Start Your CNA Certification Classes in Milwaukee Wisconsin

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To work as a CNA in Milwaukee, you need a Wisconsin certification: complete a state-approved training program of 75 hours, including 16 hours of clinical work, pass Headmaster’s knowledge and skills exams, and get listed on the Wisconsin Nurse Aide Registry. You must pass both exams within 1 year of finishing training. You renew every 24 months, and you need paid nurse aide work under an RN or LPN during that period.

Wisconsin CNA requirements at a glance

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Colleges near Milwaukee that train CNAs

These public colleges in the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI metro area reported nursing assistant completions (CIP 51.3902) to the federal IPEDS survey for July 2024 to June 2025. Many approved CNA programs, such as those run by nursing homes, private training schools and the Red Cross, don’t report to IPEDS, so check the state’s approved-program list too.

Institution City Completions
Waukesha County Technical College Pewaukee 547
Milwaukee Area Technical College Milwaukee 267

Statewide, 17 institutions in Wisconsin reported 5,802 nursing assistant completions for 2024–25. Source: IPEDS 2024–25 Completions, National Center for Education Statistics (provisional release).

Free CNA training in Wisconsin

Federal rules protect nurse aides who train for jobs in nursing homes that take Medicare or Medicaid. If one of those facilities employs you, or has offered you a job, on the day your approved program starts, it can’t charge you for any part of it, including textbooks and required materials. If you pay for a program yourself and a facility hires you, or offers you a job, within 12 months of finishing, the state must reimburse your costs on a pro-rata basis for the time you work there as a nurse aide (42 CFR 483.152(c)). Ask nursing homes near you whether they sponsor students.

What to check before you pay for a CNA program in Wisconsin

  • It’s on the state’s approved list. Only an approved program makes you eligible for the competency exam.
  • Its hours meet the state minimum, including the supervised clinical hours, and it tells you where the clinical training happens.
  • The price is complete: tuition, textbooks, uniform, background check and the exam fee.
  • It explains how you register for the exam and when you can test after you finish.
  • It doesn’t promise 100% online certification. Supervised hands-on training is required, so a course with none can’t lead to certification.

DQA must approve each CNA training program before instruction can begin, so check that a Milwaukee-area program appears on the DHS training program map before you enroll.

The Wisconsin CNA exam

Headmaster partners with Wisconsin DHS to provide CNA testing and registry services. The knowledge exam has 75 multiple-choice questions and a 60-minute limit, and you need 71% or better to pass. You take it on a computer, on site or with remote proctoring. The audio (oral) version is available to anyone who requests it when first scheduling; only the first 67 questions are read aloud, and you answer the remaining eight without audio, because they test English reading comprehension.

On the skill test, an RN Test Observer watches you do three or four randomly selected tasks. You get no more than 30 minutes, and you must perform all key steps (in bold) and 80% of the non-key steps on each task.

If you’re newly trained, you must pass the knowledge and skill exams within 1 year of finishing your training program. Under handbook Version 75 (effective June 7, 2026), the fees are $144.70 for the knowledge and skills exams, $150.15 for the audio exam and skills, and $107.21 for the skills test alone. A new handbook version takes effect for testing Dec. 1, 2026, so if you test on or after that date, check it for changes.

The Wisconsin nurse aide registry and renewal

Wisconsin’s Nurse Aide Testing and Registry system is housed in TestMaster Universe, and Headmaster hosts the registry for DHS. Employers and aides can search the public registry by name, Social Security number or registration number, and can search for misconduct.

You must renew your certification every 24 months. At a minimum, you must work as a nurse aide for pay under the supervision of an RN or LPN during the 24-month certification period. Within 90 days of your expiration date, you add your employer in TMU and the employer approves it, which extends your eligibility 24 months; employers not in TMU use form F-03211. If you haven’t met the work requirement in the past 24 months, you must test again, both skills and written, but Wisconsin doesn’t require retraining.

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Moving to Wisconsin with a CNA from another state

If you’re active and in good standing in another state, you complete an Out-of-State application, available as a fillable form on the Wisconsin Headmaster website. Attach proof that you completed a state-approved nurse aide training program of at least 75 hours, with the completion date. If you can’t, include employer verification that you worked as a nurse aide under an RN or LPN for at least 2,088 hours in the two years before you apply. Add your Social Security card and photo ID. The DHS steps for active aides don’t include a Wisconsin exam. If you’re not active on another state’s registry, you either renew your status in that state or complete competency testing in Wisconsin. Without proof of training or qualifying work hours, you must retrain and test in Wisconsin.

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Sources

Last reviewed November 2026.