Regarding keeping you HT certification and the grandfather clause:

Yes, if you are already certified, you keep your ASCP certification,
even if the application criteria changes. So if you are HT(ASCP)
certified now (or any time before 2005), you will still be HT(ASCP)
certified on Jan. 1, 2005. Once your are ASCP certified, you
are always ASCP certified. (There are a few exceptions, such as if
you were found cheating on another ASCP certification or qualification
exam, then they could "strip" you of all your ASCP certifications.)

According to Sumiko Sumida's column in the Winter 1998 "NSH in Action",
if you take the HT exam before 2005, but don't pass BOTH the written
and practical portions before 2005, you can still take the HT exam
under the old criteria, for a limited time. When you apply, that 
application is good for 5 years. So if you apply and take the HT exam 
for the first time in, say, 2002, you have until 2007 to pass both 
parts. However, if you don't pass it by 2007, then you are applying 
for another 5 year cycle, and are applying under the new criteria 
(associate degree). Or, if you put off applying entirely until 2005 or 
after, then you still have to meet the new criteria (associate degree), 
no matter how many years of experience you have. So there is no
"grandfather"
clause as in you will be HT(ASCP) just by merit of your years of
experience.

How the HTL "grandfather clause" worked in 1980 was - if you were
HT(ASCP) AND had 8 years of experience prior to August 1980, then
you could sit and take the HTL exam. If you passed the HTL exam,
then you could sign your name with HT(ASCP)HTL after it, WITHOUT
have a baccalaureate degree. But you still had to take the HTL 
exam, pass it, and you had to take it during a 3 year time span. 
So the "grandfather clause" was not - you are automatically an HTL 
if you have X number of years of experience. It was - you are allowed
to take the exam during a limited number of years, and if you
pass during that time, you were an HTL. If you didn't pass it
during that time frame, then you could only take the exam when
you earned your baccalaureate degree.

I hope this clears up a few things.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073

gossg@po.lab.ccf.org wrote:
> 
> Did she specify if there would be a grandfather for HT, ASCP's that did not have
> an associate degree prior to 2005 or would all HT's to keep their ASCP
> certification have to obtain an associate degree?