| Fact | American Institute |
|---|---|
| Type | Private career school (AI Education, Inc., d/b/a American Institute); blended programs with online theory and on-campus labs, none fully online |
| Campuses | 5 in 2 states: West Hartford, CT (main campus); Cherry Hill, Clifton, Somerset and Toms River, NJ |
| Credentials | Career programs; Electrical Trades Technology and Nurse’s Aide are certificates |
| Program size | Nurse’s Aide 100 clock hours; credit programs 24 to 60 credits; Electrical Trades Technology 40 weeks (days) or 64 weeks (evenings) |
| Accreditation | ABHES (institutional, all five campuses); no programmatic accreditation |
| Federal aid | Yes (Title IV) for eligible programs; not for Nurse’s Aide |
| Owner | Vocate Education Solutions system, which also runs Ultimate Medical Academy; UMA Education’s purchase announced 1 September 2023 |
| Published prices | $1,325 (Nurse’s Aide) to $38,020 (Diagnostic Medical Sonography), as published in October 2026 |
| Facts checked | October 2026 |
American Institute and the Vocate system
American Institute is the trading name of AI Education, Inc., a private career school with its main campus in West Hartford, Connecticut, and four campuses in New Jersey. It is part of the Vocate Education Solutions system: UMA Education (Ultimate Medical Academy) announced it had bought the school on 1 September 2023, and the announcement said the school would mark its 100th year in 2024. Corporate offices are in Tampa, Florida; there is no campus there. Every campus teaches allied health programs, and the New Jersey campuses add Electrical Trades Technology. Most programs are blended, with theory online and labs on campus; none is fully online. Federal data shown on Niche count about 2,418 undergraduates across the five campuses (year not given).
Nine programs at five campuses
| Program | Credential | Size and length | Delivery | Campuses | Prepares for | Published total (Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental Assisting | Program | 42 credits | Blended; externship | All 5 | DANB exams (ICE, RHS, General Chairside) | $19,520 |
| Diagnostic Medical Sonography | Program | 60 credits; 4 starts a year | Blended; days only; clinical externship | All 5 | ARDMS SPI plus Abdomen and/or OB/GYN | $38,020 |
| Massage Therapy | Program | 40 credits | Day and evening; student clinic | All 5 | MBLEx (licence needed in CT, NJ and PA) | $14,020 |
| Medical Assisting | Program | 40 credits | Blended; externship | All 5 | AAMA CMA | $19,520 |
| Medical Coding and Billing | Program | 48 credits | Hybrid; externship | All 5 (new in NJ) | AAPC CPC | $19,520 |
| Electrical Trades Technology | Certificate | 44 credits, 960 hours; 40 weeks days / 64 weeks evenings | Online theory, campus labs; no externship | 4 NJ campuses | OSHA 10 card; apprenticeship entry (not a licence) | Not published |
| Pharmacy Technician | Program | 24 credits | 180-hour externship | Clifton (new) | State registration (CT and NJ require it) | Not published |
| Nurse’s Aide | Certificate | 100 clock hours; 4 weeks days / 7 weeks evenings | On campus; 30-hour clinical | West Hartford | Connecticut nurse aide exam and registry | $1,325 |
| Phlebotomy Technician | Program | Clock-hour program | — | West Hartford | — | $1,625 |
“Program” means the school’s sources we checked do not say whether it ends in a certificate or a diploma; only Electrical Trades Technology and Nurse’s Aide are confirmed as certificates. Credit totals are worked out from the maximum credits in the school’s October 2026 catalog addendum (150% of program length) and match its tuition and per-credit pages where a price is published. American Institute has no nursing (RN or LPN), business, ESL, surgical technology or HVAC programs. Where the school’s sources disagree about which campuses run Phlebotomy Technician and Pharmacy Technician, the table shows only the campuses that are confirmed.
What the main programs cover
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Sonography is the one program with a degree requirement: applicants need a bachelor’s degree or an allied-health patient-care associate degree with a clinical component, and must finish math, physics and communications prerequisites before Term II, per the program page. Classes run in the daytime only, with quarterly starts, and the clinical externship places students at sites in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, such as Hartford HealthCare and RWJBarnabas Jersey City Medical Center. Applicants should plan for the days-only timetable for the whole program.
Dental Assisting
Dental Assisting combines online theory with lab work on campus and an externship, with day and evening starts. The program prepares students for three DANB exams: infection control, radiation health and safety, and general chairside; the Certified Dental Assistant credential comes later, after 3,500 hours of work. The catalog also points New Jersey students to the state’s dental radiography licence. New Jersey applicants must be 18 or older. The catalog says the program is “not programmatically accredited”, and the school publishes no DANB pass rates.
Electrical Trades Technology
The 7 October 2026 catalog addendum lists the revised program, effective 17 August 2026, at 44 credits over three terms: 360 hours of theory online and 600 hours of lab work on campus. The program covers the National Electrical Code, residential wiring, telecommunications, blueprint reading and motor controls. OSHA 10 is taught inside course EL310, with the Department of Labor card included at no extra fee. The certificate is a route into an apprenticeship; the catalog lists New Jersey’s journeyman licence requirements separately from the program’s own hours.
Massage Therapy and Medical Assisting
Massage Therapy is aimed at the MBLEx, ahead of the licence Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania require, and includes hours in the school’s student clinic; New Jersey students pay fees for missed clinic sessions, and applicants must be 18 or older. Medical Assisting is blended and its clinical training covers phlebotomy, EKG and vital signs, before an externship at an outside healthcare facility. Its CMA exam from the AAMA is optional, since none of those three states requires it.
Nurse’s Aide and Phlebotomy Technician
West Hartford’s two short programs are priced and scheduled differently from the credit programs. The revised Nurse’s Aide certificate, effective 28 September 2026, is 100 clock hours: 70 hours in course NA101 and a 30-hour clinical in NA102. It runs 4 weeks on days or 7 weeks in the evening, is taught on campus only, does not require a high school diploma, and prepares students for the Connecticut nurse aide exam (given by Prometric) and the state registry. Phlebotomy Technician is also a clock-hour program. Both start monthly in the daytime.
Cost: one published price per program
American Institute charges one price per program, the same at every campus and for Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania students; there are no in-state or out-of-state rates. The figures below are the totals on the school’s tuition and fees page as published in October 2026. That page carries no effective date, so confirm the price for your start date.
| Program | Tuition | Fees and laptop | Published total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dental Assisting | $18,995 | $25 registration, $250 laptop, $250 technology fee | $19,520 |
| Medical Assisting | $18,995 | $25 registration, $250 laptop, $250 technology fee | $19,520 |
| Medical Coding and Billing | $18,995 | $25 registration, $250 laptop, $250 technology fee | $19,520 |
| Diagnostic Medical Sonography | $37,995 | $25 registration | $38,020 |
| Massage Therapy | $13,995 | $25 registration | $14,020 |
| Nurse’s Aide | $900 | $150 registration, $25 application, $150 supplies, $100 books | $1,325 |
| Phlebotomy Technician | $1,200 | $150 registration, $25 application, $150 supplies, $100 books | $1,625 |
| Electrical Trades Technology | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Pharmacy Technician | Not published | Not published | Not published |
Credit programs are priced per credit, at one rate per program: from $349.87 a credit (Massage Therapy and Electrical Trades Technology) to $633.25 (Diagnostic Medical Sonography), per the school’s cost-per-credit page, which says it was updated 1 January 2023. The school publishes no total for Electrical Trades Technology or Pharmacy Technician, so ask for one in writing. The laptop fee can be waived if a student’s own computer meets the catalog’s standard.
American Institute takes federal student aid: Pell Grants (up to $7,395 for 2026-27), FSEOG, Federal Work-Study, Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans and Parent PLUS loans, per its 2026-27 consumer information. Programs of 600 hours or less, including Nurse’s Aide, are not eligible. From 28 September 2026 a Community Outreach Grant covers unmet tuition for Connecticut and New Jersey residents attending under a contract with a qualifying government agency, after agency funding and Pell and FSEOG grants. The catalog lists Massage Therapy as VA-approved at every campus except Cherry Hill. Federal data shown on Niche put the average net price at $19,316 to $21,458 a year, depending on campus.
Admissions and 2026 start dates
- Diagnostic Medical Sonography: a bachelor’s degree, or an allied-health patient-care associate degree with a clinical component, plus math, physics and communications prerequisites before Term II.
- Dental Assisting (New Jersey) and Massage Therapy: age 18 or older.
- Pharmacy Technician: a Level I background check.
- Nurse’s Aide: no high school diploma required.
- Credit programs carry a $25 registration fee; the clock-hour programs a $150 registration fee and a $25 application fee.
The school’s 2026 start calendar gives Dental Assisting, Medical Assisting, Electrical Trades Technology and Medical Coding and Billing nine day starts (12 January to 23 November) and six evening starts. Massage Therapy has six starts a year, in day and evening sections. Diagnostic Medical Sonography starts four times a year, days only (12 January, 13 April, 13 July and 5 October 2026). Nurse’s Aide, Phlebotomy Technician and Pharmacy Technician start monthly in the daytime. Theory is online through the school’s learning system, and the mix of online and campus time varies by program and campus.
Accreditation and published results
The Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) accredits American Institute, with West Hartford as the main campus and the four New Jersey campuses, including both Clifton sites, as additional locations, per the school’s accreditation page. No program has programmatic accreditation: sonography has no CAAHEP accreditation, dental assisting none from CODA, medical assisting none from CAAHEP or ABHES at program level, and massage therapy none from COMTA. Connecticut’s Office of Higher Education approves the West Hartford campus and New Jersey’s Department of Education the New Jersey campuses. Pennsylvania’s State Board of Private Licensed Schools registers five Cherry Hill programs and the Toms River sonography program. We found no lawsuits, settlements or accreditor actions involving the school.
Placement by program, July 2024–June 2025
The school’s placement rate pages report each campus’s results for graduates from July 2024 to June 2025, using the ABHES method: graduates placed in a job where most duties relate to the training, divided by graduates minus those unavailable for work. Cohort sizes are not published, so a 100% rate may rest on a small group. The table gives the range across the campuses that report each program.
| Program | Placement, July 2024–June 2025 | Campuses reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Dental Assisting | 85–100% | All 5 |
| Diagnostic Medical Sonography | 71–100% | All 5 |
| Massage Therapy | 71–74% | All 5 |
| Medical Assisting | 71–74% | All 5 |
| Electrical Trades Technology | 70–71% | 4 NJ campuses |
| Medical Coding and Billing | 73% | West Hartford (no NJ rate yet) |
| Phlebotomy Technician | 71% | West Hartford |
| Nurse’s Aide | 70% | West Hartford |
Graduation rate
The school’s Student Right to Know pages give graduation rates of 55% to 57% across the five campus pages for first-time, full-time students who started between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 and finished within 150% of the published program length. The school publishes no pass rates for the MBLEx, ARDMS, DANB, CMA, CPC or Connecticut nurse aide exams.
Before you enroll
- Sonography and dental assisting carry no programmatic accreditation (no CAAHEP or CODA), and sonography requires a prior degree. Ask how the program qualifies you for the specific ARDMS or DANB exam and the jobs you want.
- Electrical Trades Technology is a certificate, not a licence. New Jersey’s Class A journeyman licence needs 8,000 hours of work experience plus 576 classroom hours, and the catalog presents those as licensing requirements separate from the program.
- Graduation rates of 55% to 57% for 2021-22 starters mean more than four in ten did not finish within one and a half times the normal length.
- The published prices carry no effective date, and there is no published total for Electrical Trades Technology or Pharmacy Technician. Nurse’s Aide is not eligible for federal aid.
- The school’s sources disagree about where Phlebotomy Technician and Pharmacy Technician run outside West Hartford and Clifton, and Medical Coding and Billing is new in New Jersey. Confirm a start date at your campus before you apply.
American Institute’s five campuses
- Hartford (West Hartford), CT: 99 South Street, West Hartford, CT 06110
- Cherry Hill, NJ: 2201 NJ-38, Suite 105, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
- Clifton, NJ: 346 Lexington Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07011
- Somerset, NJ: 80 Cottontail Lane, Suite 103, Somerset, NJ 08873
- Toms River, NJ: 2363 Lakewood Road, Toms River, NJ 08755
Clifton also has a second site at 1117 Main Avenue. West Hartford is the only Connecticut campus and the only one with Nurse’s Aide, and the only confirmed site for Phlebotomy Technician; Electrical Trades Technology is taught at the four New Jersey campuses only. Pennsylvania residents can enroll at Cherry Hill, and in sonography at Toms River.
Career help and externships
American Institute has no student housing. Career services help graduates look for work, but the school says it “does not guarantee or imply the guarantee of employment”. Externships are part of dental assisting, sonography, medical assisting, medical coding and billing and pharmacy technician training, and the electrical program includes the OSHA 10 card.
Student reviews
No review platform we checked in October 2026 had 25 or more reviews for any American Institute campus, which is too few for us to summarize.
Facts checked October 2026.
Programs & Courses
Allied health (credit-hour programs)
- Dental Assisting (all campuses)
- Diagnostic Medical Sonography (all campuses)
- Massage Therapy (all campuses)
- Medical Assisting (all campuses)
- Medical Coding and Billing (all campuses; new in New Jersey)
- Pharmacy Technician (Clifton, new)
Short clock-hour programs (West Hartford)
- Nurse's Aide (certificate, 100 hours)
- Phlebotomy Technician
Electrical trade (New Jersey campuses)
- Electrical Trades Technology (certificate, 44 credits)
Campus Locations
Hartford (West Hartford), CT 99 South Street, West Hartford, CT 06110
Cherry Hill, NJ 2201 NJ-38, Suite 105, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
Clifton, NJ 346 Lexington Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07011
Somerset, NJ 80 Cottontail Lane, Suite 103, Somerset, NJ 08873
Toms River, NJ 2363 Lakewood Road, Toms River, NJ 08755