If you obtained your occupational therapy license in the state of South Carolina, you will need to earn continuing education hours and maintain your NBCOT certification in order to maintain your license. To help, I’m going to walk you through the steps I take to maintain my own occupational therapy license (and easily earn required PDUs).
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Step 1: Look up your OT/OTA license.
To begin the process, I always double-check that my license is displaying correctly. You can look up your South Carolina occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant license here.
Step 2: Confirm the South Carolina OT continuing education requirements.
It’s always good to double check for any updates to your 2025 licensing cycle. (One year, I completed ALL of my state of Nebraska requirements only to find out that they were waived due to COVID. 😭)
But, to get you going here is the information I found, with links to where I found it.
Here are the basic OT/OTA CEU requirements in South Carolina:
License renewal due March 15th of odd years.
How many hours are required?
- OTs/OTAs are required to complete 16 hours of continuing education every biennium AND
- Maintain NBCOT certification, which requires 36 units of education every 3 year renewal cycle.
The NBCOT Certification renewal period runs from January and March annually.
Verify here: South Carolina Board of Occupational Therapy
Discounts
Get a 15% discount on OT Potential by using the promo code: SouthCarolina
(We’ll also give 15% of that sale to the OT Association of South Carolina.)
Here are the specific continuing education requirements for OT professionals in South Carolina:
These were copied from the South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 40 – Professions and Occupations
CHAPTER 36
Occupational Therapists
SECTION 40-36-260.Time period licenses are valid; renewals, fees, and penalties; continuing education requirements; inactive status; reactivation.
(A) All licenses are valid for a period of time not to exceed two years, and it is the licensee’s responsibility to renew the license on March fifteenth whether or not a notice is received. An occupational therapist or an occupational therapy assistant who first becomes licensed after December fourteenth in any year is not required to renew until March fifteenth of the year following the next year.
(B) A licensed occupational therapist and a licensed occupational therapy assistant before March sixteenth in every other year shall apply to the board for license renewal and pay the renewal fee provided for in regulation.
(C) As a condition of license renewal, a licensee must complete satisfactorily sixteen hours of continuing education per biennium as defined in regulation and must submit proof of completion on a form approved by the board and must be certified and in good standing with NBCOT or other board-approved certification program.
And here are the specific continuing education requirements for NBCOT certification:
These were copied from the 2025 NBCOT OTR & COTA Certification Renewal Handbook
National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy
OTR & COTA Certification Renewal Handbook
Accruing the Certification Renewal Requirements
Certificants must accrue at least 36 units during their renewal cycle. Units can be obtained through a
combination of competency assessment units (CAUs) and/or professional development units (PDUs).
Accepted activity types are listed on the Certification Renewal Activities Chart.
How to Convert Units to PDU
Continuing Education Units (CEU) and contact hours can be converted into PDU as described below.
Certificants can convert CEU to PDU using the PDU Calculator available through their MyNBCOT account under Renewal Log.
- 1 contact hour (not to include meals or breaks) = 1 PDU
- 1 clock hour (not to include meals or breaks) = 1 PDU
- 0.1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) = 1 PDU
- One contact hour earned through successfully completed education (workshops, seminars, online
courses, or conferences) with an assessment component at the end of the program (scored test
project, paper) = 1.25 PDU - 1 Competency Assessment Unit (CAU) = 1 Contact Hour or 1 PDU
Please Note: NBCOT adheres to the CEU definition defined by the International Association for
Continuing Education and Training (IACET) of 1 CEU = 10 Contact Hours.
Step 3: Earn your CEU hours (discounts below)!
Ok, now that you know your requirements, it is time to start earning those PDUs! There are of course a lot of options out there, but we hope you consider checking out the courses offered by OT Potential.
Do OT Potential courses count toward the continuing education required to renew my license?
Yes! OT Potential CEU courses and monthly live webinars can help you easily earn required South Carolina continuing education hours AND NBCOT PDUs.
How do I track and document my continuing education hours?
All OT professionals licensed in Tennessee are required to use CE Broker to log their earned continuing education hours. You can easily track OT Potential Courses on CE Broker, or take courses directly on their site for instant CEU tracking.
For maintaining NBCOT certification, you can use the NBCOT Renewal Log to keep track of your PDUs on their website. Our podcast-based courses fall under Professional Development Activities > Workshops/Courses/Independent Learning.
ID# | Activity | PDU Value | Max units per 3-year period | Verification Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Successfully complete education (e.g., workshops, seminars, lectures, online courses, or conference) with an assessment component at the end of the program (e.g., scored test, project, paper). The same workshop may be claimed only once for PDU per renewal cycle. | 1 hour = 1.25 units | No limit | A certificate of attendance or a letter from the provider verifying contact hours or CEU, date(s), event title, attendee name, agenda, and indicates successful completion of assessment component at the end of the program (e.g., scored test, project, paper). |
Activities under activity 19 count as 1.25 units, so you would need to complete 29 courses over the 3 year cycle.
Here’s a screenshot of logging an OT Potential Podcast course in the NBCOT Renewal Log, upon earning a certificate of completion:
Where can South Carolina OT professionals get the best deals on PDUs?
At OT Potential, our courses are all built around helping you get new evidence into practice.
But, what good is evidence-based practice, if you are not reimbursed appropriately for it? Our local associations do SUCH important advocacy work, when it comes to reimbursement and scope of practice. That’s why we’ve made it part of our mission to support these associations.
So, we have this win-win proposition for you. Join OT Potential using the promo code “SouthCarolina” to receive a 15% discount—and we’ll donate 15% of your order to OT Association of South Carolina (SCOTA).
👍 Price of OT Potential with your South Carolina discount = $84.15 (Reg $99)
🎉 Donation amount to SCOTA = $12.62
And, the best part is if you decide to renew, it will be at your discounted price. AND, we’ll make another donation to SCOTA.
This is one of the cheapest ways to earn all of your required South Carolina OT CEUs, and you can feel good doing it because you are giving back to your state association. ❤️
(If OT Potential is not right for you, I am also a long-time fan of MedBridge, and through OT Potential, you can snag a MedBridge Promo Code for 40% off.)
Step 4: Renew your license. 🎉
Ok, now it’s time for the big moment.
You can renew your license online.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you found this post helpful!
As you can tell, I am a continuing education nerd 🤓, so if you have any other questions about continuing education and your South Carolina OT license renewal, just ask me the comments!
Ok! Ready to try OT Potential?
Get 15% off + 15% goes to support SCOTA.
Learn more, then use promo code: SouthCarolina