Respiratory Care Associate Program

AAS in Respiratory Care

• Degree offered: Associate of applied science
• Locations: Forest Park
• Hours to complete: 74-75
• Program contact name: Lindsay Fox
• Program contact email: STLCC-RespiratoryCare@stlcc.edu
• Accreditation
  The Respiratory Care Program (Program #200050) offering an Associate’s in Applied Science (AAS) degree at the Forest Park campus located at 5600 Oakland Avenue, St. Louis, MO is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (www.coarc.com). The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) accredits respiratory therapy education programs in the United States. 
• This program meets the educational requirements for state licensure in the following states: Missouri and Illinois. Students interested in pursuing licensure in a different state should contact the program coordinator for more information.
• Additional resources
  American Association for Respiratory Care – professional organization
  National Board for Respiratory Care Accreditation – credentialing
  Student Handbook with Technical Standards

Tuition for district residents is $122 per credit hour for in-district students. Find out more about our straightforward and low-cost tuition structure.

In addition to your tuition and fees, you can expect to spend the following amounts on the listed items.

• ~$1,000 for textbooks
• $300-350 for supplies (lab coat, scrubs, stethoscope, second-hand watch, personal protective equipment, etc.)
• $13.80 for a criminal background check (price increases with additional residences)
• $28.80 for drug testing
• $27.50 for compliance tracking through Castlebranch
• Physical examination and immunizations (cost varies)
• $69 for American Heart Association’s Basic Life Support course at STLCC
• $300-350 for American Heart Association ACLS course
• $150 for Trajecsys Clinical Tracking System
• $25/year for AARC Early Professional Membership

Admissions Requirements

Prerequisites to Apply to the Program

The Respiratory Care program is a selective program in which prerequisites are required in order to apply. These include the following:

• English and Reading proficiency
• Math proficiency: students must either place into MTH 160 OR complete MTH 140 or higher with a “C” or higher within 5 years
• Chemistry: students must have completed two semesters of high school chemistry with lab OR one semester of college chemistry with lab (STLCC CHEM 101 or higher) with "C" grade or higher within 5 years
  • Students using high school chemistry to meet the chemistry requirement must have BIO 111 with a C or higher.
• Anatomy & Physiology I (STLCC BIO 207) completed with a "C" or higher within 5 years
• Anatomy & Physiology II (STLCC BIO 208) is a prerequisite to the first semester of respiratory care courses, but it does not have to be completed in order to apply
• Cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher

Respiratory Care Program Requirements Checklist

 

Applying to the Respiratory Care Program

STLCC’s Respiratory Care program is a selective admission, college level program.

Each year 25 students who meet the application requirements are accepted on a first come/first serve basis.

Students are encouraged to take as many general education courses as possible prior to starting the first semester of respiratory care coursework.

Academic Advising

Prior to application, students are encouraged to meet with an academic advisor to help plan courses and clarify program requirements.

Admission Process

When a student has met all program requirements for application, the student must meet with an academic advisor to complete an application. Applications are submitted to the Program Coordinator Lindsay Fox at STLCC-RespiratoryCare@stlcc.edu and are accepted on a continuing basis. Students will be notified via email on the status of their application. Acceptance to the program will be conditional upon the onboarding requirements that include attending a mandatory orientation in the summer and completion of a background check and drug test. Once students complete the onboarding requirements, the admissions office will process a "Change of Program" form allowing students to register for fall respiratory care classes.

Applicants entering the fall semester must attend a mandatory orientation session that will be held in June.

• Information about the orientation will be sent via the student’s my.stlcc.edu email.
• Once students complete the mandatory orientation, the admissions office will process a "Change of Program" form allowing students to register for fall respiratory care classes.
• Eligible applicants not admitted due to space availability will remain on the admissions waitlist and will receive notification via their my.stlcc.edu email with a request to reply with their intentions to continue to be considered for admission to the program in the future. Failure to respond to this email by the deadline given will result in removal from the waitlist.

Program Goal and Outcomes

The overall goal of the Respiratory Care program is to prepare graduates with demonstrated competence in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains of respiratory care practice as performed by registered respiratory therapists (RRTs).

The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) accredits respiratory therapy education programs in the United States. To achieve this end, it utilizes an ‘outcomes based’ process. Programmatic outcomes are performance indicators that reflect the extent to which the educational goals of the program are achieved and by which program effectiveness is documented. The information on outcomes of all accredited programs can be found at https://coarc.com/students/programmatic-outcomes-data/.