CDA credential expires: what happens and how to renew it

Last updated 2026-07-09

How long does a CDA credential last before it expires?

A CDA (Child Development Associate) credential is good for three years from the date it was awarded. That holds whether you earned it last month or ten years ago. The Council for Professional Recognition, the body that runs the CDA, uses the same three-year window for every credential type: Center-Based (infant/toddler and preschool), Family Child Care, and Home Visitor. ^[1]

The clock starts on the issue date printed on your credential card. You can read that date off your physical card or find it by logging into the Council's candidate portal at cdacouncil.org. Plenty of providers lose track because their state licensing renewal runs on a different cycle, often yearly or every two years, so the CDA date slides in under the radar.

The Council does not reliably warn you before your credential expires. There's an opt-in reminder feature, but treat it as a bonus, not a safety net. Set your own calendar alert for six months out. That gives you enough runway to gather documents, finish your continuing education, and submit without a panic.

What does it cost to renew a CDA credential?

The Council for Professional Recognition charges $150 to renew a CDA as of 2024. ^[1] That fee covers application processing and nothing else. It does not pay for your continuing education courses, your first aid/CPR recertification, or transcript fees from a training provider.

Let the credential expire and the math turns ugly. You cannot renew an expired CDA. You apply as a brand-new candidate, which runs $425 for the full application and credentialing process as of 2024. ^[1] That's nearly three times the renewal fee, and you repeat the entire assessment instead of a quick renewal review.

Some state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) scholarship programs cover or partially reimburse renewal fees. T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood scholarships, offered in many states, exist for exactly this. Ask your state's child care resource and referral agency (CCR&R) before you pay out of pocket.

Cost scenario	Amount (2024)
On-time renewal	$150
New application (lapsed credential)	$425
T.E.A.C.H. scholarship (where available)	Varies, may cover 75-100%

For how CDA credentials feed into state subsidy eligibility, see the article on childcare subsidy.

What are the CDA renewal requirements?

Four things have to happen before you submit a CDA renewal. ^[1] Line them up early and the process is short.

First, 45 hours of professional development in early childhood education, completed within the three years since your last award or renewal. The hours don't have to come from a specific approved list as long as the content is about child development and early care. Online courses, community college classes, state-approved training, and national conferences all count. Save every certificate of completion.

Second, a current pediatric first aid and CPR certification. It has to be in-person or a hybrid course with an in-person skills check. Online-only CPR does not qualify. The card must still be valid on the day you submit.

Third, a signed CDA Professional Development Specialist (PDS) review, also called the verification visit. A PDS observes you working with children and signs your renewal application confirming your competence. You can reuse the PDS from your original credential or pick a new one.

Fourth, the completed renewal application and the $150 fee, submitted to the Council.

Here's the good news: you do not build a new Professional Portfolio for renewal the way you did for your first credential. That saves real hours. Renewal is far lighter than initial credentialing, which is the best argument going for staying current instead of letting it slide.

What happens if your CDA credential expires before you renew?

This is where providers get burned. Miss your expiration date and your credential is dead. The Council's policy leaves no room: an expired CDA cannot be renewed. You apply as a new candidate and run the full initial credentialing process again. ^[1]

That means rebuilding a Professional Portfolio, completing 120 hours of professional education (versus 45 for renewal), paying $425, and sitting a full credentialing exam. Realistically it takes four to twelve months depending on your pace and exam availability near you.

The professional hit can be just as steep. Many state licensing rules require or prefer a current CDA for lead teachers or directors. In states that accept a CDA as equivalent to a set education level for staff qualifications, an expired credential means you no longer meet that standard on paper. Your licensing agency can count you as unqualified until the credential comes back. That can shift your center's staff-to-child ratios, block you from working as a lead teacher, and in some QRIS systems, knock your facility's quality tier.

The CCDF, which funds most child care subsidies in the country, requires states to encourage credential attainment in the plans they submit to the Office of Child Care. Some states tie subsidy payment rates to staff credential levels. If a staff member's CDA lapses, your reimbursement rate can drop. ^[2]

Letting it lapse costs more money, more time, and possibly your licensing standing. Renew before the date.

How do you renew a CDA credential step by step?

Here's the real sequence, built from the Council's published renewal process. ^[1] Follow it in order and nothing surprises you at the end.

Step one: Log into your account at cdacouncil.org and confirm your expiration date. The portal also shows any prior records the Council has on file for you.

Step two: Bank your 45 hours of continuing education if you haven't already. Smart providers spread these across the three years instead of cramming at month 34. Your state's CCR&R usually keeps a training calendar that makes logging hours simple.

Step three: Confirm your first aid/CPR is current and stays valid through your submission date. If it's close to expiring, recertify before you apply.

Step four: Book your PDS verification visit. Reach out at least a few weeks ahead because their calendars fill. They watch you work with children and sign the renewal application.

Step five: Complete the online renewal application on the Council's website and pay the $150 fee.

Step six: The Council usually processes renewals within a few weeks. You get email confirmation, then a new credential card by mail showing your fresh three-year window.

To see the full scope of what the CDA covers and how it lands in state licensing, the companion article on the cda credential walks through it.

Does an expired CDA affect your state childcare license?

It depends on your state, and in many cases the answer is yes. The link between CDA credentials and state licensing is set by each state's regulations, not by the Council. Roughly half of U.S. states accept a current CDA as a qualifying credential for lead teacher or director roles, either on its own or as an alternative to an associate's or bachelor's degree. ^[3]

If your state rule reads something like "current CDA or higher" for a staff qualification and your CDA expires, you are out of compliance with that standard on the expiration date. Licensing inspectors who audit staff files can catch it. Whether they write a deficiency citation or hand you time to fix it depends on the state and the inspector, but the risk is real.

Families on CCDF-funded subsidies come from a pool of providers states are required to monitor for licensing compliance. ^[2] If a monitoring visit lands on the same day as an expired CDA in a required staff file, that can trigger a formal deficiency.

Some states also tie credential status to QRIS ratings. The National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance reports that most state QRIS frameworks count staff education and credentials as a quality indicator. ^[4] An expired CDA can shrink a staff member's contribution to your rating, which in some states pulls down the subsidy rate you collect.

Read your specific state's licensing regulations to know what's required. Michigan is one reference example: the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs posts its childcare licensing rules online. ^[8] See the overview of michigan daycare licensing for how that state handles credential requirements.

Can you renew a CDA credential early?

Yes. The Council for Professional Recognition takes renewal applications up to six months before your expiration date. ^[1] Your new three-year window starts from the original expiration date, not from your early submission date, so you lose zero time by going early.

Early is the right call. It kills the risk of an administrative delay dragging you past the deadline, and it buys slack if your PDS has a scheduling snag or your CPR recert takes longer than planned.

A lot of veteran providers treat CDA renewal like a car registration. Do it at five months out, not in the final week. That one habit erases the expensive lapse scenario for good.

How do continuing education requirements for CDA renewal compare to state licensing CE requirements?

This trips up providers constantly. The 45 hours for CDA renewal and the continuing education your state licensing agency demands are separate obligations that may or may not overlap.

Many states require licensed childcare staff to log a set number of training hours per year to renew a license. Those requirements typically run 10 to 30 hours annually depending on the state and the staff role. ^[5] In some states the same training counts toward both your state license and your CDA renewal, as long as the content qualifies for each. In others the tracking systems are wholly separate with no cross-credit at all.

The safe habit: when you finish training, grab the certificate, note the topic and hours, and file it in both your CDA renewal folder and your state licensing folder. Assume nothing about automatic overlap until you check your state's guidance.

Requirement	Body setting it	Hours	Timing
CDA renewal CE	Council for Professional Recognition	45 hours	Within 3-year credential period
State licensing CE (example range)	State licensing agency	10-30 hrs/year	Annual, per license cycle
CCDF quality set-aside training (where applicable)	State CCDF lead agency	Varies	Per state plan

CCDF rules require states to spend part of their quality set-aside funds on activities that improve provider quality, which often means training subsidies. ^[2] In many states that means some or all of your continuing education can be taken at low or no cost through state-funded training systems.

Does the CDA renewal process differ for Family Child Care providers?

The core requirements match across credential types: 45 hours of CE, current first aid/CPR, a PDS verification visit, the application, and the $150 fee. The credential type on your card (Family Child Care, Center-Based Preschool, or Center-Based Infant/Toddler) does not change the fee or the basic structure. ^[1]

The context is what shifts. For Family Child Care providers, the PDS visit happens in your home, and the observer needs to watch you working with children in that setting. If your home daycare closes for summer or you're between enrolled families, scheduling the observation gets tricky. Plan around it.

State licensing implications shift too. In many states, Family Child Care homes fall under different licensing rules than centers, and the role a CDA plays in staff qualifications can be treated differently. Some state regulations mention CDA credentials only for center-based staff and say nothing about home-based providers. Others apply it to both. Read your state's rules line by line.

If you run a home daycare, a daycare center carries a separate set of staffing standards worth comparing against.

What continuing education actually counts toward CDA renewal?

The Council does not publish a tight approved-provider list the way some state licensing agencies do. The standard is simple: continuing education has to be in a subject relevant to early childhood care and education. ^[1] That's a broad door, and it gives providers real flexibility.

Training that clearly counts: child development coursework from accredited colleges, state-approved early childhood training through your CCR&R, workshops from national groups like NAEYC or Zero to Three, state QRIS training activities, online courses from reputable early childhood platforms, and employer-provided in-service training.

Training that's borderline: general management or business courses, CPR recertification itself (it satisfies a separate renewal requirement, so it does not count toward your 45 CE hours), and personal enrichment with no documented learning objectives.

When you're unsure, read the learning objectives of the event. If they map to any of the CDA Competency Standards (safe learning environments, health and wellness, physical development, cognitive development, communication, creative arts, self-concept, and families and community), the training almost certainly qualifies.

Keep your completion certificates. The Council can ask for documentation during review, and you want a clean paper trail when it does.

What do CCDF rules say about CDA credentials and provider quality?

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 and the CCDF regulations that followed require states to spell out in their state plans how they'll support the child care workforce, credential attainment included. ^[7] Federal rules at 45 CFR Part 98 require states to run a tiered quality system and to spend at least 12% of their CCDF allotment on quality improvement, which in practice often covers scholarships and training subsidies for credentials like the CDA. ^[2]

The federal rules don't order providers to hold a CDA. What they build is the incentive structure that makes a CDA pay. States that link subsidy reimbursement to quality tiers (and most do) hand a higher payment to providers whose staff hold current credentials. Child Care Aware of America's annual price report shows average CCDF subsidy rates trailing market rates in most states, so any rate bump from a quality tier hits your bottom line directly. ^[6]

Here's the practical read: a CDA is more than a personal credential. In most states it's a financial instrument. Keeping it current keeps your quality tier, which keeps your subsidy rate up. Letting it lapse costs dollars per month, more than professional pride. For a wider look at how subsidies work, see the article on childcare subsidy.

ChildCareComp's compliance toolkit includes a credential tracking worksheet built to flag upcoming CDA expirations across multi-staff centers before they turn into licensing problems.

Is there any path to reinstatement without starting over if your CDA lapses?

Officially, no. The Council's stated policy is that an expired CDA cannot be renewed, only reapplied for as a new candidate. ^[1] There's no formal grace period and no reinstatement program.

The practical burden isn't the same for everyone, though. If your CDA expired recently (months, not years), you probably still hold most of the documentation you need. Your Professional Portfolio framework still exists, your prior observation records and reflective statements give you a running start, and your references and PDS relationships are intact. Reapplication still costs $425 and still runs the full process, but people who've done it before move faster the second time.

If your CDA has been dead for years and you're coming back to the field, treat reapplication as genuine retraining. Child development practice changes a lot over a decade, and rebuilding the portfolio from scratch at least gets your knowledge current.

One honest note. If the lapse was recent and tied to a documented hardship (serious illness, family emergency), call the Council directly before you assume you're out of options. They don't advertise flexibility, but they're staffed by people, and a direct conversation sometimes surfaces something the written policy never mentions.

How does CDA renewal fit into broader staff professional development planning?

Run a center with several CDA holders and the nightmare is three credentials expiring in the same month because everyone got certified in the same training cohort. Stagger expiration dates across your team and you never hit a moment where multiple staff members sit unqualified under your licensing rules at once.

When you hire someone with a CDA, record the expiration date in your HR system that day and set reminders at the six-month and three-month marks. Basic workforce management, yes, but a startling number of centers lean on staff self-reporting and only find lapses during a licensing inspection.

Budget for renewal too. $150 per staff member every three years is small on its own, but a center with six CDA holders cycling through renewals needs a line item for credential fees and continuing education so nobody scrambles for cash on short notice. Many T.E.A.C.H. programs cover this if you apply in advance, and applications take time.

The classroom connection matters as well. Staff who keep their CDA current through 45 hours of continuing education every three years are, by definition, working with current practice in areas like preschool curriculum and child development. That's more than a compliance checkbox. It changes what happens with the kids. Resources on specific approaches like creative curriculum for preschool or montessori preschool curriculum are exactly the content that feeds CE hours.

For centers juggling several credential timelines, a tracker like the one in the ChildCareComp compliance toolkit keeps expiration dates in view before they turn into emergencies.

Frequently asked questions

Can I renew my CDA credential online?

Yes. The Council for Professional Recognition processes all CDA renewals through its online candidate portal at cdacouncil.org. You complete the application, upload supporting documentation where required, and pay the $150 fee electronically. The PDS verification visit itself has to happen in person, but the administrative submission is entirely online.

How do I find a CDA Professional Development Specialist for my renewal observation?

The Council for Professional Recognition keeps a searchable PDS locator on its website. Your state's child care resource and referral agency (CCR&R) is another good referral source, and many community college early childhood faculty hold PDS credentials. If you used a PDS for your original credential, you can use the same person for renewal.

Does my CDA renewal automatically update in my state's licensing system?

No. The Council and your state licensing agency run separate systems that don't share data automatically. After you get your renewed credential, you usually need to submit a copy to your licensing specialist or upload it to your state's provider portal. Check your state's specific process for updating staff qualification records.

What if I changed credential types, like from Family Child Care to Center-Based Preschool? Do I still renew on the same timeline?

Each CDA credential carries its own expiration date tied to when it was issued. If you hold two credentials of different types, they may have different expiration dates. You renew each one separately and pay a renewal fee for each. Contact the Council directly if your situation involves a credential type change during a renewal cycle.

Do my CDA renewal CE hours need to be from a specific accredited provider?

The Council does not publish a narrow list of approved providers. The requirement is that training be relevant to early childhood care and education. That covers accredited college coursework, state CCR&R-sponsored training, NAEYC workshops, and many online early childhood platforms. Keep your certificates of completion for all training.

Will my employer pay for CDA renewal?

Some will, some won't. It depends entirely on the employer. Large child care chains often build credential fees into their professional development budgets. Smaller centers may have no formal policy. T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood scholarships, offered in many states, can cover renewal fees and related training costs no matter what your employer does. Ask your state's CCR&R about eligibility.

Does a lapsed CDA affect my ability to work in childcare at all?

Not universally, but potentially yes. If your state's licensing regulations require or prefer a current CDA for a specific role like lead teacher or director, a lapse means you no longer meet that qualification on paper. You may have to work in a lower-qualification role until the credential is restored, or your employer may face a licensing deficiency. The effect varies by state regulation.

How long does CDA renewal take once I submit the application?

The Council for Professional Recognition usually processes renewals within a few weeks of a complete submission. Processing can run longer during peak periods. Allow at least four to six weeks for full turnaround including the mailing of your new credential card. Don't submit at the last minute before an expiration date.

Can continuing education I completed for my state license count toward my CDA renewal?

Often yes, if the content is relevant to early childhood care and education. The two systems (state licensing CE and CDA renewal CE) track hours separately, but the same training event can count for both. Keep a copy of each certificate and file it in both places. Confirm with the Council if you're unsure about a specific training.

Is there a grace period after my CDA expires?

The Council for Professional Recognition does not publish a formal grace period. Officially, an expired CDA cannot be renewed, only reapplied for as a new candidate. Don't count on informal leniency. The cleanest approach is treating your expiration date as a hard deadline and starting the renewal process at least six months before it arrives.

How does CDA renewal affect my QRIS rating?

Most state QRIS frameworks use staff credentials as a quality indicator. An expired CDA can reduce a staff member's contribution to your facility's quality score and potentially drop your rating tier. Since many states tie subsidy reimbursement rates to QRIS tiers, that's a direct financial hit. Check your state's QRIS rubric to see exactly how credential currency is scored.

Does a CDA credential expiration matter for T.E.A.C.H. scholarship eligibility?

Yes. T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood scholarships in most states are built for initial credential attainment or renewal of current credentials. If your CDA has already expired and you need to reapply as a new candidate, your state's T.E.A.C.H. program may categorize your application differently, possibly under a separate funding track. Contact your state's program coordinator for specifics.

Sources

1. Council for Professional Recognition, CDA Renewal Guide: CDA credential is valid for 3 years; renewal requires 45 CE hours, current first aid/CPR, PDS verification, and $150 fee; expired CDAs require new application at $425; early renewal accepted up to 6 months before expiration
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care, CCDF Regulations 45 CFR Part 98: CCDF requires states to use at least 12% of allotment for quality activities including workforce support and credential attainment; states must describe workforce development plans in CCDF state plans
3. National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, Staff Qualifications in State Child Care Licensing Regulations: Many states accept CDA as a qualifying credential for lead teacher or director roles in their licensing regulations
4. National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, QRIS Quality Benchmarks: Most state QRIS frameworks include staff education and credentials as a quality indicator domain
5. National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA), Child Care Licensing Study: State continuing education requirements for licensed childcare staff range from approximately 10 to 30 hours annually depending on state and staff role
6. Child Care Aware of America, The US and the High Price of Child Care (annual report): Average CCDF subsidy rates lag market rates significantly in most states; quality tier premiums affect provider reimbursement
7. Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-186): CCDBG Act of 2014 requires states to support child care workforce quality including credential attainment as part of state plans
8. Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Child Care Licensing: Michigan posts its childcare licensing rules and staff qualification requirements online through the state licensing agency