Nursing - Certificate - Nursing Assistant
Nursing Assistants are in high demand by employers in Whatcom County!
Choose BTC’s Nursing Assistant program to train for nursing assistant jobs in a wide variety of medical settings. The knowledge and skills you’ll gain are highly valued by healthcare industry employers such as hospitals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and home health agencies.
NURSING ASSISTANT PROGRAM INFORMATION SESSIONS:
Join us for an online Fall Nursing Assistant Info Session on November 1, 2023 at 12-1p.
Nursing Assistant training meets the Healthcare Experience requirement for entry into the BTC Registered and Practical Nursing Programs. Students who complete the Nursing Assistant program will be eligible to take their WA State CNA certification exams.
The Nursing Assistant Program at Bellingham Technical College is approved by the State of Washington, Department of Health, Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission.
Note: BTC has not made a determination that the Nursing Assistant curriculum meets educational requirements for licensure/certification outside of Washington State. We encourage students who plan to work out-of-state to check relevant local licensure/certification requirements.
Employment Information
Data are provided on a program (not credential) level
77% BTC graduate placement rate1
$35,048 starting annual wage2
$37,149 average annual wage2
$43,077 potential annual wage2
- Employment and Wage Data Sources and Information
1Employment data come from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and reflect WA/OR employment for students enrolled at BTC between 2017-18 and 2019-20. Students are included in the employment rate if they left with a credential. Rates are not shown for programs with fewer than 10 students meeting the above criteria.
2Whatcom County and WA State wage data come from Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) 2021 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates and reflect 2018-21 employment. Wage data represent occupations that BTC faculty have identified as the most relevant career paths for program graduates. Note that these wages reflect employees with varying educational levels/credentials. For cases in which multiple occupations have been identified by faculty, a weighted percentile is calculated using each occupation’s percentile wage and employment size estimate. Wages are not shown for programs for which occupations do not meet the ESD’s minimum thresholds for publishing. If the program has wage data from the Washington SBCTC that involves shift work, these ESD wages reflect the same number of hours used in the annual wage calculation. Starting wage = 25th percentile, median wage = 50th percentile, wage potential = 75th percentile.
3Additional employment rates are provided for programs with faculty who maintain their own employment records of students who graduated between 2017-18 and 2019-20 and who were employed within 9 months of graduation. Both overall and in field of study employment rates are included, respectively. For these programs, the format follows: ESD rate / faculty-tracked overall rate / faculty-tracked in-field rate. These additional, faculty-provided rates are particularly important for programs that tend to have graduates employed outside of WA and OR. Note that due to lack of available data, rates may represent fewer than 3 years of graduates.
Estimated Program Costs
Estimated costs based on 1 quarters to complete this program
Average Tuition and Fees per Quarter: $1,400
Average cost per credit: $117
Total Tuition and Fees: $1,400
Total Tools: $29 - $60
Total Clothing: $250
Average annual cost of living in Bellingham
Living expenses (housing and food): $16,512
Transportation: $1,935
Miscellaneous/Personal: $1,800
TOTAL: $20,247
Tuition Fees and Rates overview page