What’s your reason for becoming a CNA?
There’s a few different reasons why people choose to take a private CNA course, as opposed to going the cheaper route of Bakersfield Community College, Bakersfield Adult School, etc. The top reason I can think of is how quickly a private CNA program can be completed. Some of them can be completed in as soon as 2 months, no waiting list, fast application process, and things like that.
If you plan on becoming a CNA for a career, the public route is probably the best way to go. After all the average pay for a CNA in Bakersfield is about $10-$10.50 per hour. Not GREAT pay, but it’ll help keep the lights on. But if you’re taking a CNA certification class because you want to meet a prerequisite for an RN program, things change significantly. If you can finish a CNA program faster, you’ll be on the RN waiting list that much faster, get into the RN program faster, finish sooner, etc.
How future earning power comes into play
So, let’s say a starting new grad RN job starts at $30/hour (I’m putting $30 for the sake of simplicity; obviously it could be higher or lower). That’s $30 an hour TIMES 40 hours a week, TIMES 52 weeks a year. That comes out to a cool $62,400 to start.
So by finishing the CNA program quicker, you’ll be making premium RN pay that much sooner. When I teach our CPR classes, I talk to quite a few people who are using this logic and taking this route. And it makes sense to me. Naturally, though, it isn’t that cut and dried for many of us.
If only it was that easy, right!?!
Of course, my simplistic equation above doesn’t take into account the financial realities of our lives. From what I’ve read and heard, the private CNA program range in price from a low of $1,400 to a high of close to $2,000. Now, that’s a LOT of money, but again, you’ll be on the RN program waiting list that much faster! But here’s where we can run into some problems, like how to pay for the private CNA program. One of the roadblocks is whether or not the private/vocational school participates in Federal Financial Aid. If it doesn’t you most likely won’t qualify for a Pell grant, and you’ll have to find an alternative to financing your CNA class. Does that mean a student loan, one of those INCREDIBLY high interest rate loans that never seem to get paid off? Maybe you already have everything set, you’ve saved up the money, you have family members helping you out, etc. Then it may be easier. Of course, for many of us, we also hve to deal with paying rent, feeding the family, taking care of kids, etc. If you consider signing up for a private CNA program, READ THE FINE PRINT!!! Many of them require you to show proof that you can actually pay for the program, as well as have enough resources to keep you afloat as you finish the program. I’ll be honest: if I was single, or had kids but I could move in with my parents, or things similar to that, I probably would have taken the Private/vocational CNA program. I wasn’t in that position, so I couldn’t swing it financially. But if YOU can, a private vocational school seems like a quick route to get yourself on an RN program waiting list much faster, and into a high-paying RN job 6-12 months quicker than if you went the public/community college/adult school route.
If I had it to do over again…..
Well, I was probably the typical CNA student when I did it a while ago: I had kids, ALWAYS BROKE, didn’t qualify for conventional loans, etc. So I went the community college CNA route. Now, they have solid programs.
But between the hoops that needed to be jumped through, and dealing with family life, it took a year from when I first decided to do the public CNA program until I graduated. If I could do it over again? Well, I turned down offers I now realize would have been beneficial to take. My parents offered to take my family in while I did my CNA program and the rest of the nursing school prerequisites and loan me the money AT NO INTEREST!! My pride got the best of me, I declined their offer, and the rest is history. So if I had to do it over again, I think I would have taken my parents up on the offer, and do whatever I had to in order to get through the CNA program As Soon As Possible. Especially these days, because the average CNA pay truly sucks. The patients are sicker, the pay has barely gone up, and just lots more work. With all the staffing cutbacks, I see CNA’s doing probably twice the amount of work that was done about 20 years ago. And it seems to just be getting worse! These cutbacks seem to be hitting most healthcare workers. Do more with less, all the stuff we hear on the news about “The New Normal”. Just my two cents.