Massage Therapy

The Massage Therapy programme is 750 clock hours, offered at the Port St. Lucie and Vero Beach campuses only.

Progress is measured two ways: clock hours and completed client services. Most subjects in the curriculum carry a required number of services alongside their hours, and both must be met.

Attendance is taken seriously. Students get five minutes’ grace on arrival; beyond that they are marked tardy. Cutting class is grounds for immediate suspension, and a student terminated for excessive absences must write to the director reaffirming their commitment before returning. Make-up work is given as needed, and a leave of absence may be granted for unusual circumstances with the contract end date extended by the same number of days.

The academy’s satisfactory academic progress policy complies with NACCAS guidelines and the federal regulations of the U.S. Department of Education, and applies to all students enrolled in a NACCAS-approved programme.

If you withdraw, the catalog publishes a graduated scale of what is owed: up to 20 per cent of scheduled hours, pro-rata; 20.01 to 24.99 per cent, 45 per cent of period tuition; 25 to 49.99 per cent, 70 per cent; and 50 per cent or more, the full period tuition.

The academy’s published charges for the Massage Therapy programme are:

• Registration fee — $150.00
• Tuition — $13,095.00
• Graduation and processing fees — $700.00

Total cost $13,945.00 — exactly what those three lines add up to and exactly the total the academy prints. The registration fee sits inside that figure rather than on top of it.

Payment. The academy accepts cash, credit card, money order, cheque, and Title IV grants and loans. Cash payments can be broken into weekly or monthly amounts, and the academy states it will work with each student to build a plan that fits their budget — with a caution worth heeding: set the instalments realistically at the start, because once amounts are agreed there is little deviation permitted.

If you withdraw, the catalog publishes a graduated scale rather than leaving it open: up to 20 per cent of period scheduled hours completed, tuition is charged pro-rata; 20.01–24.99 per cent, 45 per cent of period tuition; 25–49.99 per cent, 70 per cent; 50 per cent and above, the full period tuition.

Complaints. If the academy cannot resolve an issue, the catalog directs students to its accrediting body, NACCAS, for a formal complaint form.

$13,095.00 tuition; $13,945.00 in total with the $150 registration fee and $700.00 graduation and processing fees.

The Massage Therapy programme prepares students for Florida licensure as a Massage Therapist and for entry-level employment in the field.

The catalog is specific about where the training leads: employment as a massage therapist, and beyond that as a spa or school owner or a guest lecturer. It describes the programme as taking the lay person into the healing profession through theoretical training and practical application, instilling work habits, ethics, grooming and professionalism, with students “fine-tuned and polished” so that at graduation they are at an acceptable entry-level standard.

Florida law is taught as a named subject — Chapter 456, Chapter 480 of the Florida Statutes and Chapter 64B7 of the Florida Administrative Code — with ten of its fourteen hours on the laws governing massage and four on the ethics of the profession.

Because the academy runs four licensable programmes across three campuses under one accreditation, graduates who later want a second credential can usually add it without changing institutions — though which programmes are available depends on the site.

Expect to be measured on services as well as hours. Most subjects in this programme carry a required number of completed client services alongside their clock hours, and both have to be met before you finish.

Expect punctuality to count. Five minutes’ grace on arrival, tardy after that, and cutting class is grounds for immediate suspension. If you are terminated for excessive absences you have to write to the director reaffirming your commitment before you can return.

Expect to agree your payments up front and stick to them. The academy will build a plan around your budget, but says plainly that once amounts are set there can be little deviation — so it advises choosing figures that are realistic rather than optimistic.

Expect a campus on US 1. All three sites sit on the same highway along the Treasure Coast, and this programme runs at the Port St. Lucie and Vero Beach campuses only.