Where to Get EMT and Paramedic Training in San Francisco

The San Francisco Paramedics Association offers numerous one-day classes throughout the year as well as lectures. They also offer a full length EMT-1 program. The EMT-1 program meets at 657 Mission Street in SoMa for ten weeks consisting of 150 hours of job skill and classroom training. Applicants must have a current CPR certificate at time of registration. Tuition is $1660 and includes textbooks, equipment and uniform shirts. Students who are military veterans may be able to get tuition subsidized either through the GI Bill, or through a veterans organization called Swords to Plowshares. Sessions generally run for two months meeting for two nights a week for four hours, and for a full day on Saturday. Summer sessions are full at the time of this writing but they will have three more sessions opening up in September. Courses are also conducted in Fremont and Berkeley. See their website for further details.

Skyline College in nearby San Bruno (public transit accessible by CalTrain and AC Transit buses from San Francisco) offers an EMT-B program. They also offer a refresher course for EMT-1. Prospective students must apply to the college normally and be accepted. Skyline is a California community college, so tuition is only $20 per unit, and financial aid and subsidized Federal loans are available. Not much worry about being accepted either so long as you have a high school diploma or GED. EMT students should expect to pay about $300 extra on top of the tuition for books and specialized medical materials for the classes.

The City College of San Francisco offers both an EMT program and a Paramedic program with certification upon completion. The EMT program consists of six focused classes, the Paramedic program is longer and much more involved with a heavy dose of theory classes. Like Skyline, this is a community college so tuition is only $20 per unit and admission is basically guaranteed if you have a high school diploma or GED, plus financial aid and deferred student loans are available.

Unitek offers a "boot camp" that is probably the fastest option there is for getting certified at only fourteen days. You pay a hefty premium for it, however, with a $3000 program cost. Each day of the program runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the tuition does cover all your books and materials, food, and a hotel room to stay in in Fremont for the two weeks of the course.