Occupational Therapy Assistant

An Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) is a healthcare professional who works under the supervision of an Occupational Therapist (OT) to help individuals develop, recover, and improve the skills needed for daily living and working. OTAs play a crucial role in establishing a plan of care focusing on activities that enable people to perform essential tasks and achieve their personal goals.

Back to top

Mission

To provide students with the entry-level skills and service competencies to be professional, successful practitioners at providing individualized interventions across the lifespan.

Vision

To broaden student knowledge and awareness of all individuals as occupational beings while enhancing the regional community’s access to excellent occupational therapy care.

Philosophy

To prepare OT practitioners to work with and among individuals of all ages, abilities, and living environments using the values of engagement, inclusivity, professional judgment, intra- and interprofessional partnerships, lifelong learning and advocacy, and the awareness of local and global occupational needs.

Back to top

The OTA Program has four general education requirements that must be completed prior to starting the OTA courses in the fall. These include: BIOL 2201, ENGL 1101, PSYC 1150, and HC 1180 or BIOL 2245.

Students are encouraged to begin taking these courses before being admitted into the OTA program.
An additional two general education requirements can be completed prior to or during the first semester of OTA coursework. These include: BIOL 2202 and PSYC 2221.
You must achieve a ‘C’ or higher in each of these courses. Please connect with a college advisor if you need assistance registering for classes.

Courses:

BIOL 2201*
Human Anatomy
Credits: 4

BIOL 2202*
Human Physiology
Credits: 4

ENGL 1101
Composition I
Credits: 3

PSYC 1150
Lifespan Developmental Psychology
Credits: 3

PSYC 2221
Psychology of Mental Illness
Credits: 3

HC 1180 or BIOL 2245
Medical Terminology
Credits: 2

*BIOL 2201 and BIOL 2202 must be completed in the 5 years prior to your date of application. If more than 5 years have passed, contact OTA@mnwest.edu to discuss options and consider recency of completion. ENGL 1101, PSYC 1150, PSYC 2221, and HC 1180/BIOL 2245 do not have a recency requirement.

Back to top

Faculty and staff weave the following curricular threads throughout the coursework, fieldwork experiences, and discourse to achieve the OTA Program’s mission, vision, and philosophy. These five concepts drive our program:

• Comprehensive
• Committed
• Competent
• Communal
• Collaborators

Back to top

This associate-degree-level occupational therapy assistant program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Preaccreditation Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its web address is www.acoteonline.org. The program has successfully completed an on-site evaluation and is awaiting ACOTE’s initial accreditation decision. This program must achieve Accreditation Status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapy assistant administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA). Students must complete 16 weeks of Level II fieldwork within 18 months following the completion of the didactic portion of the program. In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.

Back to top

6 General Education Courses (total of 19 credits)
In-person: $216.40 per credit
Online: $228.64 per credit

Total:

In-person: $4,111.60
Online: $4,344.16

---

OTA Fall Semester 1, 1st Year (total of 10 credits)
$200.30 + college fees $21.46

Total: $2,217.60

---

OTA Fall Semester 2, 1st Year (total of 15 credits)
$200.30 + college fees $21.46

Total: $3,326.40

---

OTA Fall Semester 1, 2nd Year (total of 16 credits)
$200.30 + college fees $21.46

Total: $3,548.16

---

OTA Fall Semester 2, 2nd Year (total of 12 credits)
$200.30 + college fees $21.46

Total: $2,661.12

---

Total Program Cost (with in-person general education courses, 72 total credits)
$15,864.88 

Total Program Cost (with online general education courses, 72 total credits)
$16,097.44

*OTA course credits have a higher credit rate due to additional costs associated with the curriculum. The table above does not include the cost of textbooks.

Back to top