101PD
CA

RCFE, ARF, GH, and STRTP

California Care Facility Administrators: California licensing, exams, and education

Compare the four California administrator certificates, their live-training hours, examinations, background review, renewal education, and facility-specific rules.

Compare every optionTry the learning demo
Catalog options
6
Course pages
6
Launch access
$0 / Free

California qualification roadmap

How to become a California care facility administrator

Start with one facility type. RCFE, ARF, Group Home, and STRTP certificates have different curricula and are not interchangeable, even when some course topics overlap.

  1. 1

    Choose the facility certificate

    Match the intended administrator role to RCFE, ARF, Group Home, or STRTP and confirm the minimum age, education, and facility-specific qualification rules.

  2. 2

    Complete the correct ICTP

    Take 80 RCFE hours, 35 ARF hours, 40 Group Home hours, or 40 STRTP hours from an ACB-approved vendor, using the required live and permitted self-paced formats.

  3. 3

    Register for the ACB exam

    Within 60 days after ICTP completion, register personally for the exact facility exam, pay the $100 fee, and prepare the approved printed open-book resources.

  4. 4

    Pass within three attempts

    Complete the remote-proctored examination within the facility's question and time limits. A fourth attempt requires a new ICTP unless an ACB exception applies.

  5. 5

    Apply and clear the background review

    Submit LIC 9214, the $140 fee, ICTP and exam evidence, and background documents within the required window; resolve any criminal-record exemption issue with the responsible branch.

  6. 6

    Renew with facility-specific CE

    During each two-year cycle complete the required live and self-paced CETP hours, including laws and any RCFE dementia hours, and submit the renewal before expiration.

Official California requirements

What the licensing authority requires

Reviewed July 21, 2026

RCFE, ARF, Group Home, and STRTP administrator certificates are separate California credentials. Training, examination, application, renewal, and vendor approval must be matched to the exact facility type.

Authority: California Department of Social Services, Administrator Certification Bureau (ACB)

Minimum qualification and initial training

  • Applicants are generally at least 21 years old and hold a high-school diploma or equivalent, then complete an ACB-approved Initial Certification Training Program for the selected facility type.
  • The standard ICTP is 35 hours for ARF, 40 hours for Group Home, 80 hours for RCFE, and 40 hours for STRTP. All hours are live in person or live stream except that up to 20 RCFE hours may be approved self-paced.
  • A current Nursing Home Administrator may use a 12-hour live RCFE core course in place of the 80-hour ICTP and exam. A current Group Home administrator may use a 12-hour live STRTP core course in place of the 40-hour ICTP and exam.

Exam, application, and background review

  • The applicable remote-proctored, open-book exam must be taken within 60 days after ICTP completion and passed within three attempts or the ICTP must be repeated.
  • RCFE uses 100 questions in 120 minutes; ARF, Group Home, and STRTP each use 75 questions in 90 minutes. Only the printed resources identified by ACB are permitted.
  • The current exam fee is $100. After passing, the applicant submits the administrator application within 30 days; the current initial application fee is $140.
  • Certification also requires criminal-record clearance or an approved exemption when available; non-exemptible crimes cannot be cleared through that process.

Two-year renewal education

  • ARF, Group Home, RCFE, and STRTP renewals generally require 40 hours, with at least 20 hours live and no more than 20 approved self-paced hours. ACB accepts no more than 10 instructional hours in one day.
  • Each facility type requires at least four hours on its laws, regulations, policies, and procedural standards. RCFE also requires at least eight hours on Alzheimer's disease or other dementias.
  • A qualifying RCFE-NHA renewal is 20 hours and may be completed in any approved format, while retaining the four-hour laws and eight-hour dementia subject requirements.
  • The current renewal fee is $140. A certificate expired more than four years cannot be renewed through the ordinary renewal process.

How 101PD becomes an approved vendor

  • ICTP and Continuing Education Training Program vendorships are separate, and each facility type requires its own vendor application and approval record.
  • The current initial or renewal vendor fee is $210 for each ICTP vendorship and $140 for each CETP vendorship; new or materially updated CETP courses cost $10 per proposed whole credit hour.
  • Vendor and course approvals run for two years. Required schedules, attendance rosters, completion certificates, instructor qualifications, and live-delivery controls must be maintained by facility and vendor type.
  • 101PD will keep every initial and renewal product at $0 and non-credit until the specific facility-type approval shown on that product is active.

Verify with the licensing authority

Agency rules control. Requirements can change and individual eligibility varies. 101PD identifies each course as training, application-pending, or approved; it does not treat exam preparation as statutory credit unless the named authority has approved that specific course and provider.

Choose your licensing stage

Everything for this profession, in one row.

RCFE, ARF, Group Home, and STRTP initial training, exam preparation, and administrator continuing education. Colors identify the stage; they never imply approval.

Prelicensing: 4 options. Required or standards-aligned education before the licensing exam. Approval status is always shown honestly.Exam prep: 1 option. Focused California exam outlines, practice questions, readiness checks, and progress tracking.Continuing education: 1 option. Renewal and professional-learning options for people who already hold the license.

Prelicensing

Practice/training material. Not approved for CE/MCLE/CPE credit. No credit hours are issued.

Available soon - join the waitlist

California RCFE Administrator 80-Hour ICTP

California RCFE Administrator 80-Hour ICTP with honest content status, California-specific scope, and server-controlled launch pricing.

$0 / Free

Comparable market price: $599.00 Assisted Living Education — State-approved 80-hour RCFE administrator course (checked 7/21/2026)

80 hours

View details

Prelicensing

Practice/training material. Not approved for CE/MCLE/CPE credit. No credit hours are issued.

Available soon - join the waitlist

California ARF Administrator 35-Hour ICTP

California ARF Administrator 35-Hour ICTP with honest content status, California-specific scope, and server-controlled launch pricing.

$0 / Free

35 hours

View details

Prelicensing

Practice/training material. Not approved for CE/MCLE/CPE credit. No credit hours are issued.

Available soon - join the waitlist

California Group Home Administrator 40-Hour ICTP

California Group Home Administrator 40-Hour ICTP with honest content status, California-specific scope, and server-controlled launch pricing.

$0 / Free

40 hours

View details

Prelicensing

Practice/training material. Not approved for CE/MCLE/CPE credit. No credit hours are issued.

Available soon - join the waitlist

California STRTP Administrator 40-Hour ICTP

California STRTP Administrator 40-Hour ICTP with honest content status, California-specific scope, and server-controlled launch pricing.

$0 / Free

40 hours

View details

Exam prep

Practice/training material. Not approved for CE/MCLE/CPE credit. No credit hours are issued.

Available soon - join the waitlist

California Care Facility Administrator Exam Prep

California Care Facility Administrator Exam Prep with honest content status, California-specific scope, and server-controlled launch pricing.

$0 / Free

12 hours

View details

Continuing education

Practice/training material. Not approved for CE/MCLE/CPE credit. No credit hours are issued.

Available soon - join the waitlist

California Care Facility Administrator 40-Hour CE Package

California Care Facility Administrator 40-Hour CE Package with honest content status, California-specific scope, and server-controlled launch pricing.

$0 / Free

40 hours

View details

What the learning experience includes

The depth of a full training site, without the clutter.

California-specific roadmap

A plain-language path from education through exam readiness and renewal, separated by the stage of the license.

Detailed course outlines

Every course page exposes learning objectives, a section-level syllabus, sample material, assessment rules, and FAQs.

Practice and readiness checks

Quizzes support learning; server-graded finals, timers, retries, and recovery rules follow the applicable track configuration.

Progress that follows you

Resume reading and learning from the account portal, with state, deadlines, and completion evidence calculated by the server.

Honest status on every card

Drafting, training, application-pending, and approved states are never blended together or hidden behind a sales claim.

Completion evidence

Downloadable certificates, verification pages, and regulator instructions appear only in the form the course status permits.

Course-level detail

Open the syllabus before you join.

Continuing education

California Care Facility Administrator Continuing Education

Exam prep

California Care Facility Administrator Exam Preparation

Prelicensing

California Care Facility Administrator Initial Training

How 101PD works

Know the path before creating an account.

  1. 1

    Choose the stage

    Start with prelicensing, exam preparation, or continuing education.

  2. 2

    Inspect the course

    Read its syllabus, sample, status, hours, assessment format, and package relationships.

  3. 3

    Enroll or waitlist

    Published content opens the appropriate free path. Drafting content accepts a deduplicated availability request.

  4. 4

    Learn and document

    Resume from the portal, complete the configured assessments, and receive the permitted completion evidence.

Common questions

Before you choose a track

Why does every option show $0 / Free?

101PD is in its free launch period. Future prices are stored, but public payment links remain disabled until every approval and payment gate passes.

What does Available soon mean?

The public outline is ready, but the full learning content is still in production. Join that page's waitlist; enrollment cannot open until its content status is Published.

Are prelicensing, exam prep, and continuing education the same?

No. They serve different stages of a license. This page keeps them together for comparison while every card states its own purpose and credit status.

What do I receive after completion?

Training completions receive an honest training certificate. Regulator-credit certificates are issued only when the specific course and provider approval permit them.

What is the comparable market fee?

When a defensible public comparison exists, the product card names the provider, comparable offer, checked date, and source price. It is context only: the 101PD launch price remains $0 and a comparison never creates approval or enrollment rights.

Why is there no active Stripe checkout yet?

Payment links stay server-disabled while a course is drafting, while a regulated provider or course approval is pending, or while the required reporting and certificate workflow has not passed end-to-end verification.