Certified Nursing Assistant Pathway

CNAs provide basic care and help patients with activities of daily living. They work as part of a healthcare team under the supervision of licensed practical or licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses. CNAs are often the principal caregivers in nursing and residential care facilities.

Considering a career as a Certified Nursing Assistant?

  • CNA jobs are projected to grow 8 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations.
  • The median annual wage for a CNA was $29,660 in May 2019. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $21,960, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $40,620.
  • CNAs workers work in a variety of healthcare settings such as hospitals, nursing care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare services, assisted living facilities.

* Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Program Locations

Find your region below and click to expand to find out about program length, prerequisites and more:

Southern California

Provider: West Los Angeles College

Home Health Aide Certificate

Program Length: 2 noncredit classes totaling 108 hours

Prerequisites: None

 

Certified Nursing Assistant

Program Length: 9 weeks

Prerequisites: None

 

Provider: Moorpark College

Nursing Sciences

Program Length: 2 years

Prerequisites: Meet Degree Requirements

 

Provider: Ventura College

Certified Nursing Assistant

Program Length: 1 semester

Prerequisites: None

Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs San Bernardino, Burbank and Encino

Provider: Los Angeles Skills Academy

  • Classroom/Online – 60 hours of theory
  • In-person clinical – 100-hour externship at Encino & Santa Fe Springs

Program length – fast track weekday: 22 days

Program length – part-time evenings: 10 weeks

Program length – part-time weekends): 12 weekends

Riverside

Provider: Best American Healthcare University

  • Online Instruction – 60 hours (self-paced during this timeframe)
  • Online clinical – 100 hours video demonstrations
  • 32 hours lab: In-person lab for students to demonstrate skills conducted at Riverside location.

Program Length: 4 weeks

Northern California (Central Valley)

Provider: Modesto Junior College

Nursing Assistant

Program Length: 5.5 units

Prerequisites: None

Northern California (Bay Area)

Provider: Contra Costa College

Certified Nursing Assistant

Program Length: 5.5 units

Prerequisites: None

Northwest (Washington and Oregon)

Provider: Clackamas Community College

Nursing Assistant Certificate

Program Length: 155 hours

Prerequisites: Placement exam scores must be at least Writing 121 and Reading 115 to be eligible to apply or an unofficial transcript indicating Writing 095 was taken with a “C” or better.

Nevada

Provider: College of Southern Nevada

Nursing Assistant Certificate

Program Length: 3-6 units

Prerequisite: A satisfactory score on the Accuplacer Reading Placement test; or a grade of C or higher in English 100 or English 101 or English 113

Colorado

Provider: Arapahoe Community College

Certified Nursing Assistant

Program Length: 1 semester

Prerequisites: None

 

Provider: Community College of Denver

Nurse Aide Certificate

Program Length: 5 units

Prerequisites: A minimum of 89 scores in Reading and 95 scores in Sentence Skills OR received a C or better in College Composition and Reading (CCR) OR Received an 18 score for the ACT OR 470 score for the SATs.

 

Provider: Community College of Aurora

Nurse Aide Certificate

Program Length: 5 units

Prerequisites: None, students will be required to complete and pass a criminal background check, drug screen and provide proof of immunizations prior to starting internships/clinical experiences.

 

Provider: PIMA Medical Institute

Nursing Assistant/Nurse Aide Certificate

Program Length: 125 hours

Prerequisites: Complete the Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam (SLE) with a 14 score

 

Medical Assistant Certificate

Program Length: 29 units

Prerequisites: None

Program status

We appreciate your interest in the Education Fund’s programs and services. We have received a tremendous response to our education and training programs and have reached our enrollment limit for many of our current programs. As a result, we are not accepting applications for this Education Fund program. (We may have limited availability for members in the Northwest, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico and we encourage you to login to MyEdFund to check availability.)

We anticipate a high level of interest and limited availability again in 2023, and we encourage you to create an individualized educational plan for 2023 with your Career Counselor/Regional Coordinator. You can make an appointment via MyEdFund, our secure, online member portal.