Physical Therapy Assistant Certification - Studying at a Private College

In order to work as an assistant to a physical therapist, you must graduate from a physical therapy assistant certification program. Such associate's degree programs are available from both public and private colleges. Most people have an idea about public colleges, so you should definitely consider the option of studying at a private college. Read on to find out more about this option.

Currently, physical therapy assistant certification programs are available from a variety of private colleges accredited by the American Physical Therapy Association's Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. All accredited programs last for 2 years, if you study full time. You may be able to choose to study part time, usually in the evening and/or during weekends, but such options are not abundantly available. Each accredited program includes both academic course work and clinical practice. Most programs include licensure exam preparation training as well.

The academic subjects you will study in a private college do not vary from the ones offered by public colleges. You will have classes in mathematics and perhaps in English as well. However, most academic subjects are orientated towards physical therapy and include anatomy, physiology, disabilities and physical therapies, psychology, medical terminology and medical ethics, just to name a few. Each program includes clinical practice as well. It includes laboratory practice as well as assisting a physical therapist. As part of your clinical practice, you will earn cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification and first aid certification.

Unlike public colleges, private colleges admit only a limited number of students to their physical therapy assistant certification programs. In some cases, the number of places in a program is as low as 20. This is certainly a considerable benefit. As class sizes are smaller, you will get more individual help and support from professors and instructors during academic coursework and clinical practice respectively.

Private colleges usually have better facilities than public ones, even though this generalization maybe inaccurate in some cases. These schools usually have better equipped classrooms and laboratories. They offer a wider range of educational resources to their students.

More importantly, private colleges often higher more experienced instructors with higher qualifications, since they can afford to pay their salaries. In turn, you can expect the quality of education to be higher on average. Still, this does not mean that you should not evaluate the information on the career development of students who have graduated from the respective physical therapy assistant certification program before you. The graduating class's success rate is really important when choosing a school.

The cost of studying at a private college is higher than the cost of education in a public educational institution. Precise comparisons cannot be made as each school determines their tuition fees based on various individual factors. Still, it will not be a mistake to say that studying at a private college may be as much as four times more expensive than attending a public college. Despite this, students is private institutions have equal access to federal and state financial aid compared to their peers attending public schools.

Now you know what it is like to study at a private college towards earning physical therapy assistant certification.