Fee increase effective 2020

At a recent meeting, the Council for Interior Design Accreditation’s Board of Directors conducted a review of all fees charged by CIDA for accreditation. As a result, changes have been made to CIDA’s fee schedule. To assist with budget planning, all accredited programs and applicants are being notified of this fee increase which becomes effective on January 1, 2020.

In order to maintain CIDA accreditation, programs are required to pay an annual maintenance fee. On January 1, 2020 this fee will increase from $2,000 annually per accredited program to $2,200 annually per accredited program. This fee was last increased in 2013. Additionally, an administrative fee is charged when a program undergoes a site visit to seek or maintain accreditation. On January 1, 2020 this fee will increase from $3,000 per site visit to $3,300 per site visit. The site visit administrative fee has not been adjusted in over two decades.

In addition to these changes to routine fees, on January 1, 2020 the appeal fee will increase from $5,000 per appeal to $7,500 per appeal. An updated fee schedule is enclosed.

CIDA’s Board does not increase fees without carefully considering the potential impact on interior design programs. CIDA continuously seeks and implements cost-savings in its own operations in order to maintain a balanced budget. Currently, fees from programs cover approximately 70% of the annual operating budget. The CIDA Board must seek the remaining funds from other sources each year.

All CIDA accreditation policy and procedural documents, including program fees, are available on the CIDA website (www.accredit-id.org) under Faculty/Programs, Policy and Procedure. If you have any questions about accreditation policy and procedure, please contact Megan Scanlan, Director of Accreditation, at megan@accredit-id.org.