As the Director of Clinical Training for a university that provides training for both residential and online MFT students, I strongly support this proposal.  Our office receives regular feedback from students preparing for VA licensure that they have significant difficultly in gaining the required direct couple/family hours at their site/s. Furthermore, our office does not receive similar concerns from other students across the country, which leads me to believe that this heavy educational requirement may not exist in other states.  While I am unaware of the initial rationale for the current requirement (200/240), it certainly is not commensurate with the COAMFTE ratio for training programs nor with the VA residency requirements. It would seem much more consistent to require similar couples/family hours between the educational and residency components rather than placing this undue stress on students during their educational experience.  As stated in the proposal, I support the recommended 50% (120/240) requirement of seeing couple/families.