| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Noncredit continuing-education unit of the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), a public university in the UT System; in-person courses plus a third-party online catalog |
| Official name | UTA Extension and Extended Campus (EEC), Division for Enterprise Development; its online storefront is branded “University of Texas at Arlington, Continuing Education” |
| Location | One site: 140 W. Mitchell St., Arlington, Texas |
| Credentials | UTA certificate of completion plus a national exam (NHA, PTCB, TVMA, CBSPD) for the in-person health courses; a provider completion certificate for online partner courses; no academic credit |
| Typical length | 80 to 200 classroom hours, about 11 weeks to six months |
| Accreditation | No programmatic accreditation claimed; the university’s own accreditation is covered below, and these noncredit courses carry no academic credit |
| Federal aid | Not expected: the courses are noncredit |
| Founded | 1968, as UTA’s Division of Continuing Ed |
| Facts checked | 7 October 2026 |
UT Arlington’s noncredit training unit
This is the continuing-education arm of the University of Texas at Arlington, not UT Austin. Officially it is UTA’s Extension and Extended Campus (EEC) Division for Enterprise Development, which began in 1968 as the Division of Continuing Ed and says it serves more than 35,000 participants (UTA, August 2025). Two different things are sold under its name. Its own Health Careers Institute teaches seven in-person allied-health courses in Arlington, each ending in a UTA certificate of completion and eligibility for a national certification exam. Separately, it resells a large catalog of online courses written and run by outside companies. Everything is noncredit and open enrollment, with one fee per course.
In-person health courses in Arlington
UTA’s Health Careers Institute (HCI) publishes the schedules and fees below, checked on 7 October 2026. The fees apply to sessions starting between November 2026 and October 2027, and almost all of the listed sessions start in 2027. Every course is taught in a classroom on weekday evenings or Saturdays.
| Course | Hours | Schedule | Exam it prepares for | Fee (sessions Nov 2026-Oct 2027) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical Medical Assistant | 140 classroom hours | Tue and Thu 6-10 PM, or Saturdays 9-5 | NHA CCMA (included) | $4,500 |
| Phlebotomy Technician | 80 classroom hours | Mon and Wed 6-10 PM | NHA CPT (included) | $3,000 |
| EKG/ECG Technician | 80 classroom hours | Tue and Thu 6-10 PM | NHA CET (included) | $2,800 |
| Pharmacy Technician | 120 hours | Mon and Wed 6-10 PM | PTCB PTCE; Texas technician-in-training registration | $4,500 + $224 in Texas application, fingerprint and exam fees |
| Medical Coding & Billing Specialist / Medical Admin Assistant | 120 hours | Mon and Wed 6-10 PM | CBCS (included); CMAA optional | $4,000 (+ $117 for CMAA) |
| Veterinary Assistant | 200 classroom hours | Mon and Tue 5-9 PM, or Tue and Thu 6-10 PM | TVMA Certified Veterinary Assistant Level I (included) | $3,000 |
| Sterile Processing Technician | 80 classroom hours | Tue and Thu 6-10 PM, or Saturdays 9-4:30 | CBSPD (exam $135 extra) | $3,500 |
HCI also runs BLS for Healthcare Providers (CPR) and a TEAS exam review. Its patient care technician course is online only and has no scheduled dates, so it is not listed here. The biggest recent change is to externships: HCI’s schedule pages say externships “are no longer assigned as part of the program”, and from Spring 2027 they will no longer be offered at all.
What the main programs cover
Clinical Medical Assistant
The longest of the medical courses at 140 classroom hours, it runs on two tracks: Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 19 January to 27 May 2027 (and again from 22 June), or Saturdays from 3 April to 11 September 2027 (and again from 2 October). Students must show immunizations for TB, Tdap, hepatitis B, MMR, varicella and seasonal flu before starting. Textbooks, an ID badge, scrubs, a drug test and CPR training are part of the course. UTA says the externship is not required for certification, so students can sit the CCMA exam without one.
Phlebotomy and EKG
Both are 80-hour evening courses of about 11 weeks. Phlebotomy meets on Monday and Wednesday, with starts on 25 January, 7 June and 27 September 2027. EKG/ECG meets on Tuesday and Thursday, with starts on 19 January, 8 June and 21 September 2027, so the two can be taken in the same term. Each comes with scrubs, an ID badge, CPR, a drug test and its NHA exam. Neither includes an assigned externship any more; HCI staff say they will help with onboarding if a student finds an externship site.
Pharmacy Technician
The 120-hour course meets on Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 1 February to 19 May 2027 or 12 July to 27 October 2027. It prepares students for the PTCB’s Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam and for registering with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy as a technician-in-training, which needs a separate application and fingerprints. Textbooks and a certificate are included, but unlike most HCI courses the exam, application and fingerprint fees are paid on top of the course fee.
Medical Coding & Billing / Medical Admin Assistant
This is one combined 120-hour evening course, not two programs. It meets on Monday and Wednesday, with starts on 1 February, 14 June and 11 October 2027, and the last session runs into February 2028. Students sit the Certified Billing and Coding Specialist exam, which is included, and can add the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant exam for an extra fee. UTA’s schedule page states that no externship is required or provided, so any office experience has to come from a job or a site the student finds.
Veterinary Assistant
At 200 classroom hours over about six months, this is the longest HCI course. One section runs on Monday and Tuesday evenings from 2 November 2026 to 3 May 2027; the next meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 22 June to 16 December 2027. It ends with the Texas Veterinary Medical Association’s Certified Veterinary Assistant Level I exam. Levels II and III of the TVMA credential each need six more months of work experience, which the course does not provide.
Sterile Processing Technician
New to our page, this 80-hour course has six sessions scheduled between January 2027 and January 2028, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings or on Saturdays from 9 to 4:30. It prepares students for the Certification Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution (CBSPD) exam; the $135 exam fee is paid separately. Textbooks, scrubs, an ID badge, CPR and a drug test are included. As with the other HCI courses, no externship is assigned, and students who want hospital experience must find a site themselves.
Online courses from third-party partners
Most of the courses listed under UTA’s name are not taught by UTA. Its online storefront, “University of Texas at Arlington, Continuing Education”, is run by ed2go (Cengage) and showed about 503 programs in October 2026 (count from a summary of the storefront’s category pages). The division also links to World Education, VESi, Edway, Quickstart and The CE Shop. These are third-party online courses, most of them self-paced: students work through the provider’s material, and completing one earns the provider’s certificate of completion, not a license. Some include an exam voucher, such as ACE or NASM for personal trainers. The trade courses (welding, HVAC/R, plumbing, electrical, machining) are online theory and simulations with no live lab, and the ELDT truck-driving course covers only the federal theory requirement, with no behind-the-wheel training or CDL test. Some carry state limits: the online phlebotomy course does not meet California’s requirements. Online prices on UTA’s healthcare list run from $1,695 to $4,095.
Fees and how students pay
Each course has one flat fee, the same for every student wherever they live; there is no in-state or out-of-state rate, and UTA’s degree tuition does not apply. For in-person HCI courses starting between November 2026 and October 2027, fees run from $2,800 (EKG) to $4,500 (clinical medical assistant and pharmacy technician). Most include textbooks, scrubs, CPR and the certification exam. The extras are pharmacy technician ($50 Texas application, $45 fingerprints and $129 PTCB exam), sterile processing ($135 CBSPD exam) and the optional $117 CMAA exam.
Because these courses are noncredit, students should not expect federal student aid such as Pell Grants or federal loans; the UTA pages we checked do not offer it. Texas’s tuition exemption for people 65 and over applies only to academic credit hours, not these courses. We found no GI Bill approval for any of them. The ed2go storefront offers third-party monthly payment plans for its online courses.
Enrollment and schedules
Enrollment is open: there is no admission test and HCI lists no academic prerequisites. Students need proof of immunizations (TB, Tdap, hepatitis B, MMR, varicella and seasonal flu), and some courses also require a background check and a drug screen. Orientation takes place on the first day of class, and HCI holds a monthly information session. Classes meet two weekday evenings a week, starting at 5 or 6 PM and ending at 9 or 10 PM, or on Saturdays from 9 AM to 4:30 or 5 PM. The division’s office, not the classrooms, opens at 8 AM.
Accreditation and results
The University of Texas at Arlington is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). These are noncredit courses that carry no academic credit, and no HCI course claims programmatic accreditation. What students earn is a UTA certificate of completion plus the chance to sit a national exam run by an outside body: NHA, PTCB, the Texas Veterinary Medical Association or CBSPD.
We found no completion, job-placement or exam pass rates published for these courses, either by UTA or by ed2go for UTA’s storefront.
Before you enroll
- You must find your own externship, and from Spring 2027 there will be none. HCI no longer assigns externship sites. Students can look for one themselves, with HCI help on onboarding, until externships end in Spring 2027.
- Check which course you are buying. Most HCI courses have an online ed2go twin with a similar name and a lower price. The online versions are a different, self-paced product, and the online phlebotomy course is not valid for work in California.
- Budget for fees beyond the course fee. Pharmacy technician students pay $224 more for the Texas application, fingerprints and the PTCB exam, and sterile processing students pay $135 for the CBSPD exam.
- No college credit, and do not expect federal aid. The courses are noncredit, so they do not count toward a UTA degree, and students should plan to pay the full fee without federal aid.
- Online trade courses do not lead to a trade license. Texas licenses electricians, plumbers and HVAC technicians only after supervised work hours, and the online ELDT course does not include the behind-the-wheel training needed for a CDL.
Sources
Checked 7 October 2026: UTA Division for Enterprise Development · Health Careers Institute courses · Clinical Medical Assistant schedule · Online training partners · ed2go storefront · UTA news release, August 2025
Programs & Courses
In person in Arlington (UTA Health Careers Institute)
- Clinical Medical Assistant, 140 hours (NHA CCMA exam)
- Phlebotomy Technician, 80 hours (NHA CPT exam)
- EKG/ECG Technician, 80 hours (NHA CET exam)
- Pharmacy Technician, 120 hours (PTCB exam)
- Medical Coding & Billing Specialist / Medical Admin Assistant, 120 hours (CBCS exam; CMAA optional)
- Veterinary Assistant, 200 hours (TVMA Certified Veterinary Assistant Level I exam)
- Sterile Processing Technician, 80 hours (CBSPD exam)
- BLS for Healthcare Providers (CPR)
- TEAS Exam Review
Online health courses (third-party partner, ed2go)
- Online versions of medical assistant (CCMA), phlebotomy (with lab kit), EKG, pharmacy technician, medical billing and coding, veterinary assistant and sterile processing
- Certified Physical Therapy Aide
- Optician Certification Training
- Mental Health Technician
Online business and technology courses (third-party partners)
- Freight Broker/Agent Training
- Certified Supply Chain Professional; Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Certificate; Procurement and Supplier Management Certificate
- Start-Up and Business Owner Management Certificate; Supervisory and Managerial Skills Certificate
- Certified Social Media Manager
- Exam prep for SHRM, CompTIA and Lean Six Sigma
- Video Game Design and Development
Online trade theory and simulation courses (third-party partner, ed2go; no hands-on lab)
- HVAC/R Technician
- Foundations of Plumbing
- Electrical Technician; Residential Electrician
- CNC Machinist; Manual Machinist; Mechatronics
- Welder Technician (simulation only)
- Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) Class A and Class B: CDL theory only, no behind-the-wheel training
Other online partner courses
- ACE Personal Trainer and NASM Certified Personal Trainer (exam vouchers included)
- Certified Professional Life Coach
- Certified Wedding Planner and other event-planning courses
- Texas real estate pre-licensing (The CE Shop)
Campus Locations
Arlington, TX 140 W. Mitchell St., Arlington, TX 76010