Help for CEU activity participants

If you need help accessing your CEU transcripts, please contact the Professional Development Programs office at 207-780-5900 or usmpdp@maine.edu.


Are you offering a workshop or course for educators? The PDC reviews proposals and approves Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for programs serving educators according to national CEU standards, allowing you to offer CEUs for your participants.

Should I offer CEUs?

CEUs may not be necessary for your program or activity. Consider the profession(s) of your intended audience. Some professions prefer their members to obtain officially approved CEUs to signify completion of professional development and progression toward recertification or licensure renewal. Others count CEUs the same as contact hours, in which case, your organization may wish to pursue contact hours as the simpler route (generic contact hours are not reviewed by an official entity and can be awarded by your organization through a simple certificate of attendance). For example, as of 2023, the Maine Department of Education counts contact hours the same as CEUs for educators seeking recertification, so CEUs are typically not necessary for activities developed for Maine educators. This information is provided as guidance only.

Program Eligibility

The sponsoring organization(s) must be a non-profit organization with an identifiable educational purpose. The program or activity must be an organized continuing education experience, planned in response to the educational needs of a target population or clientele group. Qualified instructional personnel must be directly involved in conducting the program or activity.

For new CEU applications from organizations external to the University of Southern Maine, educators must be the primary program audience (the only body that approves external CEU applications is within the School of Education and Human Development). Additionally, the sponsoring organization(s) must provide the rationale, purpose, goals, description of program activities, performance evaluation procedures, and instructor qualifications (see application form).

CEUs are NOT awarded for the following types of activities: credit-bearing programs, high school equivalency courses, orientation programs, committee meetings, policy assignments, meetings and conventions (although educational activities held concurrently with these meetings may meet the criteria for CEUs), mass media programs, entertainment and recreation, work experience, individual scholarship, and self-directed studies.

The educational program and instructor may not encourage student participation in any specified political or religious organization, or promote the purchase of any profit generating products or services.

Application Timeline and Fee

New CEU applications should be submitted at least 30 calendar days prior to the beginning of the educational program to allow sufficient time for review and processing. CEU applications for activities that have been previously approved should be submitted at least 15 calendar days prior to the beginning of the program.

CEU applications are subject to a $75 processing fee per event, which will be invoiced after approval has been awarded (see below). This fee is for processing your application and also for the student record and information database that supports CEU courses. This database is maintained by the USM Professional Development Programs office.

Application Form

To apply for CEUs for your program/workshop, please complete the CEU Application Form linked below. If this is a new application, please self-assess your application materials with the review checklist linked below (under Approval Process).

CEU Application Form (Google Form)

Note: If your program has been approved by USM in the past and you do not want to utilize our transcript system, then no further action is needed to offer CEUs for your program.

Approval Process

New applications from organizations external to USM are reviewed by members of the Professional Development Center Committee using a criteria checklist, linked below. You do not need to submit a completed checklist, but it can be a helpful self assessment when gathering and submitting your application materials (through the form above).

PDC CEU Application Review Checklist (PDF)

You will be notified of the review committee’s decision regarding your application within about 15 business days of submission.

Questions?

The CEU approval and management process is a collaboration between the Professional Development Center (PDC) and Professional Development Programs (PDP).

  • Contact the PDC with questions about the approval process for new external applications:
  • Contact the PDP with questions about course setup, participant transcripts, submitting attendance sheets, and billing: