Simpler APA Dues Structure Will Benefit ECP Members

To simplify the dues-billing process, APA members in their first seven years of general membership will pay their 2002 national dues according to a three-step scale.

Members in the first three years of general membership will be charged $180, which is one-third of the full dues rate for general members each year ($540). In years four through six of general membership, members will be charged $355, which is two-thirds of the full rate. In the seventh year of general membership, APA members graduate to the full rate.

“The new dues structure is now simplified and will benefit early career psychiatrists,” said Bernard Katz, M.D., chair of the APA Membership Committee. Katz and others, who were part of the Work Group to Study Dues, Value, and Revenue, developed the idea to switch from an eight-tier dues scale to a three-tier dues scale, and APA’s Board of Trustees approved the proposal.

Since 1992 APA members have paid their national dues on a more complex, eight-tier dues scale, which eased APA members more gradually into the general membership rate. Dues went up by small increments each year for seven years, and for this reason, some members may have thought that the overall dues rates were increasing, yet the $540 rate for general members and fellows has remained constant since 1996, and the Board recently voted to hold the rate steady for 2002 national dues.

Early career psychiatrists in their first seven years of general membership will actually save money as they graduate up the dues scale to the full general-member rate. With the new three-tier scale, they will pay $140 less than they did on the eight-tier scale over an eight-year period.

Members-in-training, who may be struggling with considerable debt and lower salaries than their colleagues who have more years of practice under their belts, pay just $80 a year.

Similarly, APA life members and life fellows, whose status is a function of their age and number of membership years, pay reduced national dues rates.

To promote consistency and further boost member retention rates, APA is also encouraging district branches and state societies to adopt the graduated dues scale for general members.

Dues statements reflecting the new three-tier system for 2002 will be sent out on October 1. ▪