Nebraska Professional Engineer Renewal
Nebraska professional engineers complete 30 actual hours of qualifying engineering education during each biennial renewal period, including 1 hour directly related to professional-practice ethics.
Authority: Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects | Reviewed: August 3, 2026
Complete 30 engineering-related hours per biennium, including 1 ethics hour. Up to 15 hours may carry forward, and no more than 10 hours may be claimed in one calendar day. Nebraska restricts asynchronous web-based courses from providers outside its specifically listed provider categories to 7.5 hours per renewal period.
Core Requirement
| Requirement | Nebraska PE rule |
|---|---|
| Total education | 30 actual hours of qualifying engineering-related learning during each two-year renewal period. |
| Ethics | At least 1 hour must be directly related to ethical issues of professional practice. |
| Eligible subjects | All hours must be technical in nature or address a topic within the profession’s body of knowledge as developed by an applicable national engineering society. |
| Actual hour | At least 50 minutes spent in verifiable educational pursuit. One PDH or PDU equals one actual hour; one CEU equals 10 actual hours. |
| Carryover | Up to 15 excess hours may be carried only into the immediately following biennial period. |
| Daily limit | The Board will grant no more than 10 continuing-education hours during one calendar day. |
| Renewal groups | Licenses renew by December 31 on alternating biennia: surnames beginning A–K and L–Z renew in different years. |
| Course approval | The Board does not preapprove courses and retains final authority over the acceptability and credit value of every activity. |
Acceptable Activities
Qualifying education includes technical learning and subjects recognized within the engineering profession’s body of knowledge. Licensees must judge relevance carefully and preserve proof that the activity provided verifiable educational value.
Online and Self-Guided Education
Live online education is unrestricted when the instructor and attendees can give, receive, and discuss information in real time. The full 30-hour requirement may be completed through qualifying live interactive offerings.
Asynchronous web-based courses may constitute the entire requirement only when provided by an IACET-approved provider, an institution with an accredited engineering or architecture program, a professional engineering or architecture society, a nationally recognized technical society or association, a government agency, NCARB, NCEES, or an AIA-approved provider.
Web-based courses from other provider types may constitute no more than one-fourth of the PE requirement—7.5 hours per biennium. Separately, learning planned and performed under the licensee’s own direction without a sponsor or certificate is self-guided and also limited to 7.5 hours, with the Board’s reporting form required.
Exemptions and Special Situations
A newly licensed engineer is exempt from the continuing-education requirement for the initial renewal period.
An exempt new licensee may carry hours into the next period only after earning more than the full 30-hour requirement during the initial period. Carryover remains limited to 15 hours.
Nebraska’s Chapter 9 rules contain exemption and waiver provisions. A licensee affected by military service, disability, illness, or another circumstance should obtain the Board’s determination and preserve supporting documentation rather than assuming an exemption.
An applicant for reinstatement must document compliance with the full biennial continuing-education requirement during the two years before applying.
Documentation and Audit
The Board recommends retaining continuing-education records for four years. Randomly selected licensees must provide either qualifying registry records or a completed Nebraska CE Log together with attendance and completion documentation.
Audit records must be arranged by completion date and combined into one document, such as a PDF. A licensee using carryover must also submit the entire prior-period log and supporting documentation from which the carried hours arose.
Official Sources