AASCB's registry stored counselors' transcripts, supervision records and scores for later license applications, but AASCB now describes its sponsorship as belonging to the 1990s and early 2000s, and lists no public enrollment. New Jersey's endorsement rule still requires registration with it or an AASCB-approved successor, so New Jersey applicants should ask the board.
Older counseling licensure guides often recommend "banking" your credentials with the American Association of State Counseling Boards. The idea was sound: store your transcripts, supervision documentation, exam scores and license history once, while everything is easy to get, and have the registry send a verified packet to any board you later apply to.
The question in 2026 is whether that service is still there to use.
What AASCB says now
AASCB's own history page describes its role this way: it has been an advocate for licensure portability and reciprocity, "including its sponsorship of the Counseling Credentials Registry database in the 1990s and early 2000s." That is past tense, and the name differs slightly from the one in older guides and in state rules, which call it the National Credentials Registry. The association's current public site lists membership, events, committees and a members-only board resources area, and we could not find an enrollment page for individual counselors.
We cannot tell you from the public record whether the registry has been formally closed, transferred or kept for existing users. If you registered years ago, ask AASCB directly what happened to your file.
Where it still matters: New Jersey
New Jersey's endorsement rule, N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1, still says applicants for licensure by endorsement "shall register with the National Credentials Registry or its successor, approved by" AASCB. It sits alongside the rule's other conditions: three years of active licensed practice immediately before applying, 4,500 hours of work experience over three to six years, a qualifying degree, and the NCE or NCMHCE.
If New Jersey is your target, call the Professional Counselor Examiners Committee before you start and ask how it applies that requirement today, and whether it treats some other service as the successor. Do not assume the requirement has gone away because the registry is hard to find, and do not pay any third party that claims to be the successor without the committee confirming it.
What to do instead
Build your own registry. It costs nothing and serves the same purpose:
- Order an official sealed transcript now and keep it unopened.
- Get course descriptions or syllabi for every counseling course while your program can still provide them.
- Keep a copy of every supervision log and the signed forms you submitted for your first license, with each supervisor's license number.
- Save your NBCC score report details and your license verification printouts.
- Keep a running list of every license you have held, with numbers and dates.
Ten years from now, when a supervisor has retired and your program has merged, this folder will save you more time than any service could.
For which states ask for what, see endorsement by state. If you are applying to New Jersey or any state that still wants records you cannot find, our endorsement service ($499 per state) includes tracking down verifications and old documentation.
Common questions
- Is the AASCB National Credentials Registry still open?
- We could not confirm it. AASCB's history page refers to its sponsorship of the registry in the 1990s and early 2000s, and its public site lists no enrollment for counselors. Ask AASCB directly.
- Does New Jersey require the National Credentials Registry for endorsement?
- Its rule, N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1, says endorsement applicants shall register with the National Credentials Registry or its AASCB-approved successor. Ask New Jersey's counselor committee how it applies that today.
- How should I store my counseling credentials for future license applications?
- Keep a sealed official transcript, course syllabi, signed supervision forms with supervisor license numbers, your exam score details, and a list of every license with numbers and dates. That folder does what the registry was meant to do.
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