The questions people are embarrassed to ask on the phone.

No. Neither programme requires one. You do need enough written English to document a shift accurately, because that is a legal part of the job rather than a preference of ours. If you are unsure, come to a tour and we will give you a short reading and writing check that takes ten minutes and costs nothing.

Often there is, and this is the question we get asked most quietly. Employers in this field run background checks, and some convictions do bar people from working with vulnerable adults. But the list is narrower than most people assume, and a great deal depends on what it was and how long ago.

Tell us before you pay us anything. We will look at it honestly with you and tell you whether it is likely to be a problem, because the cruellest thing a school can do is take your money for a certificate you will not be allowed to use.

You need to be seventeen or older to enrol. There is no upper limit and we would be pleased if there were more people in their fifties in the room, because clients frequently prefer a caregiver who has lived a bit.

Almost certainly, and you will not be the only one. Handouts are printed as well as posted online, key vocabulary is given in writing before each module, and instructors are asked to slow down rather than repeat louder. Several of our advisory board trained in English as a second language themselves.

What we cannot do is translate the state examination, which is administered by a testing body rather than by us.

Yes. Tuition, textbook, scrubs, gait belt, background check and your first sitting of the state examination are all inside the figure. The only things that sit outside it are transport to your clinical placement, childcare, and a second sitting of the exam if you need one.

If we have forgotten a cost, that is our error and we absorb it rather than invoice you for it.

Most people cannot. $300 holds your seat and the balance splits into three payments across the weeks you are studying. No interest, no credit check, no finance company, no effect on your credit file. If a payment is going to be late, tell us and we will move it.

Frequently, yes. Nurse aide training sits on most in demand occupation lists, which means public workforce funding often covers it in full. Employers short of staff will also sponsor training in exchange for a commitment to work for them afterwards. And we hold four full scholarships in every cohort.

Start the funding application early, because it takes longer than the course does to approve. Bring your paperwork to our monthly funding clinic and we will fill it in with you.

Not the whole thing, and be careful of anyone who says otherwise. Federal rules require supervised practical training where you perform skills on a person under the direct supervision of a registered nurse. That cannot happen through a screen.

Some theory can be reviewed at home, and our handouts are online for exactly that reason. But the hours that matter happen in the lab and on the floor.

You retake that skill, not the course, and it costs you nothing. The instructor tells you exactly which part was wrong and you practise it at open lab on Saturday until it is right. Some students clear all 41 competencies in a fortnight and some need three extra sessions. Both are completely normal.

You can sit it again. The resit fee of $135 goes to the testing body rather than to us, and we do not charge you anything for the preparation. Roughly one student in ten needs a second attempt and it has no bearing on your certificate once you pass.

Possibly, and the honest answer depends on your back rather than on your determination. Transfers and repositioning are a real physical demand of the job, and good technique reduces the load considerably but does not remove it.

Come to the first Saturday lab, which is a full day of the physical parts of the work. If it is not going to be possible, you will know by the afternoon and you get everything back including your deposit.

Plan for three to four hours of reading and practice a week on the home health aide programme, and five to six on nurse aide. That is a real number rather than a reassuring one. Students who use the free Saturday open lab tend to need less time at home, because practising a transfer on a bed beats reading about it.

No, and we would ask you to be suspicious of any school that does. We introduce you to employers we know by name, we help you write the application, we rehearse the interview, and we keep working on it with you until you land somewhere. What we will not do is promise you an outcome we do not control.

Nurse aide registries are state by state. Many states have a reciprocity process that lets you transfer if you are in good standing, and the training hours behind you usually count. It is rarely automatic and the process differs by state, so check with the destination state before you move rather than after.

Yes, and we mean this literally rather than as a slogan. If a supervisor is asking you to do something outside your scope, or a client situation has gone wrong, or you are three months in and thinking of leaving the field, ring the school. There is no end date on that and it does not cost anything.