NBRC Credential Renewal: CRT and RRT Maintenance, Assessments, CE, and Fees

When does my CRT or RRT credential expire?

NBRC requires CRT and RRT credentials issued on or after July 1, 2002 to be maintained on a five-year cycle through its Credential Maintenance Program, or CMP. Its CMP brochure offers three routes: assessments and/or continuing education, re-examination, or earning a new NBRC credential.

The five-year term is calculated from the end of the month in which the credential was issued. Earlier, non-expiring credentials are a separate group; do not apply the time-limited credential rules to an older credential without checking your NBRC record. These rules were checked November 3, 2026.

Start by signing in to your NBRC account and writing down the expiration date shown for each credential you hold. Use that record to plan your maintenance work. Your graduation date, employment anniversary, and state-license deadline are not substitutes for the credential's own expiration date.

If you are still working toward the RRT, the guide to TMC cut scores, CRT and RRT outcomes explains the credential distinctions. Here, the task is keeping an earned credential current. Record that credential and its deadline before choosing a route.

What are the three maintenance options?

The NBRC CMP brochure describes the following choices. The right starting point is your current credential record and the requirements NBRC displays for you.

Do not treat paying the annual fee as a fourth option. On the CE route, the required CE and fees must both be submitted before expiration. Similarly, choosing the examination route means planning to meet its requirements within the permitted period, not simply booking an appointment.

If you are considering re-examination, first review what the TMC and replacement RT examinations cover. Ask NBRC which examination applies to your maintenance case before paying, especially if your original credential came from an earlier examination pathway.

For an RT examination study plan, full NBRC RT Exam (TMC) prep planned for launch organizes review across four outline areas. Choose your maintenance route first so you can decide whether examination preparation is work you actually need.

How do assessments affect the CE I must document?

NBRC's CMP assessments affect the continuing education you must document. The requirement is individualized: the NBRC dashboard shows what applies to you. A colleague's total or an old checklist is not enough to establish your own requirement.

A practical way to manage the CE route is to keep a short record with four entries:

1. The requirement currently shown in your NBRC account. Check it against your assessment status rather than starting with a fixed CE total.
2. Activities you plan to use. Verify that they meet NBRC's requirements before counting them toward completion.
3. Documentation still missing. Keep supporting records together so you can find them when completing the required submission.
4. Submission and payment status. Check each separately before the expiration date.

This is an organizational checklist, not an additional NBRC requirement. Its purpose is to keep learning, documentation, and payment from being mistaken for the same task.

If your account shows a different CE requirement than you expected, resolve the discrepancy with NBRC before buying more education. If it shows no CE documentation requirement because of your assessment performance, still check the remaining obligations shown for your account. Do not infer that one completed component settles the entire maintenance cycle.

What fees apply to my payment years?

For the CE route, the NBRC brochure lists annual increments by payment year. The fee information below was checked November 3, 2026; confirm the amount in your NBRC account before paying.

A five-payment-year example in which every year falls under the $30 rate totals 5 × $30 = $150. That is arithmetic using the published annual charge, not a universal balance for every person renewing now. A cycle that includes earlier payment years must account for the rate applicable to those years.

Unpaid years still require payment. Check which years remain unpaid instead of multiplying the current annual rate by the number of years you assume are outstanding. Keep any examination fee separate if you are comparing maintenance options; do not assume the annual CE-route charge is the price of an examination.

For broader examination budgeting, the RT examination cost guide separates examination expenses from credential maintenance. Your next step is to reconcile the payment-year entries in your account with the route you intend to complete.

What changes when I earn another NBRC credential?

According to the CMP brochure, earning an NBRC credential you have not previously completed extends the recredentialing period for held credentials by five years and aligns their expiration dates. After earning the new credential, check that the updated dates appear in your NBRC record and revise your reminders accordingly.

Keep that new-credential route separate from retaining a credential you already hold. The RT examination page states that an existing CRT is retained if the holder receives an RT score below the low cut. Retaining the CRT after that examination result does not establish that you have completed its CMP requirements.

The examination transition also does not justify assuming that maintenance fees stay unchanged: NBRC explicitly publishes a new annual charge beginning with payment year 2027. Check the credential record, the selected maintenance route, and the applicable payment years as separate pieces of the decision.

If pursuing the RRT involves preparing for the RT examination, full NBRC RT Exam (TMC) prep planned for launch includes 1,100 questions for examination review. Keep your existing credential's maintenance deadline visible while you prepare for the next examination.

What if my credential has already expired?

Your options depend on how long ago the credential expired. NBRC's credential and state-license renewal page, checked November 7, 2026, describes a six-month reinstatement option and a retest after that. The page is dated February 15, 2021, so confirm the current amount and steps with NBRC before paying.

If your credential has not expired yet, do not plan around the six-month option. The CMP brochure requires the CE and fees to be submitted before expiration.

Retesting carries its own conditions. An NBRC notice on the CMP, checked November 7, 2026, says that since January 1, 2022, expired credential holders applying to retake an examination must meet all admission policies in effect at the time of application. The route that admitted you years ago may no longer apply, so compare your record with the current RT admission routes before applying.

A retest has its own examination fee. On NBRC's TMC and CSE application, checked November 7, 2026, the new applicant fee applies to a CMP applicant whose credential has expired. That form covers the TMC and CSE only, so confirm the amount for the RT examination with NBRC.

While the credential is expired, stop using the designation. The same renewal page warns that using it after expiration may violate NBRC's Judicial and Ethics Policies and lead to disciplinary action. It also says some states require an active NBRC credential to keep a license, and that NBRC and state agencies do not share database information. Contact your licensing board directly to learn what applies to you.

Your next step is to find the expiration date in your NBRC account, count the time since that date, and ask NBRC which row applies before you pay or book anything.

How should I track CMP and state-license deadlines separately?

NBRC's Resources and FAQs distinguish credential maintenance from state-license renewal. Do not assume that completing one renews the other, or that one national CE total describes every state's requirements.

Keep two records: one for NBRC and one for each licensing authority that applies to you. For each record, enter the actual expiration date, the required activities, the documentation to submit, the amount due, and confirmation of completion. Check the licensing board's own instructions before deciding whether an activity can satisfy its requirements as well as NBRC's.

For your next action:

• Open your NBRC account and confirm your credential expiration date.
• Choose a maintenance route and check its individual requirements.
• Reconcile outstanding payment years and gather any required CE documentation.
• Check your state-license renewal instructions separately.
• Complete the required submissions before expiration and verify the resulting account status.

If you choose re-examination, use the 20 free NBRC RT Exam practice questions to identify review needs, then organize that work with the free NBRC RT Exam study plan. For a fuller examination rehearsal, full NBRC RT Exam (TMC) prep planned for launch includes a 185-question mock examination.

If your credential has already expired, start with the expired-credential options above. If your record does not match your documents, contact NBRC about your individual status before assuming that a payment or an examination booking resolves it.