisite to examination, to successfully complete 75 classroom hours of qualifying education in subjects related to real estate appraisal, as outlined by Subpart H, and shall include 15 hours of instruction relative to USPAP that is approved by the AQB and taught by an AQB certified instructor. All qualifying education requirements shall only be accepted from education providers and courses approved by the Division. All 75 hours of qualifying education for the Associate Real Estate Trainee Appraiser credential must be completed within 5 years prior to the date of initial application.

c) The Division may accept evidence of successful completion of qualifying education credit from another jurisdiction, if that jurisdiction's requirements are substantially the same as the State of Illinois' and meet the minimum licensing requirements of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria and may be in modular format for licensure after May 1, 2018. A real estate appraiser who wishes to obtain credit for qualifying education courses not licensed by the Division shall submit to the Division:

1) An application provided by the Division requesting approval for qualifying education credit, signed by the applicant, on which all questions are answered;

2) A certificate of successful completion provided by the education provider, a certification by the jurisdiction of the appraiser's place of residence of successful completion of the requested qualifying education credit, or any other evidence to be considered by the Division; and

3) The fee required by Section 1455.320.

d) General

An applicant for licensure as a State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser who has not gained appraisal experience shall meet the following criteria:

1) 3,000 hours of experience obtained during no fewer than 18 months is required, of which 1,500 hours must be in non-residential appraisal work. While the hours may be cumulative, the required number of months must accrue before an individual can be certified;

2) 300 hours of modular appraisal education as stated in the Required Core Curriculum of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria;

3) Bachelors degree or higher or equivalent (see subsection (g)), from an accredited college or university; and

e) The Division may accept evidence of successful completion of qualifying education credit from another jurisdiction, if that jurisdiction's requirements are substantially the same as the State of Illinois' and meet the minimum licensing requirements of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria and may be in modular format for licensure after May 1, 2018. A real estate appraiser who wishes to obtain credit for qualifying education courses not licensed by the Division shall submit to the Division:

1) An application provided by the Division requesting approval for qualifying education credit, signed by the applicant, on which all questions are answered;

3) The fee required by Section 1455.320.

f) Credit toward qualifying education requirements may also be obtained via the completion of a graduate (masters or doctoral) degree in Real Estate from an accredited college or university approved by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, or a regional or national accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education, provided that the college or university has had its curriculum reviewed and approved by the AQB.

g) Applicants seeking credit for foreign degrees shall have an evaluation of their education credentials to convert the credentials to American equivalent semester credits and courses. Only vendors and organizations recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education will be permitted to conduct the evaluations.

(Source: Amended at 42 Ill. Reg. 21599, effective November 26, 2018)