Several states are revisiting their pre-license education requirements or eliminating them entirely.

In recent months, several states have eliminated their pre-license education requirements. Alabama is the latest, and Washington and Louisiana prior to that. When this happens, states don’t always offer much in the way of a rationale, except Washington did tell us there’s no statistical difference between the exam pass rates for states that require pre-licensing education and those that don’t. Currently there are 34 states with no pre-license education requirements.

Even without these requirements, new agents are still showing up prepared for their exams, and states are saving costs.

Many carriers—probably most—don’t want to talk to agents if they don’t have a license yet. Some carriers, when they have new products that require a different licensure, may assist agents in getting that license. In that case, the carrier can become the force that’s driving whether someone takes a course. Overall, it doesn’t impact the daily work of carriers too much, but with so many states revisiting their education requirements it can be a lot of changes for carriers to keep track of. Compliance means everything.

The impact on carriers isn’t severe, but it’s something else to keep track of.

Many carriers—probably most—don’t want to talk to agents if they don’t have a license yet. Some carriers, when they have new products that require a different licensure, may assist agents in getting that license. In that case, the carrier can become the force that’s driving whether someone takes a course. Overall, it doesn’t impact the daily work of carriers too much, but with so many states revisiting their education requirements it can be a lot of changes for carriers to keep track of. Compliance means everything.

More states are likely to follow.

It’s a trend that we’ll have to watch. Already there were many states that didn’t require pre-license education, but 16 states are currently facing this decision. So, we will likely continue to see changes in the short-term. The dynamics are different state to state.

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