| Type | Campus-based healthcare career college with blended programs (online coursework plus campus labs and clinicals); three programs fully online |
|---|---|
| Campuses | 12 in 7 states (CA, CO, MO, MS, OR, TN, TX), plus online. Concorde’s five Florida campuses operate as Concorde Career Institute. Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix-area campuses announced for 2027 |
| Credentials | Diplomas, associate degrees, and bachelor’s degrees in nursing and healthcare administration |
| Program length | 8 weeks (phlebotomy) to about 29 months (pre-licensure BSN); most associate degrees 17–26 months |
| Accreditation | ACCSC (9 of these campuses) or COE (Memphis, Southaven, Portland); programmatic accreditation varies by program and campus |
| Federal aid | Yes (Pell Grants, Direct Loans, Parent PLUS); GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon, MyCAA |
| Owner | Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI), since December 2022; support center in Overland Park, KS |
| Facts checked | October 2026 |
About Concorde Career College
Concorde trains people for healthcare jobs only: nursing, dental, diagnostic imaging, therapy and allied health. Across the company it has 17 campuses in 8 states plus an online division run from Kansas City, and averaged about 10,400 active students in the quarter to June 2026. This page covers the 12 campuses in California, Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, and the online programs. The five Florida campuses operate as Concorde Career Institute and have their own page: Concorde Career Institute.
Universal Technical Institute bought Concorde for $50 million in December 2022 and has been expanding it. Since then Concorde has moved its Aurora campus to Denver (2026), added sonography and radiologic technology at several campuses, and announced its first campuses in Georgia (Atlanta) and Arizona (Glendale) plus a Houston campus, all planned for 2027 and subject to approvals.
Programs at Concorde’s 12 campuses outside Florida
Programs differ a lot by campus: Southaven teaches five programs, Memphis eighteen. Lengths are Concorde’s “as few as” figures and vary by campus. Concorde’s own tuition sheets are published only as images, so the sample costs below are total charges from California’s 2024 BPPE annual reports.
| Program | Credential | Length (about) | Campuses | Accreditation / exam | Sample total cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practical / Vocational Nursing | Diploma | 12–13 months | 9 (CA, CO, MO, OR, TX) | NCLEX-PN; ACEN at Denver | $39,150 (Garden Grove, CA) |
| Nursing Practice (RN) | AAS | 21 months | Memphis | NCLEX-RN; Tennessee Board of Nursing approved | – |
| Bachelor of Science in Nursing | BS | 29 months | Denver, Kansas City | NCLEX-RN; ACEN initial accreditation (April 2026) | – |
| RN to BSN | BS | 17 months | Online | For licensed RNs | – |
| Dental Hygiene | Associate | 17–26 months | 10 (all states except MS) | CODA; NBDHE | $91,331 (Garden Grove, CA) |
| Dental Assistant | Diploma (AAS at Memphis, Southaven) | 9 months | All 12 | Tennessee dental board approved (diploma) | $19,513 (Garden Grove, CA) |
| Diagnostic Medical Sonography | AAS | 20–21 months | 8 | ARDMS; CAAHEP at Kansas City | $51,447 (San Diego, CA) |
| Cardiovascular Sonography | AAS | 21 months | 8 | CAAHEP at Kansas City | – |
| Radiologic Technology | Associate | 20 months | 6 (CO, MO, TN, TX) | JRCERT at Denver, Memphis | – |
| Polysomnographic Technology | Diploma | 8 months | 4 | CAAHEP; BRPT RPSGT | $18,741 (San Bernardino, CA) |
| Neurodiagnostic Technology | AAS | 18 months | 3 | CAAHEP | $36,794 (San Bernardino, CA) |
| Respiratory Therapy | AAS | 17 months | 9 | CoARC; NBRC TMC and CSE (RRT) | $51,427 (Garden Grove, CA) |
| Surgical Technology | Associate | 17 months | 11 | ABHES (programmatic) | $43,775 (North Hollywood, CA) |
| Physical Therapist Assistant | AAS | 20 months | 7 (CA, MO, TN, TX) | CAPTE (probationary at Kansas City); NPTAE | $53,753 (San Diego, CA) |
| Occupational Therapy Assistant | Associate | 20 months | Memphis only | ACOTE; NBCOT COTA | – |
| Massage Therapy | Diploma | 10 months | Memphis, Southaven | MBLEx | – |
| Medical Assistant | Diploma (AAS at Memphis, Southaven) | 9–17 months | All 12 | No named exam | $19,418 (Garden Grove, CA) |
| Pharmacy Technician | Diploma (AAS at Memphis) | 7 months | Garden Grove, Denver, Memphis | ASHP | $18,069 (Garden Grove, CA) |
| Phlebotomy | Diploma | 8 weeks | 8 (none in CA) | AMCA or NHA | – |
| Sterile Processing Technician | Diploma | 5 months | 9 | HSPA CRCST | – |
| Medical Office Administration | Diploma | 9 months | Online | – | – |
| Medical Office Professional | Diploma | 8 months | Memphis, Southaven | AAPC coding certification | – |
| Healthcare Administration | BS | 24 months | Online | For holders of a healthcare associate degree | – |
Programmatic accreditation is uneven. At these 12 campuses, sonography is CAAHEP-accredited only at Kansas City and radiologic technology is JRCERT-accredited only at Denver and Memphis. Concorde has added many programs since 2023, including 12 announced in June 2026 at campuses in California, Florida, Missouri and Texas.
What the main programs cover
Practical and Vocational Nursing
Kansas City’s 2026–27 catalog sets the program at 1,690 contact hours and 66 credits, about 13 months full time or 20 months part time, of which about 695 hours are clinical practice. Coursework is partly online, with skills labs on campus. At Kansas City, admission needs a Wonderlic SLE score and an interview (some programs also require the HESI A2), and students pay for a background check ($47 to $75) before clinicals. Places are filled from a waitlist ranked by test scores and interview rather than first come, first served.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
The pre-licensure BSN at Denver and Kansas City is 120 credits over 12 terms, about 29 months, including 675 clinical hours at Kansas City. It prepares graduates for the NCLEX-RN. Kansas City’s catalog requires 20 on the Wonderlic and 75 on the HESI A2, with three Wonderlic and two HESI attempts allowed and a six-month wait after failing. Students must be 18 by the time clinicals start.
Dental Hygiene
Dental hygiene runs 17 to 26 months depending on the campus. Much of the training happens in campus clinics where students treat patients; Kansas City, Portland, Denver and Memphis run clinics open to the public. Graduates take the NBDHE board exam, whose fee is included in tuition, plus a state or regional clinical exam for licensure. In 2024, NBDHE pass rates at the three California campuses with the program were 85% to 95%, according to their BPPE reports.
Respiratory Therapy
The 17-month AAS includes 900 clinical hours, on top of online coursework and campus labs. Graduates take the NBRC’s Therapist Multiple-Choice (TMC) exam and Clinical Simulation Exam (CSE) to earn the Registered Respiratory Therapist credential. Every Concorde respiratory therapy program is CoARC-accredited. In Kansas City’s catalog, places are allocated from a waitlist ranked by entrance-test scores and interview. Pass rates differ widely by campus; see the results section below.
Surgical Technology
The 17-month associate degree includes 570 clinical hours. Concorde lists ABHES as the programmatic accreditor. Surgical technologists who already hold the CST credential can complete the degree through an online option. Under Kansas City’s catalog, students must be 18 by the time clinicals begin and need a background check, at their own cost, before clinical placement.
Cost and paying for it
Concorde’s catalogs show program costs only as images, so we used figures filed with state and federal regulators. California’s 2024 BPPE annual reports show total charges of about $18,000 to $19,500 for medical assisting, dental assisting and pharmacy technician, $37,000 to $43,000 for vocational nursing, $51,000 to $56,000 for respiratory therapy, sonography and PTA, and $91,000 to $96,000 for dental hygiene. At San Diego, federal data list 2024–25 tuition and fees of $18,689 for medical assisting and $87,143 for dental hygiene. UTI’s annual report gives a range of about $1,000 to $99,000 per program. The application fee is $100 at Kansas City.
Concorde takes federal aid (Pell Grants, Direct Loans and Parent PLUS). It also lends to students itself: 68% of active students use its retail installment contracts, which carry 0% interest while the student attends, and 16% receive Concorde-funded grants or scholarships. Named awards include the Healthcare Demand Grant (automatic), First Responder, High School Senior and Alumni grants, and Heartland Dental Hygiene and Pacific Dental Services scholarships; its scholarships page does not list amounts. For military students it accepts the GI Bill (chapters 30, 33 and 35), VR&E, Yellow Ribbon, Tuition Assistance and MyCAA, and at some campuses gives military spouses and dependents up to age 24 $1,000 off with registration fees waived.
Admissions and schedule
These requirements come from Kansas City’s 2026–27 catalog, the only one we could read in full; each campus publishes its own catalog. Applicants need a high school diploma or GED (or an associate degree or 60 college credits), an interview and proof of citizenship or permanent residency, and must be 18 by the time clinicals or externship begin. Everyone takes the Wonderlic SLE, and some programs, including the BSN, add the HESI A2. Dental assisting, medical assisting and medical office administration admit applicants first come, first served; other programs rank a waitlist by test scores and interview. Background checks are not used for admission but are required for clinical placements. New classes start monthly at the campuses we checked, and programs are blended: theory online, with labs and clinicals on campus or at clinical sites. Practical nursing at Kansas City can be taken part time (20 months).
Accreditation and results
Nine of the campuses on this page are accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and three (Memphis, Southaven and Portland) by the Council on Occupational Education (COE). Concorde takes part in federal aid, but since the 2022 sale all its institutions hold provisional program participation agreements, which is standard after a change of ownership. Its three-year federal loan default rate was 0% for fiscal years 2020–22.
Published results vary a lot by campus and program. California’s 2024 BPPE reports show vocational nursing (NCLEX-PN) pass rates of 92% to 94% at all four California campuses, but completion rates of only 40% to 44% at Garden Grove, North Hollywood and San Bernardino (67% at San Diego). Respiratory therapy TMC pass rates ranged from 67% (Garden Grove) to 89% (North Hollywood), and placement rates from 58% to 90%. Oregon’s nursing board reports Portland’s NCLEX-PN pass rate at 85% for 2024 and 81% for 2025; Missouri’s reports 94% (PN) and 88% (RN) at Kansas City for January to September 2025. At San Diego, 76% of students who started in 2021–22 graduated.
In February 2024 the Department of Education sent UTI about 2,500 borrower-defense claims from former Concorde students, all about attendance before the 2022 sale; UTI says it responded to every one.
Clinics, externships and career help
Most programs end in an externship or clinical placement, and several campuses run clinics open to the public where students treat real patients: dental hygiene clinics at Kansas City, Portland, Denver and Memphis, massage clinics at Memphis and Southaven, and a sleep lab and occupational therapy clinic at Memphis. Concorde’s graduate employment service offers résumé review, interview practice and job matching, but its catalog states that Concorde does not guarantee employment.
Before you enroll
- Check your campus’s program list. North Hollywood has no dental hygiene, the California campuses have no stand-alone phlebotomy, and Southaven teaches only five programs.
- Ask about programmatic accreditation for your program at your campus. Most Concorde sonography and radiologic technology programs do not list CAAHEP or JRCERT accreditation, and Kansas City’s PTA program is on probationary CAPTE accreditation.
- Completion can be low. At three California campuses vocational nursing completion rates were below 50% (BPPE 2024).
- Dental hygiene costs more than $90,000 at the California campuses, and 68% of Concorde students pay partly through Concorde’s own installment contracts; read the contract terms, including what applies after you leave school.
- Concorde changed owners in 2022 and is still adding campuses and programs, so older listings and reviews (for example of the Aurora campus) may not match what is offered now.
What students say
On Niche (checked October 2026), nine campus pages for the campuses on this page have 25 or more reviews (San Antonio and Southaven were not checked), about 1,020 in all, averaging about 4.0 out of 5. Campus averages range from 3.75 (Denver, whose page covers the former Aurora campus) to 4.36 (Memphis); the largest are Grand Prairie (4.17, 206 reviews), Portland (3.84, 148) and Denver (3.75, 145). Concorde’s company-wide Niche page, which includes Florida, shows 4.67 from 48 reviews. Many reviews name individual admissions staff.
- Praised: supportive admissions, financial aid staff and success coaches; small classes; hands-on labs and clinicals; helpful career services.
- Criticized: rushed instruction that left some students underprepared for externships (San Bernardino), instructors who mostly assign reading and a dental hygiene student who felt the curriculum was compromised (Memphis), and the cost.
Sources
Checked October 2026: Concorde campuses · Concorde programs · Accreditation and licensure · Kansas City 2026–27 catalog · BPPE 2024 annual report (Garden Grove) · Oregon NCLEX pass rates · UTI FY2025 annual report (10-K) · Niche
Programs & Courses
Nursing
- Practical Nursing / Vocational Nursing (diploma)
- Nursing Practice (AAS, RN; Memphis)
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing (pre-licensure)
- RN to BSN (online)
Dental
- Dental Assistant
- Dental Hygiene
Diagnostic
- Diagnostic Medical Sonography
- Cardiovascular Sonography
- Radiologic Technology
- Polysomnographic Technology
- Neurodiagnostic Technology
Patient Care
- Respiratory Therapy
- Surgical Technology
- Physical Therapist Assistant
- Occupational Therapy Assistant
- Massage Therapy
Allied Health
- Medical Assistant
- Pharmacy Technician
- Phlebotomy
- Sterile Processing Technician
- Medical Office Administration (online)
- Medical Office Professional
- Healthcare Administration (BS, online)
Campus Locations
Garden Grove, CA 12951 Euclid St, Suite 101, Garden Grove, CA 92840
North Hollywood, CA 12412 Victory Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91606
San Bernardino, CA 201 E. Airport Dr, San Bernardino, CA 92408
San Diego, CA 4393 Imperial Ave, San Diego, CA 92113
Denver, CO 4300 N. Kittredge St, Suite 100, Denver, CO 80239
Kansas City, MO 930 Carondelet Dr, Kansas City, MO 64114
Kansas City, MO 3239 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64111
Southaven, MS 7900 Airways Blvd, Suite 103, Southaven, MS 38671
Portland, OR 1425 NE Irving St, Portland, OR 97232
Memphis, TN 5100 Poplar Ave, Suite 132, Memphis, TN 38137
Dallas, TX 12606 Greenville Ave, Suite 130, Dallas, TX 75243
Grand Prairie, TX 3015 W. Interstate 20, Grand Prairie, TX 75052
San Antonio, TX 4803 NW Loop 410, Suite 200, San Antonio, TX 78229