Are additional local fees normal for certification?

TheNimpsGirl · Sep 16, 2009

So I think that in the near future I would like to be a tech. I don't know when that will happen due to varouis logistics (DS being little, DH going back to school, etc) but I've been thinking more and more about it.

Thinking more and more about it I started looking at the courses in my area and they all have additional local fees. Is this normal? The lowest is $20 and the highest is $125, which of course happens to be the only one near me

The course fee alone, which aparently recently went up to $75 is a good chunk of change already but then another fee plus gas and depending on where it is a hotel room for that many nights, is getting expensive. I just wanna know if I should just expect this though no matter where the course is because if so I'm gonna have to save up slowly for it.

Also, they have three coming up within the next two months and then none till next summer time. Is it normal to have hardly any courses to begin with and then so far between? I have been in contact with a local instructer who is woooonderful and has helped me with some questions so I suppose I could always contact her and see if she has any insight, but I was just wondering.

Thanks!

Judi · Sep 16, 2009

All the ones around me are free, other than the normal Safe Kids charge. Someone tried to charge, but it failed miserably.

crunchierthanthou · Sep 16, 2009

I believe the ones in my state add a $60 local fee on top of the Safe Kids one.

mommy2env · Sep 16, 2009

That seems great to me, but in Los Angeles the only one near me is $900.

TheNimpsGirl · Sep 16, 2009

mommy2env said:
That seems great to me, but in Los Angeles the only one near me is $900.

Holy cow!

And hmm to the fees. I guess I didn't expect them was all. It may just have to wait a bit longer then because we're trying to save up for a house and saving on top for something else takes use farther away from that. Oh well, I'll just keep my eyes open for them and hope it works out eventually. Thanks!

bobandjess99 · Sep 16, 2009

around here it is not the norm to charge extra fees....when i was looking, i did come across one, but dismissed it out of hand due the fees.

NVMBR02 · Sep 16, 2009

Around here there is usually a local fee of $60-$90. I was able to find one without the local fees though, that was offered yearly.

celtic1885 · Sep 16, 2009

The one I took only had the SK fees, but I think it depends on whether the "group" doing the testing has grants to subsidize the classes. $900 is crazy!

As for the frequency - that is a total hit or miss. I live in the Dallas metrolplex - there is nothing scheduled around here at least through December. HOWEVER! I would check the website for classes regularly. The one I went to hadn't been on there for months and showed up a month or two before the actual class. I think sometimes, again, it's a matter of funding and "need". The Dallas area's tend to show up unexpectedly which is why when I was looking for a class I checked 2 times a day, in the morning and at night. Also make sure to check the option for controlled classes - mine was a controlled class but the instructor let me have a spot.

Good luck!

all together ooky · Sep 16, 2009

Here, in WI, it's $300 to take the certification class. That's why I haven't done it. It's frustrating.

LISmama810 · Sep 16, 2009

My class didn't have local fees, but it's not at all uncommon. Like someone said, it depends on how the organization funds the training. Given the current state of the economy, I would imagine there will be fewer classes and higher fees.

Definitely keep checking the website. Out here classes aren't often added until a month or two out.

As to the $900 LA class (plus SafeKids fee), they do offer a scholarship. It still winds up being like $400 or $500 though. The plus side is that the instructors are absolutely up-to-date on everything and are huge proponents of ERF and EH. (It's through SafetyBeltSafe.)

gecikuh · Sep 16, 2009

the ones by me never have local fees, but this week they are having a class a little more in the middle of nowhere than usual and are charging $40 in "local fees" so they feed everyone decent food for the week...since leaving for lunch would take a while.

Raegansmom4 · Sep 16, 2009

Wow! I only paid the $60 SK fee when I took my course a little over 2 years ago.

ketchupqueen · Sep 16, 2009

It depends on the area and how much funding they can get. My class got some funding and charged a $100 additional fee. Most of that went to supplies (everything from food for breakfast for the class and water bottles to post-it notes to pens to notebooks for our manuals to photocopies to the LATCH manuals we were given to supplies for the check event.)

There's a class sometimes given in the L.A. area that charges a $900 local fee. (They have no underwriting whatsoever.)

Nisha · Sep 16, 2009

Ask them if they can waive the local fee! That's what I did, because I'm a SAHM and couldn't afford to do it on my own.
The local fee covered the meals and things like that, IIRC.

Also, the 2 closest Safe Kids Colations to me split the rest of my certification fee, as long as I committed to helping them out whenever I could, which of course is why I got certified in the first place!

jodibug · Sep 16, 2009

Mine was just the $60 SK fee, but then the local coalition reimbursed me for agreeing to work events with them.

So the class was nothing, just gas to drive an hour each way for four days.

And a week of my vacation time at work.

murphydog77 · Sep 16, 2009

LISmama810 said:
As to the $900 LA class (plus SafeKids fee), they do offer a scholarship. It still winds up being like $400 or $500 though. The plus side is that the instructors are absolutely up-to-date on everything and are huge proponents of ERF and EH. (It's through SafetyBeltSafe.)

:thumbsup: You won't get a better CPS training than through these instructors. They're the ones who developed the 5-step test, created the color pictorial, issue the manufacturers' instructions CD every other year, have the technical encyclopedia on their web site, etc. I believe in addition to the scholarship, the fee is forgiven if you work checkup events for them.

We sometimes charge a fee for our classes, sometimes not. When we charge, we offer more than coffee for breakfast (someone will bring bagels/pastries and other snacks) and we'll buy a lunch or two. That $60 really doesn't go very far. We actually get more complaints on our evals when we provide food, so we try not to go there, even though we think we're providing a service.

scoutingbear · Sep 16, 2009

mommy2env said:
That seems great to me, but in Los Angeles the only one near me is $900.

And this is precisely the reason that here I sit...waiting for a semi close one to come up that isn't that particular one.

I just don't have an extra $950 laying around!

ETA: Okay...so now I've read the other posts. Scholarship? Hmmm...helps a bit. Waiving the fee would be better.

We could sure use someone where I work!

LISmama810 · Sep 16, 2009

murphydog77 said:
I believe in addition to the scholarship, the fee is forgiven if you work checkup events for them.

I think the deal with the scholarship is that it gets reduced to $4/500, but in return you have to work X number of events. I don't think it's possible to have the whole amount waived.

If I weren't already certified, I would scrape up the $400 or $500 just to get certified with them. (I don't say that based on hearsay. I've done work with the organization and they really are the best.)

murphydog77 · Sep 17, 2009

Ah, OK. I wasn't sure how it worked.

Are additional local fees normal for certification?

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