Medical Assistant School: Every Program in the U.S., Verified

How Medical Assistant School Works

Medical assistant school trains you for both sides of an outpatient clinic: the front desk (scheduling, insurance, records) and the exam room (vitals, injections, blood draws, EKGs). Programs come in four forms. Across the 1,340 programs compared on this site, 614 are certificates, 390 are diplomas, 309 are associate degrees and 27 are non-credit workforce programs.

The middle of the field is fairly consistent. The median program runs 40 weeks, or 800 clock hours at clock-hour schools and 44 credits at credit-hour colleges. Most programs (936 of them) build in an externship, and the median externship is 180 hours of supervised work in a real clinic. That externship is where you practice on patients rather than classmates, and it is the part no online course can replace.

What changes from school to school is the extra skill set. Phlebotomy shows up in 657 programs and EKG in 571, but limited X-ray, which lets an MA take basic radiographs in states that allow it, appears in only 28. If you want a specific skill on your resume, check the curriculum before you compare prices.

Credential	Programs	Median length	Median externship	Accredited (CAAHEP or ABHES)	Median published total
Certificate	614	39 weeks, 36 credits	180 hours	185	$14,500
Diploma	390	40 weeks, 43 credits	180 hours	99	$17,519
Associate degree	309	78 weeks, 63 credits	160 hours	55	$28,238
Non-credit	27	26 weeks, 560 clock hours	160 hours	0	$5,040

Published totals are the schools’ own program prices. Community colleges usually publish a per-credit rate instead, so their programs tend to sit in the estimated-cost figures covered further down.

Which Certification Your Program Leads to

No national law makes you certify, but the credential you can sit for depends on the program you finish. There are four main exams, and programs name them at very different rates.

Exam	Certifying body	Route for new graduates	Programs naming it
CMA (AAMA)	American Association of Medical Assistants	Graduate of a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program, or the Alternative Pathway	450
RMA (AMT)	American Medical Technologists	720 hours of instruction including 160 externship hours, at an accredited program or institution	331
CCMA (NHA)	National Healthcareer Association	Any MA training program finished within 5 years, plus a high school diploma	299
NCMA (NCCT)	National Center for Competency Testing	Student or graduate of an NCCT-authorized program	133

The CMA (AAMA) is the one tied to accreditation. Only 339 programs hold it: 319 through CAAHEP and 20 through ABHES. More programs say they prepare you for the CMA than are accredited, so a program’s promise is not enough. The accredited program checker shows each program’s status from the accreditors’ own directories.

Graduates of unaccredited programs have one more CMA option. The AAMA’s Alternative Pathway accepts a program of at least 560 academic contact hours plus a 160-hour practicum, at a recognized institution, with documented competency in at least 10 injections and 10 blood draws. Exam fees are $125 for AAMA members and $250 for nonmembers. The certification pathway finder walks through which exam your situation qualifies you for.

What Medical Assistant School Costs

Cost is where programs differ most. Among the 877 programs with a cost figure built from a published rate, estimated cost (published rate times credits or clock hours, before fees) runs from $598 to $59,664, with a median of $14,650. Among 659 programs that publish their own all-in total, the median is $16,495.

The low end is almost all public. California community colleges charge residents $46 per unit, which puts Mt. San Jacinto College’s 13-unit preparation certificate at an estimated $598. North Carolina’s $76 per credit hour does the same for accredited programs: Carteret Community College’s 14-credit certificate comes to an estimated $1,064 and holds CAAHEP accreditation. Ivy Tech Community College’s technical certificate publishes an estimated program tuition of $6,957 for 39 credits, also CAAHEP-accredited.

Private career colleges publish all-in totals that include books, scrubs and often one exam attempt. UEI College-Phoenix lists $20,900 for its 810-clock-hour diploma, and American Career College-Los Angeles lists $22,589. The top of the range is associate degrees at private colleges billed per credit, such as The College of Westchester’s AAS at an estimated $59,664.

A higher price does not buy accreditation. Carteret’s $1,064 certificate is CAAHEP-accredited; the $20,900 UEI diploma is not. The cost guide breaks down fees, books and financial aid, and the cost and payoff calculator lets you test your own numbers.

How Long It Takes, From 10 Weeks to Two Years

The fastest programs are short because they cut hours, not because they cram them. Contra Costa Medical Career College’s clinical certificate takes 10 weeks: 320 clock hours with a 160-hour clinical externship, for a published total of $6,942. Charles A. Jones Career and Education Center in Sacramento runs 160 total hours in 8 to 10 weeks for $2,995.

Those hours matter later. AMT’s education route for the RMA asks for 720 hours of instruction including 160 externship hours, and the AAMA’s Alternative Pathway asks for 560 classroom hours plus 160 practicum hours. A 160-hour program gets you working quickly; it may leave the CCMA as your main certification option.

At the long end, associate degrees take about 18 months to 2.5 years. Idaho State University’s AAS lists 2.5 years and an estimated total of $20,636 for Idaho residents. The extra time buys general education credits that transfer toward nursing, health administration or a bachelor’s degree. The program length guide shows where the time goes.

Schedules for People Who Already Work

If you work days, look for evening or weekend sections: 298 programs offer evening classes and 25 offer weekends. Evening tracks usually take longer for the same hours. Ross Medical Education Center-Huntsville runs its 720-clock-hour diploma in 30 weeks by day or 36 weeks in the afternoon and evening. Alaska Career College’s certificate takes 9.5 months by day and 14 months on its evening-weekend schedule.

Cabarrus College of Health Sciences in Concord, North Carolina, pairs evening and weekend hybrid classes with CAAHEP accreditation in an 11-month diploma, published at $15,111 in tuition.

The externship is the hard part for working adults. Herzing University schedules its 180-hour externship over 8 weeks of weekday daytime hours, and most schools follow a similar pattern. Plan time off or a schedule change for those weeks before you enroll.

Online and Hybrid Programs Still Need a Clinic

Coursework can move online; the hands-on skills cannot. Of the 1,340 programs, 508 put some coursework online, 486 are listed as hybrid, and only 13 are fully online. Every one still requires in-person skills checks or an externship.

Pima Medical Institute-Tucson’s hybrid certificate is a typical example: classes partly online, then a 200-hour clinical externship completed in person, for a published $18,459. Herzing University-Madison’s online diploma lists $12,720 and has students complete two clinical lab courses at healthcare facilities with proctors before the externship. Bryan University’s online certificate uses a virtual externship through NHA and names the CCMA; the AAMA and AMT routes each call for a 160-hour externship. See online medical assistant programs for the full set.

Who Each Type of Program Suits

You Need to Start Working Fast

A certificate or diploma of 10 to 40 weeks. Short private programs start often (UEI College starts classes about every four weeks), while community colleges usually start each semester. The accelerated program list covers 163 programs built for speed.

You Work Days and Need Evenings

Filter for evening or weekend sections, then check how the externship is scheduled. Hybrid formats cut your time on campus but not your clinic hours.

You Want a Degree to Build on

An associate degree takes longer but carries credits forward. Keiser University-Ft. Lauderdale’s associate in medical assisting science runs 60 credit hours, about 18 months, and is CAAHEP-accredited. Compare options on the associate degree page.

You Want the CMA (AAMA) Credential

Pick from the 339 accredited medical assistant programs. Graduating from one lets you register for the CMA at the member rate as soon as classroom work is done, without the Alternative Pathway review.

What the Training Leads To: Jobs, Pay and State Rules

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 817,870 medical assistants in May 2025, with a median wage of $45,690 a year ($21.97 an hour). The lowest-paid tenth earned under $36,050 and the top tenth more than $59,310. BLS projects 13% job growth from 2025 to 2035, with about 109,700 openings a year. The careers and salary guide covers settings and specialties.

Most states don’t license medical assistants, and BLS notes that employers may still prefer or require certification. Some states set their own rules. Washington, for example, issues state credentials: an MA-Certified needs an approved program of at least 720 clock hours and a passing national exam, while an MA-Registered works under a practitioner’s attestation of competency. If you plan to work in Washington, the Washington program list lists the state’s programs with their hours.

School outcomes vary widely, and the schools that publish them make the comparison possible. Ivy Tech’s Evansville campus reports a 97.18% CMA (AAMA) pass rate as a five-year average for 2020-2024. UEI College-Huntington Park’s 2024 fact sheet reports a 55% on-time completion rate and 43% in-field job placement. Read those numbers before you sign an enrollment agreement.

How to Choose a Medical Assistant School

• Confirm accreditation if you want the CMA. 339 programs qualify; a “CMA prep” label does not.
• Count the hours. Under 720 total hours can rule out the RMA education route and Washington’s MA-Certified credential.
• Ask where the externship happens. The median is 180 hours, usually weekday daytime, and it is unpaid at schools such as Fortis College.
• Compare like with like. Weigh a published total against an estimated cost only after adding books and fees to the estimate.
• Check the skills you want. Only 28 programs teach limited X-ray; phlebotomy is common.
• Read published outcomes. Placement and exam pass rates range from the 40s to 100%.

The program matcher filters all 1,340 programs by these points, and How to Become a Medical Assistant lays out the full path from enrollment to your first job. For a side-by-side with the other common entry-level route, see medical assistant vs CNA.