Your Association employs a full time education staff to serve your needs.  We have attempted to provide a full calendar of courses designed for all levels of instruction. 

Basic level courses are offered for those who have little or limited knowledge of the topic to be taught.  The Agents License School is a basic level course.

Intermediate level courses are for those who have some knowledge of the product but wish to expand their knowledge.  Examples include the CISR courses, & Specialty Seminars such as Errors and Omissions, and Answering Difficult Personal  Lines Questions.

Advanced level courses are for experienced insurance personnel who which to further an already high level of expertise.  Those considered advanced are the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) courses, Employee Leasing Exposures, and The Dirty Dozen. 

All AIIA classes are open to all participants except the Ruble Seminar which is for Society dues paying CIC designation holders only and the CISR Advanced Lecture Series which is open to CIC & CISR designation holders only.  CIC also requires that you have at least two years experience in the insurance business or be a licensed agent and present a photo ID for admission to any Society Program. Check your  brochures for additional information. 

APPROVED PROVIDER:
The Alabama Independent Insurance Agents Association is an Alabama Department of Insurance approved provider of continuing education courses for insurance agents as well as an approved provider of the mandatory 40 hour  pre-qualification course for agents who wish to obtain their property/casualty agent’s license and enter the insurance business.

REGISTRATION FORM AND ON-LINE REGISTRATION:
You may use the Course Registration Form shown in the education calendar to register for any course shown in the calendar or register at www.aiia.org on our secure internet site. The calendar registration  form should be copied to allow continued use by others in your office.  Please complete one form per registrant.  You may mail the form back to us with your registration fee or fax it to us with your credit card information to (205) 326-3086.  You may register for any course well in advance of the course date  and it is recommended that you  do so as space is usually limited.  We also encourage you to check the date our seminars will be coming to your area and make plans to attend at that time.  Continuing education requirements have made our courses more popular than ever and we are accepting registrations through 2000 for any course shown in our catalog.  Make your education requirement work for you.

CURRENT ALABAMA CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENT:
The current Alabama continuing education requirement must be met by your birth month each year.  It requires 12 hours of continuing education credit in approved courses for agents.  Agents holding both Property & Casualty and Life licenses need only complete 12 total hours of continuing education to satisfy their annual requirement.  Also courses may be taken in any field as long they are offered by an approved provider and have been filed with the Alabama Department of Insurance for approval.  All AIIA courses filed for continuing education are indicated in the calendar in the monthly course description sections. An exception to the 12 hour requirement is made for agents employed by other agents, who work only in the office, receive no commissions, and do not hold a non-resident license in any other state. If they meet  these requirements, only  6 hours of continuing education is required. 

An agent may carry up to 12 hours of continuing education credit over to the next year.  There are several other exemptions; those agents holding the CIC , CPCU, CLU, or ARM professional designation are exempted from the requirement. For a complete list of professional designation exemptions,  contact the insurance department or they can be found on the license renewal form.  Also those who have been licensed for 15 years in Alabama  and who have reached the age of 60 are exempted. You must satisfy both license time and age to be exempted. 

CONTINUING EDUCATION CERTIFICATES OF COMPLETION:
Continuing Education Certificates of Completion will be issued for all qualified courses taught 
by the association.  You may be asked to complete a request for the certificate during class or the certificates may be distributed to you after the class.  If you complete a request, a  certificate for association taught courses will be mailed to you within two days of the class completion.  CIC and CISR issue their own certificates within 30 days of the class date.  A “rush” charge may be paid for Society issued certificates. You must retain the certificates to make copies which must be attached to your license renewal as proof of compliance.  There is a $10.00 charge to issue a replacement certificate issued by AIIA for any course after the original certificate has been issued.

CANCELLATION FEES:
There is a cancellation fee for all classes.  Cancellations received within 10 days of the course date will receive a refund of 50% of the registration fee.  Cancellations the day of the program and no shows will not receive a refund or be allowed to transfer any of the registration fee.  You may transfer 75% of your registration fee to another class up to the day before the class is held.  Substitutions will be honored at any time without penalty.  Should a class be canceled by the association, a full refund or transfer of the registration fee will be made. The cancellation policy is to cover costs of printed materials, instructor expenses, and hotel space which must be guaranteed within 10 days of the meeting date.

COURSE CANCELLATION:
Because education is a major membership benefit, it is our policy to do everything within our power to hold all offered courses at the time and locations advertised.   It does however; become necessary from time to time to cancel a course due to low registration or other circumstances beyond our control.  If this is the case, a full refund of your tuition will be made or credited to a future course of your choice.

COURSE BROCHURES:
Courses are added during the year depending on the demand and availability.  We welcome your suggestions for education courses and many of the scheduled courses are contracted as a direct result of your requests.  Brochures are mailed to each member agency along with an education newsletter and other educational materials once each month.  Please review these as new course offerings are included in these mailings.  There is usually a high demand for added courses and if you do not review the information received, you may miss a desired course.  You may use the brochure or the universal registration form in this calendar to register.  Education mailings are sent to arrive around the first of each month. 

WAITING LISTS:
Courses do fill up with early registrants and we will utilize a waiting list for those wishing to attend in the event of a cancellation or no show.  First consideration will be given to those who have completed a registration form and paid the course fee. We will notify you in the event of a cancellation to allow you time to make attendance plans.  If we do not have a cancellation, we will make a full refund or credit your course fee to a future course of your choice.

HOTEL ROOM RESERVATIONS FOR CIC AND OTHER CLASSES:
Room reservations are the responsibility of the student.  Phone numbers for the hotels listed are shown in the course description section.  Room blocks are set up for CIC participants at favorable rates and are available up to 30 days prior to the event. For reservations , contact the hotels directly at the phone number shown. Please mention that you are an Alabama Independent Insurance Agent Association participant to receive the most favorable rate.

COURSE LOCATIONS:
All locations are listed in the catalog and will be held at the listed location unless you are notified otherwise.   Some hotels hold the dates but require that we book 30 days from the course date or  we are sometimes preempted by another meeting.  If this occurs, we will notify all registered participants as soon as we are aware of any change in location.

SELF-STUDY COURSES:
Your association also has a number of self-study correspondence courses and video courses which may be used for continuing education credit.  These are quality, national insurance education courses offered through Pictorial Products and your Association.  They  are filed and approved for use by the Alabama Department of Insurance.  Due to the high volume of these courses purchased by your association, these can be offered to you through the association at group rates.   The current requirement for self-study courses requires you to pass a monitored exam with a grade of 70% or better to receive  continuing education credit.  A listing of courses and an order form may be obtained by calling or faxing your request to the AIIA office.  Attendance in any AIIA course seminar qualifies you for the continuing education credit shown.  Examinations are given at the completion of the CISR courses and CIC courses but are not required to obtain the continuing education credit shown.