Respiratory Therapy

Respiratory therapy programmes train the clinicians who manage breathing — setting up and running mechanical ventilators, interpreting arterial blood gases, giving aerosolised drugs, clearing airways, and responding to every code and rapid response in the building. Two years, heavily clinical, cohort-based and selective, and the work starts in intensive care rather than working up to it.

The degrees this program covers

The entry credential is the ASSOCIATE degree and the data is emphatic: of 313 Florida completions in the 2023 federal award year, 271 were associate degrees, and 99% of employers surveyed by O*NET name an associate degree as the usual entry. ⚠ But read the bachelor's rows carefully, because two completely different degrees hide behind the same level. An ENTRY-LEVEL bachelor's admits a student with no credential and leads to the same NBRC examinations the associate degree does — Florida A&M's B.S. in Cardiopulmonary Science is one (CoARC #200321, accredited through October 2034) and the University of West Florida opened a second, which UWF describes as only the third of its kind in the state. A DEGREE-ADVANCEMENT bachelor's is for therapists who are already credentialed and does NOT lead to initial licensure; the three colleges awarding both an associate and a bachelor's in this programme are running that ladder, and the state's own course record gives it away by gating one upper-division number on admission to the AS to BS in cardiopulmonary sciences. ⚠⚠ Ask which kind a bachelor's programme is before you apply. And budget more than 60 credits: Indian River State College's A.S. is 76 credits, because the clinical hours are on top of a full general-education core.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Physician Assistant

Diagnosing, managing and prescribing across essentially every specialty — $135,880 median, 162,700 employed, 12,000 openings a year, growing much faster than average. ⚠⚠⚠ The barrier is not the transcript. PAEA puts the median matriculant at about 3,200 hours of direct patient contact — one to three years of clinical work BEFORE the programme starts — and Florida's six public programmes award 225 master's degrees a year between them. ⚠⚠ So the real question this page answers is: which job do you take first?

Respiratory Therapist

Respiratory therapists manage breathing — running mechanical ventilators, interpreting arterial blood gases, giving aerosolised drugs, clearing airways, and answering every code in the building. ⚠ A median of $82,280 on a two-year degree — second only to dental hygiene among the two-year routes on this site — with federal growth projected at 9% over 2025–35, much faster than average. ⚠⚠ Florida LICENSES the work, and the licence runs through a national NBRC credential rather than through the degree. ⚠⚠⚠ And the course numbering is looser here than in the comparable clinical programmes — register out of your programme's own sequence, never by number.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Medical Laboratory Scientist

⚠ Not a route here. Named for the same reason: the other hospital programme, two years to $82,280, and the opposite temperament. Respiratory therapy is unpredictable and patient-facing; the laboratory is scheduled bench work. ⚠⚠ If the money comparison alone would move you, it should move you to one of these — and if it does not, that tells you something worth knowing.

Paramedic

⚠ Not a route here. Named because it draws on the same interests — airway, ventilation, acute deterioration — from inside the hospital instead of the roadside, pays more at entry ($82,280 against $60,600), and keeps regular building hours.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Nursing 78 Florida schools

⚠ The comparison worth making: both are cohort programmes at the same colleges, competitive to enter, heavy on clinical placement. Nursing is far likelier to be near you — 78 Florida institutions against 18 — and has a long degree ladder above it. Respiratory therapy pays more at entry than an LPN on the same two years ($82,280 against $64,400). ⚠⚠ And a respiratory therapist works the whole hospital, starting in intensive care rather than working up to it.

Radiologic Technology 23 Florida schools

The other two-year hospital programme at the same colleges, with nearly the same median wage ($80,110 against $82,280) and the same competitive cohort admission. ⚠ The honest split is what the day looks like: radiography is procedural and largely scheduled, respiratory therapy is on call to whatever is deteriorating. ⚠⚠ Radiography also stops at the associate degree for most people, while respiratory therapy has entry-level baccalaureate routes and a professional push toward them.

Emergency Medical Services 39 Florida schools

⚠ A less obvious neighbour that suits some of the same people: airway management and ventilation are central to both, and respiratory therapy is the hospital-side version of the acute work. It pays more at entry ($82,280 against $60,600 for a paramedic) on a two-year degree, and the hours are inside a building.

Medical Laboratory Science 14 Florida schools

The other hospital programme students weigh against this one. ⚠ Respiratory therapy is two years to a median of $82,280 and is intensely patient-facing and unpredictable; laboratory science is four years to $62,930 and is bench work on a schedule. ⚠⚠ Neither is the better programme — they suit opposite temperaments, and the money runs the other way from the training time.

Physical Therapy 24 Florida schools

The other therapy programme in the same colleges. ⚠ Respiratory therapy is acute and unpredictable, largely inside the hospital, and pays more at entry ($82,280 against $68,380); physical therapy is longitudinal and mostly outpatient. ⚠⚠ The hours differ as much as the work — respiratory laboratories staff nights and weekends, outpatient physical therapy usually does not.

Physician Assistant Studies 6 Florida schools

⚠ A slower route to the hours — an associate degree or baccalaureate — but a licensed clinical one, so the hours are unambiguous and the pay while accumulating them is considerably better than an entry certificate. ⚠⚠ Named because applicants underestimate how much the QUALITY of the hours matters alongside the count.

Florida public institutions offering this program

18 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (<12 weeks), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year). A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Broward College

Associate

Daytona State College

Associate

Eastern Florida State College

Associate

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Bachelor's

Florida SouthWestern State College

Associate · Bachelor's

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate

Gulf Coast State College

Associate

Hillsborough Community College

Associate

Indian River State College

Associate

Miami Dade College

Associate

Palm Beach State College

Associate · Bachelor's

Polk State College

Associate

Saint Johns River State College

Associate

Santa Fe College

Associate · Certificate (<12 weeks) · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Seminole State College of Florida

Associate

St Petersburg College

Associate

Tallahassee Community College

Associate

Valencia College

Associate · Bachelor's

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 21 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.