| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Private for-profit career school; in-person classes and labs with an online learning platform |
| Locations | 5, all in Illinois: Harwood Heights (main), Homewood, Mundelein and Arlington Heights in the Chicago area, and Rockford |
| Credentials | School certificates |
| Typical length | One day (coronal polishing) to 16 weeks plus an internship (medical assistant) |
| Schedule | Weekday evenings and Saturdays |
| Accreditation | None; approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s private vocational schools division |
| Federal aid | No; payment plans, and WIOA workforce grants for eligible students |
| Tuition | $2,100 to $3,800 for the four main certificates, plus a $210 admin fee (2026 catalog) |
| Origins | Started as Illinois Dental Careers, set up by a Chicago-area orthodontist |
| Facts checked | October 2026 |
A small Illinois school for dental and medical assistants
Illinois Health Careers is a private career school that began as Illinois Dental Careers, set up by a Chicago-area orthodontist. The school’s history page says the idea began in 2015, and a 2017 local news post announced the dental assisting school as open. The state still lists it as “Illinois Dental Careers (Illinois Health Careers)”.
Today it runs five locations: four in the Chicago area and one in Rockford. Its courses are short and part-time, held on weekday evenings and Saturdays. Dental programs are taught at four sites; phlebotomy and medical assisting at Arlington Heights and Rockford. The school is not accredited and does not take federal student aid. It is not the same school as Illinois School of Health Careers, a separate Chicago school with a similar name.
Programs and where they run
All programs end in a school certificate. Classes combine in-person sessions and labs with work on an online learning platform. The table follows the 2026 catalog (revised 8 October 2025), which is the school’s most complete schedule; where a cell shows a dash, the school does not say.
| Program | Credential | Length | Schedule | Where (2026 catalog) | Prepares for | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental Assisting | Certificate | About 10 weeks; 20 sessions of 2.5 hours | Two weekday evenings (6:00 to 8:30 pm at Harwood Heights and Homewood) | Harwood Heights, Homewood, Mundelein, Rockford | AMT or DANB exams | $3,500 |
| Orthodontic Assisting | Certificate | 9 weeks plus a 20-hour internship | Saturdays, 8 am to 1 pm or 1 to 6 pm | Harwood Heights, Homewood, Mundelein, Rockford | – | $2,100 |
| Phlebotomy Technician | Certificate | About 10 Saturdays of 4 hours | Saturday afternoons | Arlington Heights, Rockford | NHA Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT), on site | $2,100 |
| Certified Clinical Medical Assistant | Certificate | 16 weeks plus an internship | One weekday plus Saturday | Arlington Heights, Rockford | NHA Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) | $3,800 |
| Coronal Polishing & Dental Sealant Placement | Certificate | One day | Sundays, about monthly | Harwood Heights, Rockford | Illinois-only training, per the school | $499 |
The four main certificates, Dental Assisting, Orthodontic Assisting, Phlebotomy Technician and Clinical Medical Assistant, are the programs the Illinois Board of Higher Education has approved. The school’s tuition page also lists Billing and Coding Specialist, Medical Office Administrative Assistant and a combined version of the two, but none of these is in the 2026 catalog or on the state’s approved list, so ask whether they still run.
What the main programs cover
Dental Assisting
The course is split into 20 modules of 2.5 hours each, about 50 contact hours. Each location teaches it on two fixed weekday evenings: Tuesday and Thursday at Harwood Heights, Monday and Wednesday at Homewood, Mundelein and Rockford. Part of the coursework is done on the school’s online platform. The catalog names the AMT or DANB exams as the certification route but lists no clinical placement in a dental office. Applicants must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED.
Orthodontic Assisting
Orthodontic Assisting runs on Saturdays, in a morning session (8 am to 1 pm) or an afternoon session (1 to 6 pm), across 10 modules of 2.5 hours over nine weeks. Unlike Dental Assisting, it includes a 20-hour internship. It is taught at the same four locations as Dental Assisting, and the school sells the two as a combined program. The catalog does not name a certification exam for orthodontic assistants.
Phlebotomy Technician
Phlebotomy is taught in 24 modules on about 10 Saturday afternoons, normally 1 to 5 pm; at Arlington Heights winter classes move to 3 to 7 pm. That is roughly 40 hours of instruction. The National Healthcareer Association’s Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) exam is given on site. The catalog describes no clinical rotation, and the school’s web page mentions hands-on training with medical offices without saying how many supervised blood draws students complete.
Certified Clinical Medical Assistant
This is the longest program: 16 weeks of classes on two days a week (Tuesday and Saturday at Arlington Heights, Monday and Saturday at Rockford), which the state workforce listing describes as 32 four-hour modules. An internship follows, to be finished within about a month; the catalog says 100 hours and the state listing 80. Students need a physical and immunizations before starting. The goal is the NHA’s CCMA exam. The catalog refers to CAAHEP and MAERB guidelines for the program’s essential functions, but the school does not claim accreditation from them.
Coronal Polishing and Dental Sealant Placement
This one-day Sunday course, held about once a month from January to June at Harwood Heights and also offered at Rockford, is for working dental assistants, not beginners. Students must have finished an approved dental assisting program, have more than 1,000 hours of dental assisting experience, or hold DANB certification, and bring a letter from their employer. The school says the training is valid in Illinois only. It is not one of the programs on the state’s approved list.
Tuition and how students pay
The school’s tuition page carries no date, and the 2026 catalog repeats the same prices, so these are the current listed prices; the school says they can change without notice. The price is the same at every location. Every program also carries a $210 non-refundable admin and registration fee.
| Program | Tuition | Payment plan | Other fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dental Assisting | $3,500 | $1,000 down, then 10 weekly payments of $250 | $150 book and online platform |
| Orthodontic Assisting | $2,100 | $980 down, then 8 weekly payments of $140 | Workbook included |
| Dental and Orthodontic Assisting (combined) | $5,000 | $1,750 down, then 12 weekly payments of $271 (adds up to $5,002) | – |
| Phlebotomy Technician | $2,100 | $750 down, then 9 weekly payments of $150 | Online platform included |
| Certified Clinical Medical Assistant | $3,800 | $800 down, then 15 weekly payments of $200 | $220 textbook and online platform |
| Coronal Polishing & Sealants | $499 | None | Registration and book charges are also listed; ask what the $499 covers |
| CPR/AED/First Aid | $50 | – | – |
Students on the payment plan pay the list price. Paying in full brings 5% off (the coronal polishing course has no discount), and military veterans and active-duty service members get 12% off; the school does not say whether the two discounts can be combined. Confirm the current price and fees with the school before you sign.
Illinois Health Careers does not take federal student aid, so there are no Pell Grants or federal loans. Besides payment plans and deferment, the catalog names tuition financing through TFC Financial Services, and eligible students can apply for WIOA training grants through a local workforce board. We found no named scholarships and no mention of GI Bill approval. Per the catalog, a student who cancels by midnight of the third business day and before classes begin gets a full refund less the admin fee; after that the refund shrinks with each module attended, and there is none once a fifth module has started.
Admissions and class times
Applicants must be at least 18 and have a high school diploma or GED, and should apply at least a week before the start date. The school reported to the state workforce listing that it accepted 73 of 75 applicants, without giving a year. Each location starts new classes about once a quarter, in winter, spring, summer and fall. There are no daytime weekday classes: dental and medical programs meet on weekday evenings and Saturdays, and the coronal polishing course on Sundays.
State approval, no accreditation, few published results
The school is approved by the Private Business and Vocational Schools Division of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which in its directory dated 28 July 2025 lists all five locations for Clinical Medical Assistant, Dental Assisting, Orthodontic Assisting and Phlebotomy Technician. State approval is not accreditation. The school has no institutional accreditor and is not eligible for federal student aid.
The school publishes no completion rates and no certification exam pass rates, and its catalog says it makes no promises about future employment. On its Illinois workNet listing as a WIOA training provider (its program records were last recertified in December 2025), the school says 90% of graduates had a full-time job offer within six months of graduating; it gives no year or definition, and the state’s own performance fields for its programs are empty.
We found no review platform with 25 or more reviews of the school (its Trustpilot page had none in October 2026), so there is no review summary here.
Before you enroll
- No federal aid and no accreditation. The certificate is the school’s own; the outside credentials its programs point to are the NHA’s CCMA and CPT exams and the AMT or DANB dental exams.
- The programs are short. Dental Assisting is about 50 hours with no listed clinical placement, and Phlebotomy is about 40 hours with no published number of supervised blood draws. Ask what practice on real patients is included.
- The school’s own pages disagree on where programs run: the phlebotomy page names Harwood Heights, while the 2026 catalog puts phlebotomy and medical assisting at Arlington Heights and Rockford. Confirm the location of your class in writing.
- The 2026 catalog still lists Mundelein. Check that classes are running there before you pay.
- Coronal polishing is not an entry-level course: it requires prior dental assisting training, experience or DANB certification, and the school says it is valid in Illinois only.
Five Illinois locations
| Location | Address | What it teaches (2026 catalog) |
|---|---|---|
| Harwood Heights (main) | 4709 N Harlem Ave, Harwood Heights, IL 60706 | Dental Assisting, Orthodontic Assisting, Coronal Polishing & Sealants |
| Homewood | 17759 S Halsted St, Homewood, IL 60430 | Dental Assisting, Orthodontic Assisting |
| Mundelein | 1529 S Lake St, Mundelein, IL 60060 | Dental Assisting, Orthodontic Assisting (confirm classes are running) |
| Arlington Heights | 1010 S Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60005 | Phlebotomy, Certified Clinical Medical Assistant, CPR |
| Rockford | 5051 E State St, Rockford, IL 61108 | All of the above |
The school’s web forms and its CPR course blurb still mention a Mount Prospect site, but it has no address on the school’s contact page and is not among the locations in the catalog or on the state’s list, so it is not listed here.
Facts checked October 2026.
Programs & Courses
Dental
- Dental Assisting (certificate)
- Orthodontic Assisting (certificate)
- Coronal Polishing & Dental Sealant Placement (one-day course for working dental assistants)
Medical
- Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (certificate)
- Phlebotomy Technician (certificate)
- CPR/AED/First Aid (short course)
Campus Locations
Homewood 17759 S Halsted St, Homewood, IL 60430
Mundelein 1529 S Lake St, Mundelein, IL 60060
Rockford 5051 E State St, Rockford, IL 61108
Harwood Heights 4709 N. Harlem Ave, Harwood Heights, IL 60706