Membership Plans

AOA and NOA Membership Levels

Any member of an affiliated association of AOA on or after June 25, 2005, must also become a member of AOA as specified in Article 1—section 1. of the AOA Bylaws.

A person must affiliate through the appropriate association specified by the AOA Bylaws about the membership classification for which the member is eligible.

AOA Member Qualifications

Be an "optometrist." For AOA membership purposes, the AOA Bylaws defines an optometrist as an individual who has earned a Doctor of Optometry degree from a school or college that has been accredited or pre-accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) or by an accrediting body that the Board of Trustees, in its sole discretion, determines to be equivalent. Student and honorary members are not required to be "optometrists" for membership purposes.
Be a member in good standing of one of the following:
- The affiliated association where the member resides.
- The affiliated association is where the member's principal place of optometric-related employment is located.
- The affiliated association is the member's central place of optometric-related employment.
- The Armed Forces Optometric Society (AFOS), provided that the affiliate member is on active duty or retired from service in the armed services of the United States, the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, or is a full-time, part-time, or retired employee of the Veterans' Administration or other federal governmental entity.
- The American Optometric Student Association provided that the affiliate member qualifies as a student member.
- The American Optometric Student Association or any affiliated association provided that the affiliate member qualifies as a postgraduate member.
Pay all required dues timely.

Active Member (Full-Time Practitioner)

Full-Time Practitioner is defined as working 25+ hours/week.
Annual active member dues are $1850 for 2023 (this includes AOA, NOA, Society, & any special assessments).
The ascending dues schedule is a five-year graduated percentage of full dues. The applicable rate of dues is determined by the year of graduation. A member can initiate membership and qualify for the ascending dues schedule at any time during the immediate five years beginning with the graduation year. If a member joins while eligible for the ascending dues schedule, the member is assessed dues using the appropriate percentage as determined by the year of graduation.
Student members automatically become active ascend0 members in July of the year they graduate and earn the Doctor of Optometry degree.
AOA & NOA dues are prorated; Society dues are not.
All dues can be paid either monthly, quarterly, or annually.
Counts as one member for credentialing purposes for the House of Delegates at the annual AOA Congress if the dues requirement is met.

Rate Code	Description	Percentage of Annual Dues	Full Year
Ascending 0 -	Graduation year (through December 31)	0%	$0
Ascending 1 -	1st full year following graduation/residency	10%	$230
Ascending 2 -	2nd full year following graduation/residency	20%	$410
Ascending 3 -	3rd full year following graduation/residency	50%	$950
Ascending 4 -	4th full year following graduation/residency	75%	$1400
Active -	5th full year following graduation/residency and after that	100%	$1850

Partial Practice Member (Part-Time Practitioner)

Part-Time Practitioner is defined as working 24 hours or less per week in compensated, optometrically related activities.
The NOA offers three levels of Partial Practice Membership.
- Partial Practice 1-8 - work 8 hours or less a week
  - Annual dues are sixty (60%) percent of AOA full dues, twenty (20%) of NOA full dues, and one hundred (100%) percent of Society full dues
- Partial Practice 9-16 - work 9-16 hours a week
  - Annual dues are sixty (60%) percent of AOA full dues, forty (40%) of NOA full dues, and one hundred (100%) percent of Society full dues.
- Partial Practice 17-24 - work 17-24 hours a week
  - Annual dues are one hundred (100%) percent of AOA full dues, sixty (60%) of NOA full dues, and one hundred (100%) percent of Society full dues.
This classification is not eligible for the ascending dues schedule
Counts as 1/2 member for credentialing purposes for the House of Delegates at the annual AOA Congress if dues requirement is met.

Rate Code	Description	Percentage of Annual Dues	Full Year
Partial Practice 1-8 -	Part-Time Practioner 8 hrs or less/wk	60% AOA, 20% NOA & 100% Society	$798.80
Partial Practice 9-16 -	Part-Time Practioner 9-16 Hrs /wk	60% AOA, 40% NOA & 100% Society	$964.40
Partial Practice 17-24 -	Part-Time Practioner 17-24 Hrs /wk	100% AOA, 60% NOA & 100% Society	$1,518.80

New Graduate Member

Following graduation, the new graduate members are automatically transitioned from student to active ascend0 with the affiliate designated by the student before graduation. The following timeline explains the automatic transition process:

Spring (before graduation):
- Graduating students update MyAOA with the name of the state/OSDC/AFOS where they intend to practice after graduation.
July (following graduation):
- AOA automatically transitions new graduates from student members to active ascend0 with the affiliate designated by the student in MyAOA earlier that spring.
Summer/Fall (after graduation):
- While in ascend0, the member can initiate a change in affiliation directly by requesting a transfer in association on MyAOA.
- The NOA may also initiate the transfer on behalf of the student. The member will remain in ascend0 through the end of the year.
- New graduate members not eligible for membership through the NOA for reasons such as licensure may be dropped by the NOA.
- When dropped by the NOA, new graduate members will be placed in pending status until the end of the year or until the member requests a new affiliation. If no transfer is requested by December 31, the member will no longer be considered pending, and membership will be terminated.
Renewals for the new year:
- Members in ascend0 will automatically renew to ascend1 (10% of full dues) for the new membership year.

New Graduates Doing a Residency

AOA works directly with ASCO to obtain a list of the members completing a residency program. Although these graduates are completing a residency, for the year of graduation only, they are renewed as ascend0, so they do not incur any dues obligation for the remainder of the year. Because they are doing a residency, the classification will appear as PGfirst. The residency information is noted on the member's record, and the member will automatically renew to the postgraduate classification when the following year's renewal is processed.

The same rules and timeline for transferring affiliation as outlined above also apply to the new graduates completing a residency.

Post-Graduate Member

Must be a resident or intern in a program accredited or pre-accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) or by an accrediting body that the Board of Trustees, in its sole discretion, determines to be equivalent.
- ACOE website: http://www.aoa.org/optometrists/foreducators/accreditation council on optometric education/accredited programs
And/or a full-time enrollee in a graduate program.
Annual dues are $120. Members who begin their residency in the year of graduation will be considered ascend0 and will incur no dues obligation. These members are listed as PGfirst on all dues-related reports.
The annual dues of $120 will be assessed for the following year in which the member completes the residency.
The year in which the member completes the residency becomes the graduation year for purposes of using the ascending dues schedule following completion of the residency.
This graduation year rule applies only to students entering a residency program immediately following graduation. A member who practices for several years and then joins a residency years later will have a $120 dues obligation for each year in which the member participates in the residency program; however, the graduation year will not be changed to reflect the residency. The member will return to full dues following the completion of the residency.
Counts as 1/2 member for credentialing purposes for the House of Delegates at the annual AOA Congress if dues requirement is met.

Retired With Benefits Member

Pays a REDUCED Annual Rate and is eligible to receive both AOA and NOA benefits and member discounts.

Must be 55 or older as of January 1 of the current membership year.
Must no longer receive compensation for optometrically related activities.
Must be a current member in good standing for at least one year before the transition into retired with benefits membership.
Annual dues are $200.
Counts toward cumulative years of membership to transition to Life Member.
Counts as 1/2 member for credentialing purposes for the House of Delegates at the annual AOA Congress if dues requirement is met.

Retired Without Benefits Member

Membership is in name only, and the member is not eligible for any AOA and NOA benefits or member discounts.

Must be 55 or older as of January 1 of the current membership year.
Must no longer receive compensation for optometrically related activities.
Must be a current member in good standing for at least one year before transitioning into retired membership.
There are no annual dues for this classification.
It does not count towards cumulative years of membership to transition to Life Member.
Does not count for credentialing purposes.

Life Member

Must have 45 years of cumulative AOA membership.
Student membership is included in the cumulative years count.
Retired Without Benefits years of membership are not included in the cumulative years count.
Must be a current member in good standing for at least one year before the transition into Life membership unless the 45 years requirement was met before reinstatement.
Member cannot transfer from retired without benefits to Life membership unless the 45 years requirement was met before becoming retired without benefits.
If the member does not meet the membership requirements as stated above but has been named a life member of the affiliated association, a written explanation is required from the affiliate as to the rationale or circumstance for wanting the member to become an AOA life member. The final decision on whether the member may become a life member of the AOA is subject to approval by the AOA Secretary-Treasurer.
Members who provide medical certification of terminal or other debilitative severe illness may have the years of membership requirement waived, subject to the approval of the AOA secretary-treasurer
There are no annual dues for this classification.
Counts as 1/2 member for credentialing purposes for the House of Delegates at the annual AOA Congress.

Associate Member

Must be a member in good standing of an AOA state affiliate or AFOS and claim that affiliate as primary affiliate membership with the AOA.
Annual dues are $150.
Eligible for NOA member benefits.
Does not count for credentialing purposes for the House of Delegates at the annual AOA Congress.

Friend of the NOA

Individuals, businesses, vendors, and allied healthcare professionals who have a substantial interest in the profession of optometry and contribute to the advancement of the interests of this Association - as determined in the sole judgment of the President and Secretary-Treasurer - are eligible for membership as a Friend of the Nevada Optometric Association.

Student Member

There are no annual dues for this classification.
It does not count for credentialing purposes (as affiliated through a state/OSDC/AFOS).
Undergraduate students must sign up directly with the NOA.
Optometry Students who have chosen another affiliate as their primary affiliate/association may sign up to be on the NOA student membership list but must do so directly through the NOA.

Dual Student Membership (Optometry School Students)

Must be an optometry student in a program at a school or college accredited or pre-accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education.
Must be a member in good standing of the American Optometric Student Association (AOSA) and of the affiliate of the state/OSDC/AFOS where the member intends to practice after graduation (Article 1, Section 1, Paragraph C.6.), providing the student attends a program within the United States.
Students attending a program outside of the United States and the District of Columbia are not required to be a member of an affiliated association other than AOSA.

The dual membership process is completed in the fall by AOA. It requires each new, incoming student to provide AOA with the affiliate's name where the student intends to practice after graduation. AOA then uses this information to process the student membership on behalf of the affiliate.

Student members can request a change in affiliation through MyAOA on the AOA website. The Affiliate Relations & Membership Group (ARMG) will process the request, and the new affiliate will receive notification of the transfer. The affiliate from where the student transferred will receive notification via the monthly transfer report. Only the student can request a change in affiliation; changes submitted directly by the affiliate for student members will not be processed.

AOA is aware that students often affiliate through more than one association; however, AOA will maintain only the primary affiliation. Therefore, to ensure that the correct primary affiliate is used, the student must request the transfer in affiliation using MyAOA as described above.

Paraoptometric Member/Optometric Staff Member

All paraoptometrics/optometric staff of American Optometric (AOA)/Nevada Optometric Association (NOA) member doctors may become AOA/NOA associate members and have access to all current paraoptometric member benefits and services at no charge to the staff member or the AOA/NOA member doctor.