Bay Area CPR partners with over 60 California colleges and universities to deliver exclusive student discounts on AHA-certified BLS, ACLS, PALS, and CPR & First Aid certification. Select your school below — get certified fast, pay less, and meet every clinical rotation requirement.
Our streamlined certification process is designed around your academic schedule. No full-day lectures, no guesswork — just fast, affordable AHA certification built for busy nursing, medical, and dental students across California.
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Select your school from the A–Z directory and bring a valid student ID or enrollment verification to your skills session. No pre-registration code required.
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Finish the AHA HeartCode® online module at your own pace — typically 1–3 hours depending on the course. Study anywhere: at home, on campus, or during your commute.
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Attend a 30-minute hands-on skills session at a nearby location. Pass the assessment and receive your AHA Course Completion eCard the same day — valid 2 years, accepted statewide.
Browse all 60 partner California nursing, medical, dental, and allied health programs below, sorted alphabetically. Click your school to view program-specific discount details, required certification types, and nearby class locations that fit your schedule.
🎓 Student Discount: Select your school below and present a valid student ID at your skills session to automatically receive your exclusive discount. All 60 partner programs qualify.
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Every course uses the official American Heart Association HeartCode® curriculum and is accepted at every California hospital, clinical site, and state licensing board. Discounts apply when you present a valid student ID at your skills session.
$120 /person
Residents, RNs, NPs, Advanced Clinicians
$290 /person
Pediatric & NICU Nursing/Med Students
$290 /person
Dental Assisting & Allied Health Students
$120 /person
If you are enrolled in a nursing program, medical school, dental school, or allied health training program in California, obtaining an American Heart Association (AHA) BLS certification is not optional — it is a mandatory prerequisite for clinical rotations, licensure, and hospital employment. Bay Area CPR was founded specifically to eliminate the scheduling friction and cost barriers that healthcare students face when trying to fulfill this requirement, and our exclusive student discount program represents our most direct commitment to that mission.
The California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) mandates that all RN program students complete CPR training using a curriculum approved by a nationally recognized organization — and the American Heart Association is the gold standard accepted at every hospital, clinical placement, and employer in the state. When nursing programs at California State University campuses, Unitek College, Samuel Merritt University, or any of our 60+ partner schools say “BLS required,” they mean an AHA BLS for Healthcare Providers card, not a basic community CPR certificate.
The same applies for nursing students enrolled at community colleges throughout the Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, Central Valley, and North California. Whether you are completing prerequisites at Chabot College in Hayward, beginning a bridge program at Gurnick Academy, or entering your first clinical semester at Sacramento State, you will be asked to present a valid AHA BLS card before you step onto any hospital floor. Without it, your clinical coordinator cannot legally place you, and your academic progress can be delayed by weeks or months.
Our student discount partnership is not a promotional offer — it is a structured program built around the academic calendars and financial realities of healthcare students. When you arrive at your skills session with a current student ID from any of our 60+ partner institutions, your discount is applied automatically. There are no promo codes to find, no emails to send, and no advance approval required.
The certification process is split into two components. The first is the AHA HeartCode® online learning module, which you complete on your own schedule — on your laptop between classes, at home the night before a clinical week, or during a commute on public transit. For BLS, this typically takes 1 to 2 hours. For ACLS or PALS, allow 2 to 3 hours. The second component is a 30-minute hands-on skills session at a Bay Area CPR location near you, where a certified AHA instructor observes and verifies your competency in chest compressions, rescue breathing, AED operation, and — for ACLS and PALS — rhythm recognition and algorithm execution. Once you pass, your AHA Course Completion eCard is issued the same day.
Choosing the right certification depends on your program type and clinical placement requirements. For most nursing students, including those in ADN and BSN programs, BLS for Healthcare Providers is the baseline requirement. If you are in an accelerated BSN program with ICU or ER rotations, your hospital partner may additionally require ACLS before you can observe in those units. PALS is specifically required for students in pediatric nursing tracks, neonatal care, or pediatric emergency rotations at facilities such as UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital or Stanford Children’s Health.
Dental students and dental assisting students face a different regulatory requirement. The Dental Board of California requires all licensed dentists and registered dental assistants to hold a current CPR/BLS certification as a condition of license renewal. If you are enrolled at UCSF School of Dentistry, the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in Stockton, California Northstate University College of Dental Medicine in Elk Grove, or San José City College Dental Assisting program, our CPR for Healthcare Providers course meets this requirement exactly.
One of the most common concerns we hear from healthcare students is whether the AHA card they earn will be accepted at their specific clinical placement. The answer is unequivocally yes. Every hospital, clinic, and healthcare facility in California that requires BLS, ACLS, or PALS certification accepts the AHA Course Completion eCard as the valid credential. This includes Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout Northern and Central California, UCSF Medical Center, UC Davis Health, Stanford Health Care, Dignity Health, Sutter Health, Adventist Health, and hundreds of community hospitals and outpatient clinics.
The eCard is delivered digitally and can be shared with your clinical coordinator, program director, or hospital HR department within minutes of passing your skills check. Unlike physical cards that can be lost or delayed in the mail, the AHA eCard is permanently retrievable through the AHA’s digital card platform, and it carries the same institutional recognition as the printed card.
BLS and ACLS cards are valid for two years from the date of issuance. If your card expires mid-program — which is common for students in multi-year nursing programs or medical school — you need to renew before your next clinical block begins. Our renewal pathway is the fastest available: complete the abbreviated HeartCode® renewal module online (shorter than the initial course) and verify hands-on skills in one 30-minute session. Many students bundle BLS renewal with ACLS renewal or PALS renewal in a single appointment to minimize time away from their academic schedule.
If your nursing program, dental school cohort, or medical school class needs to certify a group of students together — whether for a simulation lab day, a clinical orientation week, or a scheduled cohort renewal — Bay Area CPR offers fully customized on-site group training. We bring AHA-authorized instructors and equipment directly to your campus or affiliated clinical facility. Contact our team to discuss scheduling and group pricing for cohorts of any size, from 5 to 500 students.
Healthcare students across California consistently choose Bay Area CPR because our process respects their time. You do not need to block an entire Saturday for an all-day classroom session. You do not need to wait two weeks for a class with open seats. Complete the AHA online module at your own pace, book a 30-minute skills session at a location near your campus, present your student ID for your discount, and walk away with a same-day eCard. It is that straightforward — and it is why thousands of California nursing, medical, and dental students rely on Bay Area CPR semester after semester.
Join thousands of California nursing, medical, and dental students who trust Bay Area CPR for fast, affordable AHA-certified BLS, ACLS, and PALS training. Select your school above, present your ID, and get certified same-day.
Everything nursing, medical, and dental students need to know about getting AHA-certified at a student discount through Bay Area CPR in California.
Yes — simply present a valid student ID or current enrollment verification letter from your institution at the time of your skills session. No promo code, advance approval, or online verification is needed. The discount is applied automatically at check-in. Any student enrolled in one of our 60+ partner California nursing, medical, dental, or allied health programs qualifies.
All California nursing programs, including ADN and BSN programs at CSU campuses, community colleges, and private institutions, require the American Heart Association BLS for Healthcare Providers certification. The AHA credential is the standard accepted by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), every hospital clinical placement, and all California healthcare employers. Non-AHA certifications (such as Red Cross) are not universally accepted at clinical sites and should be avoided if your program specifies AHA.
The cognitive learning portion of every certification course is completed online via the AHA HeartCode® platform — at your own pace, on your own device. However, the American Heart Association requires that all BLS, ACLS, and PALS certifications include a hands-on skills check with a certified instructor. This component takes just 30 minutes at one of our Bay Area CPR locations and cannot be skipped or replaced with a purely online certificate. Employers and clinical sites do not accept online-only “certifications” for BLS, ACLS, or PALS.
Your AHA Course Completion eCard is issued the same day you successfully pass the hands-on skills assessment. The eCard is delivered digitally and can be forwarded to your clinical coordinator, program director, or hospital HR team immediately. It is valid for 2 years from the date of issuance and is permanently retrievable through the AHA’s secure digital card platform — no risk of loss or postal delays.
Very quickly. Complete the AHA HeartCode® online module today (1–2 hours for BLS), then book a 30-minute skills session at the nearest Bay Area CPR location. Because eCards are issued on the same day as the skills check, most students complete the entire process and receive a valid certification within 48 hours of deciding to start. We recommend booking your skills session immediately after completing the online portion to avoid delays.
Yes. Our AHA ACLS and PALS certifications are accepted at UCSF Medical Center, Stanford Health Care, UC Davis Health, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Sutter Health, Adventist Health, and every other hospital and clinical site in California. The AHA Course Completion eCard is the universally recognized credential required by The Joint Commission and all California hospital credentialing departments. Both Initial and Renewal formats are available for ACLS and PALS.
