Is there any way that you could get financial aid or a scholarship of some sort to pay for the class for you? I don't know how it works where you live but here you have to take a medical terminology class with the cna class as well.
Signing up isn't too difficult, just go to the office on your college campus and they will help you out with everything including finding out if there are ways to help you pay for the course(s).
They should make you a new ID card as well as either re-issue the old number to you or give you a new number once you sign up for the semester.
The only thing that is really stressful is getting everything sorted out and making sure all of the information is right (financial information, schedule, class times, etc).
The thing with CNA work is, you have to really want to do it for the right reasons and not just for the money so make sure that's the case. You also may think that you will enjoy the job then actually really dislike it once you actually get into it and start doing it. It is a lot of hard work. It's gross, messy, straining on your body, and tiring. You will be doing all of the gross work like cleaning bed pans, changing diapers, changing sheets, giving showers, etc. I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want you to be aware of what you're getting yourself into.
The 'hands on experience' in the classroom is really just teaching you about everything and training you to be ready for the experience outside the classroom. The outside experience is called clinicals. You actually have to have so many hours of each to be able to pass the class and test for your actual CNA license. If you miss too many days in class or in clinicals you have to make it up before you can continue.. if the teacher allows make up days because some of them don't.
Clinicals are usually done in a nursing home so that will give you a really good idea of if you actually want that as a job or not by the time you finish the course. I would advise you to take your clinicals (and class(es) ) seriously so that you really get a grasp on the information and a good idea of how the job is. I have seen quite a few people go through the course (and clinicals as well) without taking it seriously, neglect the people they should be caring for, get mad when they actually are made to do something, then fail their test because they weren't prepared.
The test has two portions. There is a written test and a test of your procedures (bed making, hand washing, moving patients, etc). It's not hard at all, honestly, if you pay attention and practice enough. It is stressful though because you are performing the actual procedures in front of someone who is watching and judging your every move.
How do I know this? I've went through the CNA courses twice. The first time I was 17 and didn't really want to go into that at that age. I tested and got my CNA license and everything but decided that I didn't want to use it. The second time I was thinking that I wanted to do it again so I went through the classes and clinicals again only to decide that it still wasn't for me and to not even test after the class was over.
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