An Associate Degree in 48 Weeks: CHCP Launches Accelerated Medical Assistant AAS

Most associate degrees take two years or longer to earn. CHCP unveiled a new associate degree designed to be completed in 48 weeks — without cutting a single credit.

The College of Health Care Professions has launched an accelerated Medical Assistant Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree at its McAllen and Houston Southwest campuses. It's the full associate degree: 61.5 credits, 1,216 clock hours, three semesters of clinical coursework, and a 160-hour supervised externship. What changed isn't the content — it's the sequencing. Every course and clinical rotation was remapped to eliminate downtime, not depth.

"Most accelerated programs shorten programs by cutting credit hours or valuable clinical time," said Eric Bing, Chancellor and CEO of CHCP. "We built this degree to prove you don't have to make that trade-off... we engineered the calendar around the student, not the other way around."

The timing matters: healthcare faces a 4.6 million-worker shortfall, and medical assistants are taking on ever-broader roles in patient care. The program's blended online-and-classroom model, embedded certification-prep course, and built-in externship are designed for working adults who need a faster path and not a lesser one.

"Every institution talks about meeting learners where they are," said Dr. Joanitt Montano, Provost and Vice President of Academics at CHCP. "Very few are willing to rebuild the calendar of an entire degree to actually achieve it. That's what makes this program different. It's not a shortcut. It's a full degree, just built with zero wasted time

The degree launches this fall. Learn more atwww.chcp.edu.