Notice of Fee Increase Effective 2025

At a recent meeting, the Council for Interior Design Accreditation’s Board of Directors conducted a review of fees charged to programs for accreditation services and voted to increase the per site visitor travel fee. The Board also adjusted the fee charged for fully virtual accreditation reviews, which require approval from CIDA’s Accreditation Commission. Fee increases are effective January 1, 2025.

For programs scheduled for review in spring 2025 and beyond, the per site visitor travel fee is increasing by $150 USD (from $700/site visitor to $850/site visitor). The site visitor travel fee covers the transportation expenses of the visiting team to and from an accreditation review. This fee, last increased in 2014, was adjusted to cover rising travel costs. With this adjustment, a program undergoing a typical accreditation review with three site visitors will be invoiced $2,550 in site visitor travel fees. 

Additionally, the administrative fee charged to programs for fully virtual accreditation reviews (for initial or reaccreditation only) with three team members is now $5,800 (previously $4,000). The administrative fee for fully virtual reviews was first established in 2020 during CIDA’s response to the COVID pandemic. The fee is being adjusted to reflect the true administrative costs associated with supporting fully virtual accreditation reviews. Fully virtual reviews require Accreditation Commission approval and thus this fee is assessed only for those programs having received approval. 

CIDA understands that programs undertaking accreditation reviews have individual circumstances impacting potential fees and encourage program administrators to contact Megan Scanlan, Director of Accreditation, at megan@accredit-id.org for updates on the fee status for their upcoming reviews.

CIDA’s Board does not increase fees without carefully considering the potential impact on interior design programs. CIDA continuously seeks and implements cost-savings in its own operations in order to maintain a balanced budget. Currently, fees from programs cover approximately 70% of the annual operating budget. The CIDA Board must seek the remaining funds from other sources each year.

All CIDA accreditation policy and procedural documents, including program fees, are available on the CIDA website (www.accredit-id.org) under Faculty/Programs, Policy and Procedure.