MEMBERSHIP AFFILIATION POLICIES
Affiliation Process
- Membership is only processed through the national TSA online affiliation system. Faxed or mailed affiliation forms will be returned with instructions to affiliate online.
- If a chapter that originally affiliated as a Red CAP adds more than ten members, it automatically becomes a White CAP once the additional fees are paid. Red CAP and White CAP may change to Blue CAP at any time during the year by paying the difference in fees. Blue CAP may add members at any time at no additional cost.
- A chapter that has paid White CAP fees in excess of the Blue CAP fee may change to Blue CAP status.
- Any chapter reporting national TSA membership that does not have a state TSA delegation is placed in the chapter-at-large category. All chapters in the chapter-at-large category have rights and privileges of any other national TSA chapter, with the exception of state delegation officer representation.
- Members of chapters in the chapter-at-large category are considered members in good standing when all applicable chapter and national TSA dues are paid in full.
- A school may affiliate more than one chapter, provided the chapters represent different levels, i.e., a middle school level chapter and a high school level chapter may physically exist at one school, but two middle school chapters or two high school chapters at one school are not permitted; separate membership affiliations must be submitted to the national TSA office; separate registrations for the National TSA Conference must be submitted to national TSA.
- Any chapter affiliation submitted to national TSA must be personally completed by the chapter advisor (or an appointed officer).
- Unpaid invoices must be paid in full to national TSA prior to any chapter member participating in a state or National TSA Conference
- An online school (a school without a "brick and mortar" building) may affiliate a TSA chapter with full membership privileges. An online school must choose among TSA’s three curriculum-integrated membership programs and pay the applicable affiliation dues. An online school which affiliates a Red, White or Blue CAP chapter is limited to having 1000 members. TSA members (of both “brick and mortar” and online schools) who want to compete in the annual national TSA conference must participate in-person as no virtual competitions are available.
Chapter Management
- Chapters must have student members to affiliate with TSA.
- Chapter membership type (Red CAP, White CAP or Blue CAP) must be the same at both the state and national levels.
- A student may belong to only one local chapter and to only one state TSA delegation.
- TSA membership must be affiliated through a local state-registered education district. "Home-schooled" students may only become members through an agreement with one affiliated chapter.
- Advisors of TSA chapters must be registered state-certified educators working in existing school facilities. It is recommended that a science, technology, engineering or mathematics teacher serve as a TSA chapter advisor. However, some other state-certified educator may be appointed by the school’s principal. The appointed advisor has the same rights and privileges of any advisor as long as he/she maintains the chapter in good standing.
- The chapter level (middle school or high school) is designated by the chapter advisor when affiliating each year.
- Two schools may not combine to form one chapter at the same level or different levels. Each school must have a separate affiliated chapter.
- A member may only belong to a TSA chapter where he or she attends school, unless they are home-schooled (per the policy in #4 above).
Membership Dues
- Membership is not processed until all dues (national and state) are paid in full. State dues received at the National TSA office will not be remitted until all dues are paid in full.
- All membership dues must be paid at the time of affiliation. Affiliations without dues will not be processed and neither the chapter nor its members will be in good standing until all dues are paid.
- TSA membership dues are non-refundable and non-transferable.
- TSA operates under a unified dues policy, whereby all members must affiliate and pay applicable dues at the local, state, and national level. Individual dues at all levels (high school and middle school) consist of local chapter dues (determined by the chapter), state dues (determined by the state delegation), and national dues (determined by TSA, Inc.).
- A written notification of transfer must be sent to the National TSA office if a student has paid individual membership dues and transfers to another chapter/school.
- Any advisor affiliated with a chapter must pay the annual advisor dues.
Chapter Affiliation Authorization – OPT IN or OPT OUT options
Annually in July, national TSA will send state advisors an electronic form for completion regarding state delegation verification, and chapter affiliation authorization options.
OPT IN – The state advisor will approve or deny any incoming new chapter requests – and has three business days to complete the process. If the state advisor chooses to deny a new chapter request, the state advisor will submit notification to national TSA via a form provided by national TSA stating the reason for the denial decision. When a request is sent to an OPT IN state advisor, the chapter advisor making the request will be informed that the request has been submitted and then notified by national TSA of the affiliation decision. If the state advisor does not complete the process within three business days of receipt of the request, national TSA will make the decision to approve or deny affiliation for the requesting chapter.
OPT OUT – The state advisor chooses to have national TSA process and approve chapter affiliation requests.
Once the OPT IN or OPT OUT selection has been made by the state advisor, the option cannot be changed until the next school year. A list of the OPT IN and OPT OUT state delegations can be found here. A chapter can see if their state has has chosen the OPT IN option, as it will be shown at the top of the first page of the registration process.