Virginia Real Estate License Course (2026): Every Approved Option, Priced

Virginia requires 60 class hours from a Real Estate Board approved provider before you can sit the salesperson exam. DPOR's current approved list carries 41 providers cleared to teach that 60 hour course, and their published prices run from about $99 to $764. On top of whatever you pay a school, the state takes $356.50: a $60 exam fee, $52 for fingerprints, and a $244.50 application fee. Below is every option I could price, exactly as each school advertises it, plus the ones that publish nothing at all.

This is the money article, not the process article. The order of operations, the exam, the sponsoring broker and the paperwork are in how to become a real estate agent in Virginia. That one is the step by step process. This one is only about which course to buy and what it costs. I am a Virginia agent writing about Virginia, which matters here. I also run real estate coaching for new Virginia agents, a different product from a pre-license course and not what you are buying today.

Two disclosures, both plain. I am Saad Jamil, licensed at Samson Properties in Chantilly, Virginia since 2007, with more than $500M and over 800 homes closed. I still list and sell, and I run a coaching program that competes with the career training some of these schools bundle into upper tiers. Second, and more relevant here: Jamil Academy carries a continuing education affiliate link to The CE Shop, so I have a financial relationship with one company on the list below. That is why I do not rank these schools, do not name a winner, and do not use the word that usually fills that slot. Prices are as published.

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What Virginia actually requires

The requirement is short and it does not bend. Before you sit the Virginia salesperson exam you must complete 60 class hours of pre-license education with a Real Estate Board approved provider. The course has the same name at every school: Principles and Practices of Real Estate.

The 60 hour figure sits in 18VAC135-20-400, which states the course must be at least 60 class hours and enumerates 25 required subject areas. That is why every approved course covers the same ground. The school picks the delivery, the videos and the practice questions, not the syllabus. The separate qualification in 18VAC135-20-30 is a high school diploma or equivalent.

Carry one number into every comparison below. The list retrieved on 17 August 2026 held 47 providers, but only 41 are approved for the salesperson course. The other six are broker course providers, so a name on a DPOR document is not proof the school can sell you what you need. Blue Ridge, Tidewater Real Estate Education School, Henderson Professional Development Seminars, Piedmont School of Real Estate and the Richmond Association of Realtors school are all in that group.

The approved list is a 63 page PDF

Almost nobody writing about this says it: there is no searchable database of approved Virginia courses. The authoritative source is a PDF called Approved Real Estate Pre-License Courses, generated on request, 63 pages long, carrying the timestamp Jun 15, 2026 00:26 on the copy pulled 17 August 2026. The address is https://www.dpor.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/boards/Real_Estate/reb_pre-licensing_courses.pdf and it is worth downloading first.

Its column headings read Course # Name Expiration Date Hour(s), and a FORMAT field carries one of three values: ONLINE, CLASSROOM or CORRESPONDENCE. It tells you who is approved and how.

Three traps sit inside it. The first is naming. DPOR lists legal entities, not brands, so a search for Kaplan finds nothing until you realise the row reads DF INSTITUTE LLC / KAPLAN REAL ESTATE EDUCATION, course 0214029354. Colibri appears as COLIBRI REAL ESTATE, LLC / REAL ESTATE EXPRESS.COM. And Moseley Flint Schools of Real Estate Inc and Moseley Real Estate Schools, Inc. are two separate approved entities.

The second trap is expiry. Every row carries its own expiration date, running from 12-31-2026 to 12-31-2029 on the six providers I checked, so an approval can lapse mid year while a school's marketing page still says approved. Check the date against the specific course number, not the school name.

The third is that DPOR publishes a second PDF called Approved Real Estate Schools, timestamped Aug 10, 2026 00:26, running 51 pages with more than 270 entries including many out of state schools. It is easy to grab by mistake, carries no format column, and does not say which courses a school may teach. A school can sit on it without holding an approved 60 hour salesperson course.

One caveat. Both PDFs regenerate with a fresh timestamp on every request, so totals drift, and the 47 and 41 figures describe the Jun 15, 2026 generation only. For certainty about a school, the Board takes calls on (804) 367-8526. The DPOR Education Providers page carries application forms only and links no course list.

Prices, provider by provider

Everything below is that school's own advertised price, read off its own page on 17 August 2026 and not verified at checkout. Where a provider publishes no price, the table says so rather than guessing, because a missing price is a finding about that school.

The list is alphabetical, deliberately not ordered by price or value, for the reason in the disclosure above. Read the format column carefully: it decides whether you study at midnight in your kitchen or sit in a classroom at nine in the morning.

Six providers publish no price you can read before contacting them: Advanced School of Real Estate, Fortune Academy, Long & Foster Institute, Moseley Flint, Weichert, and The CE Shop for the different reason explained next.

Why The CE Shop prices are missing

This belongs in the body rather than a footnote, because it is the one place my interests and the research collide. The CE Shop's Virginia course prices could not be retrieved. Five distinct URLs across three hosts each returned HTTP 405: the main pre-licensing page, the cost page, two path variants, and two partner subdomains. That is a domain level block on automated fetching, not a broken link. No workaround was attempted, because quoting a price scraped around a block is worse than quoting none.

What can be confirmed is the approval. THE CE SHOP LLC appears on the DPOR approved pre-license course list with course number 0214028958, format Online, 60 hours, expiring 12-31-2027. The school is approved. The gap is purely a price gap.

Three other providers were unreachable for reasons unrelated to me. Advanced School of Real Estate and Moseley Flint blocked automated retrieval, and Long & Foster publishes no price. In every case the fix is the same: a human with a browser.

Cheapest and dearest, one school

This kills the question most people are asking. The cheapest Virginia course found was $99, the most expensive $764, and both belong to RealEstateU.

The entry tier is the 60 hour course alone. The top tier is that same course plus a study guide, an e-textbook and agent success training. That is a $665 spread inside one school, wider than the gap between most schools' entry tiers. The pattern repeats: Kaplan $210 to $599, MLS Campus $115.00 to $300.00, Colibri $143.40 to $311.40 with its code, AceableAgent $149 to $279. Only VanEd stays tight, $149.00 to $209.00.

So asking which Virginia school is cheapest gets an answer that does not help. The tier moves the price far more than the logo does. And by regulation the 60 hours are the same everywhere, covering the same 25 prescribed subject areas. The tier premium never buys more required education. It buys exam prep, a printed book, longer access, or career content.

That turns the decision into something you can answer about yourself. Do you test well from reading, or do you need thousands of practice questions? Do you want a physical textbook, or will a PDF do? Do you want a human to talk to at hour forty? Answer those three, then buy the cheapest tier at any approved school that covers them.

Filter by budget and format

Since tier choice drives the price, the useful tool is a filter, not a total cost estimator. Enter what you will spend on the course, pick the delivery you want, and see which providers publish a tier that fits. It ranks nothing. It reports what is published.

One deliberate feature: whatever budget you type, the tool adds the same $356.50 on top. The state does not care which school you chose.

Run it at a few numbers and the shape of the market appears. Under $200 you are in self paced online only. Classroom starts at $275, the only other priced classroom option is over $400 all in, and the livestream category has one published price here.

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The $356.50 the state charges on top

None of the course prices above include a state fee, and two of the three go to organisations other than the school.

That $356.50 is a straight sum of three sourced figures, not an estimate, and it is a floor. Fail either portion of the exam and you pay $60.00 again, because there is no reduced re-examination fee.

One more charge hides inside the course. Weichert Real Estate School bills the required proctored final separately at $25 per exam attempt on top of tuition. If one school includes proctoring and another does not, that is a real difference.

At the low end, roughly $99 for the course and $356.50 to the state. At the classroom end, about $435 plus tax and the same $356.50. That is the entry cost of the profession, so read about whether real estate is a good career with clear eyes before you spend it, because the course fee is the smallest cheque you will write in year one.

The application fee is $244.50

You will see a much lower application fee quoted all over the internet. Here is where it comes from.

The Real Estate Board regulations PDF, marked last updated 1 October 2022, still lists a salesperson by education and examination fee of $150.00, effective 1 November 2015. The code section behind it, 18VAC135-20-80, was repealed effective 1 April 2026 under Virginia Register Volume 42, Issue 14, and companion section 18VAC135-20-60 went the same day. So the $150.00 figure is obsolete.

The current number sits on the form you will file. DPOR form A490-0225SLIC, the Real Estate Salesperson License Application, revision date 07/01/2026, carries a fee box reading $244.50 and states in capitals that application fees are not refundable.

Two cross checks confirm it is salesperson specific. The Universal License Recognition application for salespeople carries the identical $244.50. The broker application carries $299.50 by examination, $299.50 by reciprocity, and $134.50 for a Virginia salesperson upgrading to broker.

A note on where certainty runs out. No consolidated replacement fee regulation could be located after the April 2026 repeals. That is why the application form is the source here rather than a code citation, and its 07/01/2026 revision date is the most recent evidence available.

The fingerprint window, two numbers

Getting this wrong costs you the fingerprint fee twice, and DPOR publishes two different answers. Here are both.

The current salesperson application form, revision 07/01/2026, states at question 17 that once the results of the fingerprints are received by the Board, a completed license application must be received within 90 calendar days, and that an applicant who misses that window must resubmit fingerprints. The Universal License Recognition and broker applications carry the same sentence. Three current, dated forms.

Against that sits a DPOR process sheet titled How to Apply for a Real Estate License, which says a complete application must be on file within 45 days or you will be fingerprinted again for an additional fee, and that the background check must not be older than 45 days. That document carries no revision date, no rev code and no form number anywhere in it. It appears stale, but DPOR still publishes it.

The two also measure from different starting points, which is what trips people up. The process sheet counts from when your prints are taken. The application form counts from when the Board receives the results. Those are not the same day, and the gap is outside your control. DPOR's fingerprinting vendor page states no validity period at all.

The instruction is simple. Treat this as urgent, file as soon as you have passed the exam and secured a sponsoring broker, and if anything delays you call the Board on (804) 367-8526. Do not plan around 45 days as settled fact, and do not assume a comfortable 90 either. A separate clause requires new prints within 21 days if the Virginia Central Criminal Records Exchange cannot process the originals.

All 60 hours online, timer and proctor

Yes, Virginia lets you complete all 60 hours online. The approved list carries FORMAT = ONLINE for a large majority of the 41 salesperson approved providers, including Aceable, Colibri, Kaplan, The CE Shop, MLS Campus and 360training.

DPOR recognises three delivery categories and defines them on its course approval form, revision 04/01/2026. Correspondence is self directed, student paced coursework without instruction. Online is self directed, student paced web based coursework without real time instructor led training. In person or virtual classroom is student and instructor real time interaction, in person, through video conferences, internet or other multimedia courseware.

Read that second definition again, because it has a consequence schools do not spell out. An online course is by definition one without real time instruction. A livestream where an instructor teaches you live is a virtual classroom, a different category. So a school marketing live online is selling category three, not two.

Seat time is enforced by software. The approval form requires evidence of a course timer, and says that requirement applies only to online or other distance learning courses. The mechanism holding you to 60 hours is a timer, not a calendar rule.

There is no minimum number of days. The form sets no minimum or maximum duration, only 60 hours for salesperson and 45 for broker courses, and no statutory waiting period. For realistic timelines, see how long real estate school actually takes.

Last piece, and the one that surprises people. Every approved course must include a written, monitored final exam, described in the provider's approval application and backed by a notarised affidavit. In the market: Colibri flags that its final requires a proctor, Weichert charges $25 per attempt, and Alpha College schedules standalone proctored sittings. That is a school exam. It is not the PSI state exam, and passing it does not license you.

Virginia publishes exam pass rates

Most states do not publish this. Virginia does, in a DPOR document that breaks pass rates out school by school. It is the closest thing to an outcome measure a prospective student has. These are the salesperson totals.

Sit with those rows. On the state portion, 9,347 candidates tested and 4,020 passed. On the national portion, 7,178 tested and 2,617 passed. Fewer than half get through either section on the reported attempt, so plan for a resit and the $60.00 that goes with it.

I am deliberately not printing the school by school numbers, and the reason is arithmetic rather than diplomacy. The same document shows one provider's campuses ranging from 0.0% to 100.0%, the signature of tiny denominators rather than teaching quality. A percentage without a denominator is not information. If you want those figures, download the document, find your school's row, and read the tested column first.

No community college is approved

The community college route feels like the sensible cheap option, and it is not an option at all.

Searching the approved pre-license course list for COMMUNITY COLLEGE returns nothing. So does UNIVERSITY. COLLEGE returns a single hit, and it is out of state. The only Virginia public institution on the list turns up under TECHNICAL: Richmond Technical Center, a career and technical centre run by Richmond public schools. That is a school district programme, not a community college.

The confusion is understandable, because Virginia's community colleges do teach a real estate course. REA 100 Principles of Real Estate is a four credit class with four lecture hours a week, at Northern Virginia, Piedmont Virginia and Central Virginia Community Colleges. The name is almost identical, which is why people assume it counts.

It does not, on the evidence available. Neither the NOVA nor the PVCC catalogue entry states that REA 100 satisfies Virginia pre-license education, and no VCCS institution is on the approved course list. Take REA 100 for college credit. Do not take it expecting to walk into a PSI test centre.

Nor is there a reliable price to compare. PVCC published an in state rate of $169.05 per credit hour but labelled it Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, and VCCS has announced an increase of $6.70 per credit hour from Fall 2026. Multiplying a stale rate by four credits would be inventing a number for a route that leads nowhere.

Struck through prices

Every discount found was a standing promotional posture, not a dated sale.

None of Colibri, AceableAgent, MLS Campus, VanEd, RealEstateU, 360training or Blue Sky displayed an expiry date next to a struck through figure. Colibri's lower prices require promo code CAREER40 for 40% off, again with no expiry. The struck through number is a reference anchor, not a price anyone is asked to pay.

Treat the discounted figure as the real price and the higher one as marketing. If one school appears to be 50% off, you are comparing two current prices decorated differently, not a sale to a full price.

Two cautions. Blue Sky's $229 figure appears only in financing example text and is not a course price. Alpha College's $350 registration plus $85 textbook come from a session dated June to July 2024, while its 2026 prices sit behind a member portal. Every price here was read on 17 August 2026 and can move. Verify at checkout, not in a blog post, including this one.

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The 30 hour course nobody budgets for

This is the cost that catches new Virginia agents, because it arrives while you are still looking for a first client.

Virginia salespeople have a 30 hour post-license education requirement. It is due within one year of the last day of the month in which your license was issued, and missing it puts your license into inactive status automatically. Inactive means you cannot practise until it is cleared, and it happens without anyone calling you.

Budget for it the same week you budget for the pre-license course, because year one brings the least income and the most expenses. Board dues, MLS fees, lockbox access, signs, and then a 30 hour requirement on a date most people cannot recite. Put the deadline in your calendar the day your license number appears.

The pre-license course is the start of the spending, not the end. What the first year feels like, and where new agents quietly lose money, is in how to succeed as a new real estate agent. And if you want structured help rather than another course, that is what real estate coaching once your license arrives is for. Different product, different problem.

How to choose without a ranking

I will not tell you which school to buy, for the reason at the top of this page. Here is the checklist I would use, in order.

Confirm the school on the PDF, by its legal name. Not its marketing page, not a review site. Find the row, check the course is the 60 hour salesperson course and not a broker course, then check the expiration date.

Decide the format before the price. Self paced online is cheapest and demands the most self discipline, because nobody notices when you stop. Classroom starts at $275, but a fixed schedule finishes the course for people who would otherwise stall at hour twenty. Livestream sits between them.

Ask what the top tier adds. Usually exam prep, a printed textbook, longer access, or career content. Only one affects whether you pass. If you test well, the entry tier plus a separate exam prep product is often cheaper for the same outcome.

Ask two questions before you pay. Is the proctored final included or billed per attempt, and what does an extension cost if you do not finish inside the access window? Both are frequently absent from pricing pages.

Do not let the course decide your career. The school teaches you the law and gets you through a test. You learn the job at your first brokerage, a far more consequential choice than a hundred dollar difference in tuition, covered in how to choose the right brokerage as a new agent. Pick the cheapest approved course that matches how you learn, then spend your energy on the brokerage decision.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours is the Virginia real estate license course?

Virginia requires 60 class hours of pre-license education from a Real Estate Board approved provider before you can sit the salesperson exam. The course is called Principles and Practices of Real Estate, and its content is prescribed by regulation across 25 required subject areas. The same 60 hour figure appears on the DPOR pre-license page and in the Board's course approval form.

How much does a Virginia real estate license course cost?

Published prices for the 60 hour salesperson course ran from about $99 to $764 when provider pages were read on 17 August 2026. RealEstateU published both figures, $99 for its course only tier and $764 for its top tier. Classroom sat higher, with NVAR Realtor School at $275 and Alpha College of Real Estate at $350 plus an $85 textbook. Six approved providers publish no price.

Can I take the Virginia 60 hour real estate course entirely online?

Yes. DPOR approves online delivery for the 60 hour salesperson course and a large majority of approved providers are listed with an Online format. Seat time is enforced by a software course timer rather than a calendar rule, so there is no minimum number of days. Every approved course must also include a written monitored final exam, which is separate from the PSI state exam.

What does Virginia charge on top of the course price?

Three state side charges apply and none are included in any course price. The PSI examination fee is $60.00, fingerprinting is $52.00, made up of a $27.00 state processing fee and a $25.00 PSI processing fee, and the salesperson license application fee is $244.50. Those three add up to $356.50 on a first attempt. A technology fee of $7.25 per year also applies.

How much is the Virginia salesperson license application fee?

The fee box on the current DPOR salesperson application form, revision date 07/01/2026, reads $244.50, and application fees are not refundable. Older sources still show a $150.00 salesperson fee from a regulations PDF last updated in October 2022. The code section behind that figure, 18VAC135-20-80, was repealed effective 1 April 2026, so the $150.00 number is obsolete and should not be budgeted.

How do I find the DPOR approved course list?

DPOR publishes it as a downloadable PDF titled Approved Real Estate Pre-License Courses, generated on request rather than served as a searchable database. The copy retrieved on 17 August 2026 carried a document timestamp of Jun 15, 2026 and ran 63 pages, listing 47 providers of which 41 hold approval for the salesperson course. A second PDF titled Approved Real Estate Schools is easy to confuse with it.

Do Virginia community colleges offer an approved pre-license course?

No community college appears on the DPOR approved pre-license course list. Searching that list for COMMUNITY COLLEGE and for UNIVERSITY returns no hits at all. Several VCCS colleges teach REA 100 Principles of Real Estate as a four credit class, but neither the NOVA nor the PVCC catalogue entry claims it satisfies Virginia licensing education. The only approved public institution is Richmond Technical Center.

What is the Virginia real estate exam pass rate?

DPOR publishes a pass rate document broken out by school. Its statewide salesperson totals show 9,347 tested on the state portion with 4,020 passing, a 43.1 percent pass rate, and 7,178 tested on the national portion with 2,617 passing, a 36.5 percent pass rate. Treat the period as unconfirmed: the filename says 2024 but the document contains a section headed PRE 10/01/2025 and no period statement.

Do I need more classes after I get my Virginia license?

Yes. Virginia salespeople have a 30 hour post-license education requirement, due within one year of the last day of the month in which the license was issued. Missing the deadline puts the license into inactive status automatically, so you cannot practise until it is cleared. Budget for it when you budget for the pre-license course.

All course prices here are the provider's own advertised prices as read on 17 August 2026 and are subject to change without notice. Providers that publish no price are marked as such rather than estimated. State fees are taken from current DPOR and PSI documents and identified by source in the text. The DPOR approved provider list regenerates on each request, so counts are a point in time snapshot. Educational content only, not legal or financial advice. Confirm all fees, deadlines and approvals directly with the Virginia Real Estate Board before you enrol or apply.