Best programs to become a psychiatric aide in Kansas
2 Kansas schools offer programs that train psychiatric aides, graduating 21 people a year. Psychiatric aides in Kansas earn a median of $38,390 across about 580 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
You do not need a college degree to become a psychiatric aide. The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Kansas is Health Aide (IPEDS completions). BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education.
Assist mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed patients, working under direction of nursing and medical staff.
1 program in Kansas that leads to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Kansas (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Kansas page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Health Aidemain feeder CIP 51.2601In Kansas → | 21 | 100.0% | 2 | $23,917 | $7,750 |
Top 2 schools in Kansas
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 2 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flint Hills Technical College Emporia, KS Public · 1 feeder program | 14 | Health Aide | — | 68% | — | — |
| 2 | Wichita State University - Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology Wichita, KS Public · 1 feeder program | 7 | Health Aide | — | 43% | — | — |
All 2 schools in Kansas
Every school in Kansas with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flint Hills Technical College | Emporia | Public | 14 | 1 |
| Wichita State University - Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology | Wichita | Public | 7 | 1 |
Fields of study in Kansas that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
What psychiatric aides earn in Kansas
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $44,910. Kansas pays below the national figure.
Concentrated here: Kansas employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in Kansas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Psychiatric Aides page.
How to become a psychiatric aide
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Kansas
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Psychiatric Aides2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.1502Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician
- 51.2601Health Aide
Common questions
Answers for people weighing psychiatric aides programs in Kansas.
What degree do you need to become a psychiatric aide?+
You do not need a college degree to become a psychiatric aide. The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Kansas is Health Aide (IPEDS completions). BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education.
Which college majors lead to becoming a psychiatric aide?+
The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Kansas is Health Aide (IPEDS completions). In all, 1 feeder program graduates about 21 people a year in Kansas (IPEDS completions).
How much do psychiatric aides earn in Kansas?+
The median is $38,390 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 14.5% below the U.S. median of $44,910. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for psychiatric aides growing?+
BLS projects a -0.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 5,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Kansas?+
2 institutions in Kansas reported graduates from at least one of the 1 program that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do psychiatric aides work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Psychiatric Aide, Mental Health Worker (MHW), Therapeutic Program Worker (TPW), Residential Care Tech (Residential Care Technician) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 31-1133.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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