Add college credit to your training with the CAREer Path Initiative
Unleash your caregivers’ future
Show your team you care by offering college credits with no additional cost. By completing CareAcademy training modules, caregivers can earn college credit—and rewrite their tomorrow.
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A career path is key to a brighter future
This first-of-its-kind higher-education partnership opens doors for direct care workers to advance their careers by offering new educational pathways through CareAcademy’s platform. Caregivers can earn college credit toward a degree at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), a leading nonprofit university, as they complete professional training within the CareAcademy platform for no additional charge. Through the CAREer Path Initiative, your agency will support:
- Career development and upskilling with new ways to advance
- College degree advocacy for those who want to move higher in the healthcare profession
- Workforce expansion by enticing more people into the profession
- Increased earning potential and enhanced professionalism of the field
Caregivers care about their future. A survey of over 1,500 caregivers revealed:
69%
want ongoing training
95%
said educational opportunities are an
important part of accepting an offer
important part of accepting an offer
88%
would feel more satisfied with the ability to upskill at work
Supporting the initiative can help build your business
Attract caregivers
Offer exclusive college credit opportunities that support career development and a clear growth path
Keep care staff engaged
Keep caregivers committed to your agency by helping them grow their skills, confidence, and earning potential
Strengthen client relationships
Give clients and their families the confidence of knowing your caregivers receive best-in-class, accredited training
Curious about the CAREer Path Initiative?
Let's break it down
Why is it important?
A recent PHI study has indicated that as many as 7.4 Million new direct care workers will be needed by 2029 to meet the growing demand for home care. The CAREer Path Initiative seeks to bring together key industry participants to create an accelerated pathway to recruit new entrants to the direct care profession, provide ongoing career opportunities, and create meaningful industry growth.
To support this effort, CareAcademy is committed to developing a credentialing ecosystem to enable direct care workers to earn college credits for their training completed within the CareAcademy platform. The company has partnered with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) as its first education partner enabling direct care workers to earn credits toward a college degree.
To support this effort, CareAcademy is committed to developing a credentialing ecosystem to enable direct care workers to earn college credits for their training completed within the CareAcademy platform. The company has partnered with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) as its first education partner enabling direct care workers to earn credits toward a college degree.
Who can join?
The CAREer Path Initiative is open to all interested agencies who are open to committing to the tenets of the Initiative including to:
- Actively recruit NEW participants into the profession through their current recruitment programs and offer training to ensure a successful transition to direct care.
- Encourage direct care staff to continue training by incentivizing the addition of new skills, specialized care certifications, and continuing education.
- Provide mentorship to both direct care workers interested in expanding their skills and new entrants to the profession to ensure that their career goals are met.
- Consider offering an education reimbursement program, as well the scheduling flexibility to take classes.
- Lastly, for CareAcademy customers, extend the CareAcademy college accredited training classes to direct care staff interested in continuing their education journey
For agencies who also want to offer college-credit for their direct care training, they will need to have access to the CareAcademy training platform. Inquire today about becoming a CareAcademy customer and deploying this part of the program for your agency.
Do I need to be a CareAcademy Customer to take part as an agency?
You do not need to be a CareAcademy customer to join the initiative. However, the college-accredited training is only available in the CareAcademy training platform. There is no additional charge for those classes for CareAcademy customers.
What do I get for opting in?
All participants are demonstrating their commitment to supporting Direct Care Workers and creating career pathways for their staff. As the program evolves, we envision creating additional benefits such as peer group engagement and potential discounts from industry participants. CareAcademy customers are also able to provide college-accredited training to their direct care staff, enabling caregivers to earn college credits at SNHU.
Do I need to pay for anything including tuition for caregivers?
CareAcademy customers do not need to pay anything additional. While we highly encourage agency participants to offer some level of tuition reimbursement to their Direct Care staff to aid them in achieving their education goals, this is not a requirement.
Do caregivers need to take additional classes from my agency?
The initial 20 class bundle are available to all of our customers and in many instances have already been completed by most of your direct care staff. If they haven’t already completed the 20 classes, they would need to complete those classes to earn the college credit for that class bundle.
What classes receive college credit?
We have created a bundle of 20 classes that when completed together are transferrable to SNHU as a college credit. You can view the included classes here. For agencies offering Federal HHA certification in states where this is available, this program is also available for credit within the CareAcademy platform. We are working closely with SNHU to accredit more classes and program bundles, so we anticipate that this list will grow.
Will the CAREer Path Initiative lead into a path for CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant or Aide) certification?
In time, CareAcademy endeavors to offer a path for vocational training and associate degrees. In its current phase, the CAREer Path does not directly link to CNA or nurse aide certification but does offer several pathways at SNHU for Bachelor’s and Master’s programs. Stay tuned as this initiative grows and evolves to encompass more educational enablement!
Do I need to pay my caregivers when they take these classes?
The classes included in the bundle are likely already part of your ongoing training requirements and many of your caregivers have already completed these classes. If there are additional classes, we suggest you seek the advice of your counsel to determine if you are required to pay for this time.
What happens if a caregiver leaves my agency?
As with all of their class completions, the caregiver retains their certificate for the completed classes and would have the choice to continue with SNHU directly.
How do caregivers raise their hand to participate and would they have to enroll?
In phase one, we are asking agencies to either make the program available to all staff, or to nominate specific caregivers to the program. They will assign the training bundle to caregivers directly and CareAcademy will then communicate additional information and next steps with each enrolled caregiver. Future phases may allow for caregivers to enroll directly.
Where can the credits be transferred?
At launch, we have partnered with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) as our core education partner for the CAREer Path Initiative. SNHU is a nonprofit, nationally recognized university fully accredited by New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE). Their programs are designed to include workplace-relevant learning, allowing students to begin learning skills to prepare them for the next step in their CAREer from day one. They offer fully online degree programs serving the United States and beyond—so students outside of New England are encouraged to participate!
Can the CareAcademy training approved for SNHU be transferred to other educational institutions or universities?
Currently, the CareAcademy training approved for SNHU can only be used at SNHU. This training is recognized by SNHU as a Prior Learning Assessment (PLA). PLA is a way for SNHU to assign value to the hard work a learner has accomplished by recognizing that work as rigorous academic achievements that happen outside a traditional classroom. The approved CareAcademy training has been specifically submitted and reviewed to be readily recognized as PLA so it carries the value of credits as a student matriculates into SNHU.
I’d love to offer college credits to my caregivers. How do I get involved?
If you’re a CareAcademy customer, many of your trained caregivers have already taken the necessary training that transfers into college credits—it’s part of the initial training curriculum! Simply sign up below, and we’ll get you all the information you need to begin getting your direct care workers into the program. If you are not currently a CareAcademy customer, and want to offer college-accredited training to your care workers, submit your information and one of our training consultants will get you set up!
What happens after I sign up?
We’ll direct you to a website containing information about adding caregivers to the program, how to properly onboard them, and best practices for encouraging your caregivers to join the initiative. We’ll also email you an onboarding guide, so you have it in your inbox, too!
I’m not a CareAcademy customer, but I want to offer college credits to my caregivers. How can I get started?
Great! Use the form below to schedule a time to engage with one of our training consultants to learn more about the program and how to make college-accredited training classes available to your direct care workforce!
What happens after a caregiver completes their training?
CareAcademy will email your direct care worker information on how to get in touch with SNHU. Once they get in contact with an academic advisor at SNHU, they’ll be guided through the admissions process, discuss different degree programs, offer financial options, and help them gather everything they need to enroll in a program. To get in touch with an advisor, direct care workers will need to submit their information here.
Are CareAcademy customers in Canada able to participate and enroll direct care workers?
Yes! Canadians looking to enroll in a program at SNHU can bring the CareAcademy class credits into their admissions process, along with any other college experience they may have. With any international student, as long as SNHU can verify accreditation of the institution (high school/college) the student attended and there is equivalency to a U.S. diploma/degree, admission and evaluation is straightforward. If there are questions at any point, SNHU has a team to help the process continue to move forward.
I am an independent direct care professional, how do I get access to the training classes?
At this time the program is only available through a Home Care Agency, however we are working hard to make this available to as well! Join our waitlist so that we may alert you when we open the program up to independent direct care professionals.
I am a direct care professional, how do I know if my agency is involved in this initiative?
At this time the best thing to do would be to connect with the training coordinators at your agency to see if they have already joined and can assign you the required classes. If they haven’t, they can come right to this page and sign up. You may also email us at [email protected] and we can check our agency participants list. Be sure to include your agency name and the city where you are located so we can easily identify your agency.
I’m an educational institution, how can I get involved with this initiative?
Thank you for your interest! We’d love to connect with you. Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch.
Join the CAREer Path Initiative—it’s free to join and means so much
Give your caregivers the support they need to increase their skills and expand their opportunities. By joining the CAREer Path Initiative, you pledge to:
- Actively recruit people who care into the ranks of caregivers
- Encourage direct care staff to upskill by incentivizing them to complete courses and continue their education
- Provide mentorship to new and existing caregivers to help them grow and learn
- Consider an education reimbursement program and scheduling flexibility to accommodate classes
If you’re already a CareAcademy customer, signing up for the initiative means you’re ready to extend our college-accredited classes to direct care staff. If you’re not a client, signing up shows your support for the initiative and makes you eligible for a free demo of how the CareAcademy platform works.
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