Answers, Support, and Resources for Everything BPA

Ask your advisor whether your school has an active [State] BPA chapter. If it does, they will add you to the chapter roster and collect your dues. If it does not, an advisor at your school can apply for a new chapter, and students without a chapter can join through the [State] virtual chapter instead.

Dues are set each year and cover both national and state membership. The national portion is fixed by Business Professionals of America and the state portion is set by [State] BPA, so the total differs slightly between divisions.

The membership year opens on 1 September. Regional competitions run in January, so chapters intending to compete regionally need to be affiliated well before the final membership deadline. Check Important Dates for this year’s cut-offs.

Apply through the national registration system at register.bpa.org using the New Chapter Request option. The application must be completed by an advisor at the school, with the support of campus administration.

Reactivating a lapsed chapter follows the same route. The state office can walk you through it and will send a chapter-start pack once the request is in.

The Workplace Skills Assessment Program offers more than 100 events across seven areas: Financial Services, Management and Entrepreneurship, Digital Technology, Arts, Entertainment and Design, Marketing and Sales, Healthcare and Human Services, and Career Ready Skills.

Events are grouped by division, so middle level, secondary and post-secondary members compete against their own peers.

Members compete first at their regional conference. Top finishers advance to the State Leadership Conference, and state qualifiers advance to the National Leadership Conference.

The number advancing from each round varies by event and by the number of entries, and is published with the event guidelines each year.

Most chapters attend the Fall Leadership Conference to start the year, a regional conference for first-round competition, and the State Leadership Conference in the spring. Members who qualify at state may go on to the National Leadership Conference.

Advisors register the chapter, not individual members. Registration opens through the state office and closes several weeks before each conference, and late entries are generally not accepted because competitive event scheduling is built from the entry list.

Housing for state and national conferences is booked separately, through the conference room block.

Scholarships are open to active [State] BPA members in good standing. Most are for graduating secondary members, and some are open to post-secondary members continuing in a business or information technology programme.

Each award lists its own criteria; read those before applying, and start early because a transcript and a recommendation both take time to obtain.

Torch Awards recognise members for activities across leadership, service, cooperation, knowledge, friendship, love, hope, faith and patriotism. Members record activities through the online system and a chapter reviewer or advisor approves them.

The levels build on each other, but you do not have to earn one before applying for the next, and points can carry forward within the limits published in the programme guidelines.

Use the password reset on the login screen first. Chapter registration and membership records live in the national system at register.bpa.org, so a password problem there is reset through that site rather than through [State] BPA.

If the reset does not reach you, contact the state office and we will confirm which email address is on the account.

Log in to the membership system, open the chapter roster and edit the member record directly. Corrections made before an invoice is submitted take effect immediately.

If the invoice has already been submitted, contact the state office; names can usually still be corrected, but there is a limited window.

Members are managed on the chapter roster in the national registration system. Additions are invoiced as you go.

Swaps on an already-submitted invoice are only possible for a short period after submission, so check the roster carefully before you submit it.