Accredited Medical Assistant Programs (CAAHEP and ABHES)

What Accredited Programs Cost

Accredited programs are, on average, the less expensive ones. Their median estimated cost (published rate times credits or clock hours, before fees) is $6,519, against $14,650 across all programs. Among programs that publish an all-in total, the accredited median is $7,700, against $16,495 for the whole field. The reason is simple: most accredited programs sit in public community and technical colleges.

Program	Length and hours	Cost	Accreditor and outcomes
Carteret Community College, NC	2 semesters, 14 credits	$1,064 estimated	CAAHEP
Pasadena City College, CA	11 months full-time, 40 units	$1,840 estimated; about $4,000 with books and fees	CAAHEP; names the CMA
Dallas College generalist certificate, TX	8 months full-time	$1,980 estimated tuition	CAAHEP
Lake Technical College, FL	About 30 weeks, 900 clock hours, 190-hour practicum	About $2,592 tuition	CAAHEP; 96.5% exam passage, 100% placement (2020-2024)
Anoka Technical College, MN	2 semesters, 33 credits, 280-hour externship	$7,592 estimated	CAAHEP; 93.98% exam passage, 91.40% placement (2020-2024)
Hunter Business School, NY	7.5-8 months day or 15 months evening, 190-hour externship	$16,392 total	CAAHEP; 82% placement, 73% exam passage (2020-2024)

The top of the accredited range is private associate degrees. South University-Savannah’s AS comes to an estimated $43,700 for 92 quarter credits, and Bryant & Stratton College-Parma’s AAS to an estimated $42,284. American National University publishes $30,816 all-in for its 96-credit associate degree and reports a 68% five-year exam passage rate. The affordable programs page and the cost guide go deeper on fees and aid.

What Accredited Programs Report About Outcomes

Because CAAHEP programs file annual outcome reports with MAERB, many publish retention, job placement and exam passage rates on their own pages. Those numbers are the most useful comparison you have, and they vary more than you might expect.

Strong five-year records include Lake Land College in Illinois (100% exam passage and 92.31% placement cumulatively, with an evening schedule), Hawkeye Community College (98% exam passage, 2020-2024) and Iowa Central Community College (96.08% exam passage). Albany Technical College in Georgia reports 91.67% five-year job placement for an estimated $5,778.

Some accredited programs report weaker years. Highline College’s certificate reports 61.11% exam passage and 43.24% job placement for 2024 graduates, though its five-year retention is 88.95%. Modesto Junior College reports 2024 job placement of 47.64% and exam passage of 62.16%. Kirkwood Community College reports 81.40% CMA exam passage but 59.67% placement over five years.

Accreditation sets a floor and a reporting habit. It does not make every program equal, so read each program’s outcome line before you apply.

Length, Externships and Schedules

The median accredited program runs 44 weeks, 900 clock hours or 40 credits, a little longer than the field as a whole. The median externship is 160 hours, but several go well past it:

• Midwest Technical Institute-Illinois puts a 225-hour externship in its final 10-week module, inside a 35-week, $18,297 diploma that also teaches limited X-ray.
• Anoka Technical College requires 280 supervised hours, the longest in the comparison above.
• Collin College in Texas requires at least 160 clinical hours in a physician’s office.

The fastest accredited options take about six months. Grand Rapids Community College finishes in 22 weeks, Manatee Technical College in about 6 months, and Rio Grande Valley College in Pharr, Texas, in 6 months for $12,500, under ABHES accreditation. Loma Linda University runs a 7-month program for $7,800 with at least 160 clinical hours, partly in its own campus clinic.

Evening and weekend options are scarce: 33 accredited programs offer evenings and 5 offer weekends. Clark State College in Ohio schedules day, evening and weekend classes for $8,168 in tuition and fees, though its directed practice hours are daytime. Wenatchee Valley College in Washington runs an evening and weekend certificate with 87.53% five-year placement. See how long medical assistant school takes for the full range.

Certificate, Diploma or Associate Degree?

All three credential types can be accredited. Of the 339 accredited programs, 185 are certificates, 99 are diplomas and 55 are associate degrees; no non-credit program holds accreditation. The choice comes down to time, cost and what you plan to do next.

A certificate or diploma is the faster route into a clinic, usually two or three semesters at a community college. An associate degree adds general education, which matters if you might move on to nursing, health administration or a bachelor’s degree later. The largest accredited programs show the trade-off:

• Ivy Tech Community College’s AAS runs 4 semesters and 60 credit hours, with an estimated program tuition of $10,703 for Indiana residents. Its Indianapolis campus reports a 94.52% five-year board exam pass rate.
• Keiser University-Ft. Lauderdale’s AS takes about 16 months full-time for 60.5 credit hours and adds limited X-ray to phlebotomy, EKG and pharmacology, with two externship courses.
• ECPI University’s AAS in Virginia Beach, ABHES-accredited, takes as little as 15 months and 1,170 contact hours, with a 5-week externship, at $8,088 tuition per semester.

The associate degree page and the certificate programs page compare each format across all schools.

Accredited Programs in Texas, California and New York

Texas has 18 accredited programs, and its community colleges publish some of the lowest prices in the country. Dallas College’s generalist certificate is estimated at $1,980 for in-county residents, Collin College’s 31-credit certificate at $2,015, and Tarrant County College’s 40-credit certificate at $2,960 in tuition and fees. McLennan Community College’s AAS costs about $6,890 for county residents. On the private side, Western Technical College in El Paso charges $18,062 for a 30-week day or 45-week evening program.

California has only 7 accredited programs. Pasadena City College offers day and evening sections, 11 months full-time or 24 part-time. Modesto Junior College estimates $2,455.50 to $2,633.50 for its certificate, including a certification exam fee. See all California programs.

New York has 8. Hunter Business School in Levittown, on Long Island, is the largest, with 313 awards in 2022-23 and a 910-hour program that includes a 190-hour externship. See all New York programs.

Accredited and Online: The Hybrid Options

No accredited program is fully online, because accreditation requires supervised skills labs and a practicum. Hybrid options are common, though: 80 accredited programs put coursework online, 78 in hybrid form.

South Piedmont Community College’s 6-month hybrid certificate is estimated at $1,368. Treasure Valley Community College in Oregon runs a hybrid evening and weekend certificate estimated at $6,519. Rasmussen University-Florida offers an ABHES-accredited hybrid diploma at $339 per credit. For the complete list, see online medical assistant programs.

How to Check and Choose an Accredited Program

• Confirm program-level accreditation. Search the CAAHEP directory or the ABHES directory, or use the accredited program checker. A school’s institutional accreditation is not enough for the CMA.
• Watch for partial programs at accredited schools. Ivy Tech’s 6-credit CCMA prep certificate and Highline College’s MA-Registered to MA-Certified bridge sit at accredited schools but are not full training.
• Read the outcome line. Exam passage among accredited programs listed here runs from 61.11% to 100%.
• Compare externship hours. They range from 160 to 280 in the programs above.
• Check the schedule early. Only 33 accredited programs run evenings, and seats fill.

Once you’ve picked a program, the CMA certification guide covers the exam itself, and the certification pathway finder shows which other exams you’ll qualify for.