01/30/2026
Why aren’t SLPs fully license-ready at graduation?
Because the system isn’t built that way on purpose.
ASHA oversees both program accreditation (CAA) and clinical certification (CFCC), giving one organization influence over how SLPs are trained and how they become eligible to practice.
CAA standards set minimum academic requirements, but they do not:
• ensure readiness for independent practice
• regulate the quality or intensity of supervision
• close the post-graduate supervision gap
That gap is left open by design and filled by the CFCC.
Participation in CFCC standards is technically voluntary for universities, yet most align anyway because licensure and employment expectations mirror certification. The result?
• inconsistent graduate preparation
• unregulated post-grad supervision
• delayed autonomy
• added cost and dependency on certification
All while being told, “this is for safety.”
But if universities embedded robust clinical training and high-quality supervision during degree programs, graduates could meet full state licensure requirements at graduation, making post-grad certification unnecessary.
That’s the part we’re not supposed to talk about.
Because the CCC is ASHA’s biggest revenue-generating product.
And systems rarely change when they’re profitable.
If this were truly about safety, SLPs wouldn’t be the ones absorbing the risk.
Ask the harder questions.
Ask your state why licensure mirrors certification instead of exceeding it.
Ask why new clinicians are asked to pay, wait, and tolerate harm to “prove” competence.
This isn’t how it has to be, it’s just how it’s been structured.
