Kaplan Higher Education Campuses had more than 3,800 graduates in the third quarter of 2012. The many student success stories highlights the role career-focused education continues to play in securing a better future for college graduates.

Even if you have only recently begun your Medical Assisting course, it's never too early to start with your CMA exam prep. Here are some resources that will help you get started.

The two main ways of preparing are:

• Online practice exams
• Books

The Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 20 percent of colleges, universities, and trade schools that cater to the needs of American military service members and veterans as students.

G.I. Jobs, the premier magazine for military personnel transitioning into civilian life, has awarded The College of Health Care Professions designation of Military Friendly School. The 2012 Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members and veterans as students.

The Rasmussen College Blaine campus has been given programmatic accreditation through the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) for their Medical Assisting Associate’s degree and diploma programs.

The Manhattan Institute, which has been training students for Allied Nurse and Medical careers for over 20 years, have announced that they are now offering Financial Aid for qualified students.

The Manhattan Institute's 900 hours Medical Assistant Program specifically now qualifies for providing financial aid.

Cerro Coso Community College, which has 5 locations in California, has two proposed new programs for Administrative and Clinical Medical Assistants which will start in the spring of 2013.

The college has updated and submitted the Administrative Medical Assistant (AMA) and Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) programs to align with state certification standards to the state for approval. Course offerings have been matched up to meet industry needs. Once approved, students completing all of the courses required for the CMA and AMA programs will qualify to apply for state certification through the California Certifying Board for Medical Assisting (CCBMA).

If you've been searching for information about online medical assisting programs you will have probably found links to St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants.

They have a very high presence on the web, so we felt it was an important school that we should review.

In order to prepare for the review I sent them the following 7 questions...

From the 2012 fall semester, the Northwest-Shoals Community College have announced that they will be providing an Associate Degree and certificate options through their Medical Assisting Technology program at their Shoals campus at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

The Medical Assisting Program will provide training in Office Transcription, Medical Billing and Coding and Phlebotomy.

The course offers hands-on training to prepare students for providing patient care in physician's offices, minor emergency centers, long-term care facilities, and other types of free-standing medical clinics.

Elk Grove Adult and Community Education’s (EGACE) new Career Technical Institute (CTI) offers a range of affordable medical assistant programs, and they will holding three orientation sessions during July for courses starting in September.

The programs run for one semester and they lead to industry recognized certificates.

Some of the programs on offer are:

Situated in Monterey Park, California, the Regan Career Institute has had a number of MA related courses on offer for some time, and has recently had their Medical Assistant Program & MA Plus courses accredited by California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE).