Money
Licence cost calculator
Separates what the state requires from what a school charges. DRE fees increased on July 1, 2024, the first increase since 1997, and pre-increase figures are still republished widely enough that budgeting from them is a real risk.
Your figures
Each attempt is a further $100. The re-examination fee is the same as the original.
The three statutory courses from an approved provider. This is the figure that varies most between candidates.
Optional. Everything on this site is free, so this can legitimately be zero.
There are only five centres and no remote option, so for many candidates this includes a night's accommodation.
Total cost
$959
Of that, $499 is mandatory: $450 to DRE plus the $49 Live Scan fee. The rest is yours to shop around on.
Paid to the provider, not DRE. Nonrefundable always.
The two application routes cost exactly the same in DRE fees. They differ in sequence and in processing time, not in price, which is worth knowing because plenty of material implies one is cheaper.
Complete results, no email, no account. Every calculation here is backed by a tested fixture, so the figure you see is the figure the test asserts. How we verify
How this is calculated
Mandatory costs are the examination fee at $100 per attempt, the licence fee at $350, and Live Scan fingerprinting at $49. The combined RE 435 application totals $450 to DRE, which is the same $100 plus $350 the two-step route costs, just paid at once.
Live Scan is counted as mandatory even though it is paid to the provider rather than to DRE, because you cannot be licensed without it. It is nonrefundable under any circumstances, including if you never qualify or never sit.
All DRE fees are nonrefundable under Business and Professions Code section 10207. Budgeting for a second attempt is therefore a real decision rather than a pessimistic one, and the calculator lets you model it.