CNA Certification in South Carolina — Requirements & Fees

How to become a CNA in South Carolina: a 100-hour state training minimum — verified from South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS).

Source-verified

Requirements below are drawn from South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS), Division of Long Term Living — South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry and Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program. SCDHHS states its own role: "The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) is designated to have over-site of the South Carolina Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program. The SCDHHS must ensure that the approved Nurse Aide Training Programs and the Nurse Aide Registry is in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations as stated in 42CFR483.150-158 and with the South Carolina Core Curriculum." No board of nursing is involved — the South Carolina Board of Nursing licenses nurses, not nurse aides. Testing, applications and registry transactions are run by a contractor: "The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) has contracted with Credentia... Credentia will develop, score, and report the results of the NNAAP® Examination for the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry. Credentia also processes applications, schedules examinations and administers the examinations." (official site) and last verified August 16, 2026. Boards change fees and rules often — confirm before acting.

Requirements at a glance

What the credential is: South Carolina CERTIFIES nurse aides, and the certification is delivered by being listed on a state registry that the Medicaid agency — not a board of nursing and not a health department licensing board — owns. SCDHHS's own words: "Per federal regulations, direct care staff employed in a Medicaid certified nursing facility must be listed on the state's Nurse Aide Registry as a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA). The primary purpose of the certification program is to ensure that only those nurse aides who have demonstrated competency based upon standardized training and/or testing are employed. A nurse aide must be certified through the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry." WHO RUNS WHAT: SCDHHS "is designated to have over-site of the South Carolina Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program" and "must ensure that the approved Nurse Aide Training Programs and the Nurse Aide Registry is in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations as stated in 42CFR483.150-158 and with the South Carolina Core Curriculum"; Credentia, under contract to SCDHHS, "will develop, score, and report the results of the NNAAP® Examination for the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry" and "also processes applications, schedules examinations and administers the examinations." The certification is scoped to a workplace rather than to a task — the requirement bites on direct care staff in Medicaid-certified nursing facilities.
The path, in SCDHHS's own sequence: "A Nurse Aide Training Program (NATP) is a State approved program which is Nursing Home Facility based or non-Nursing Home Facility based and offers training to candidates that desire to become eligible for certification as a certified nurse aide. South Carolina requires a minimum of one hundred (100) hours of training... After the completion of the State approved training program the candidate must take and pass the competency evaluation examination. The examination includes a written/oral and skills competency examination that is evaluated by an approved Registered Nurse with the approved testing agency. Candidates who successfully pass the written/ oral and skills competency examination are included on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry" (SCDHHS, Nurse Aide Training Program Policies).
Sponsorship if you work at a nursing home: "All candidates who are employed as nurse aides or have a written offer of employment from a Medicare/Medicaid-certified nursing home are required to be sponsored by that nursing home" (South Carolina candidate handbook, Eligibility Criteria).
Two screening questions, and where a "Yes" goes: Every application carries two questions that must be answered: "Have you ever been convicted of or pled guilty to a felony?" and "Have you ever been listed on the South Carolina Abuse Registry or any other State's Abuse Registry?" A "Yes" to either does not automatically disqualify — "your application or failing score report will be forwarded to the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SC DHHS) for review before you can be scheduled to test (or re-test)." The questions also appear on a failing score report, and "Failure to respond to these questions will cause your application to be returned to you." South Carolina programmes separately keep a SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) check on file for INSTRUCTORS — the programme document list requires "All program instructors information(resume, sled check, nursing license)"; no South Carolina source read on 2026-08-16 imposes a SLED or FBI check on the CANDIDATE, so this record claims none.
Light duty bars the skills evaluation — but not the written one: A South Carolina-specific rule most states do not publish: "Individuals are prohibited from taking the Skills Evaluation if on restricted activity or light duty due to medical reasons. Candidates must be able to complete all required skills included in the Skills Evaluation. Candidates who are on light duty are not permitted to take the Skills Evaluation. However, they can take the written/oral/CBT exam. Appropriate medical documentation stating return to full, unrestricted duty is required to take the skills evaluation."
Out-of-state training with no out-of-state registry: South Carolina publishes a route for someone trained elsewhere who is not on another state's registry: "A nurse aide candidate who was trained out-of-state and is seeking certification in South Carolina must have completed training at a 100-hour state-approved program that includes clinical hours. You must complete the online registration form and upload required training documents. The diploma or certificate must include the number of classroom and clinical hours. South Carolina will accept a letter on state or training program letterhead." That is eligibility route E2 — for a programme completed "within the last twenty-four (24) months."
Nursing students, nurse graduates and military candidates go through SCDHHS, not the vendor: Eligibility route E5 has no self-service path: "You must contact the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services at [email protected] to determine your eligibility before submitting an application," and the handbook repeats it — "If you are an LPN or RN student or you are in the Military, you must contact the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to determine your eligibility to test at [email protected] before completing and mailing your fees and application." A timing rule attaches to the nursing-student route: RN and LPN students "must have completed the Fundamentals of Nursing within two (2) years of testing unless they are still attending nursing school." South Carolina does not publish what documentation a military candidate must show; the referral to SCDHHS is the whole published answer.
Who pays for training and testing: A programme "must provide notification to trainees sponsored by Medicaid-certified nursing facilities that they are not responsible for any costs associated with training, including deposits for textbooks and/or supplies used" (SCDHHS programme policy). On the examination side: "Under federal and South Carolina state laws, candidates employed as nurse aides in nursing homes that participate in Medicaid/Medicare programs are prohibited from paying their examination fees. Employers must pay the examination fee and any retest fee for candidates they employ as nurse aides or candidates who have a written commitment or signed acceptance of employment on file in a Medicaid/Medicare-certified nursing home. Candidates must pay online and be reimbursed by the employer. Candidates not employed as nurse aides in these facilities are permitted to pay their own examination fee."
Clinical supervision ratio: "The instructor/student ratio must be 1:8 in the clinical area," and "Instructors must not be involved in more than one role while supervising students in the clinical area" (SCDHHS programme policy). Clinical training must be supervised by an approved Registered Nurse, and the programme's primary instructor supervises the RN and LPN instructors, remaining "available on call by telecommunications for LPN instructors supervising students in the clinical area."
What the certificate of completion must say: "The program must provide all students, upon successful completion, with a certificate of completion and/or transcript, or a letter on the program's letterhead certifying the student's successful completion of the program. The total number of program hours must be on the certificate of completion" (SCDHHS programme policy). That hours line matters downstream: the reciprocity and out-of-state routes require documentation stating the number of classroom AND clinical hours.

Legal basis

South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS), Division of Long Term Living — South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry and Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program. SCDHHS states its own role: “The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) is designated to have over-site of the South Carolina Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program. The SCDHHS must ensure that the approved Nurse Aide Training Programs and the Nurse Aide Registry is in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations as stated in 42CFR483.150-158 and with the South Carolina Core Curriculum.” No board of nursing is involved — the South Carolina Board of Nursing licenses nurses, not nurse aides. Testing, applications and registry transactions are run by a contractor: “The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) has contracted with Credentia… Credentia will develop, score, and report the results of the NNAAP® Examination for the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry. Credentia also processes applications, schedules examinations and administers the examinations.” administers certified nursing assistant licensing in South Carolina. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.

What it’s called

South Carolina’s own nouns are “nurse aide” and “certified nurse aide,” and it abbreviates the second as CNA — SCDHHS writes “must be listed on the state’s Nurse Aide Registry as a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA).” What you get is a CERTIFICATION delivered by registry listing, evidenced by a “Nurse Aide Registry Certificate,” and South Carolina does not issue anything it calls a nurse aide licence. “Certified nursing assistant” is the phrase most job listings use; South Carolina’s own material uses it only occasionally (the handbook’s SC DHHS policy note spells CNA out as “Certified Nursing Assistant” in one place while every heading around it says “nurse aide”). Names that are NOT this credential: NNAAP, which is the examination — the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program — and not the certificate; NATP, the Nurse Aide Training Program, which is the course and is separately approved by SCDHHS with its own programme code; UAP or “unlicensed assistive personnel,” the Nurse Practice Act’s category for the people nurses may delegate to, which is broader than certified nurse aides and is defined at S.C. Code Ann. § 40-33-20(63); and MEDICATION AIDE, a separate South Carolina registry that the public lookup treats as its own tenant. Note the Nurse Practice Act’s title rule: someone entitled to use a title containing the word “nurse”, “such as ’nurse’s aide’,” must use the entire title and “may not abbreviate the title to ’nurse’” (§ 40-33-30(C)).

License types & fees

Type	Notes	Who Its For
Certification on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry ("Certified Nurse Aide" / CNA)	This is a CERTIFICATION delivered through a registry, not a licence and not a bare listing. SCDHHS states the rule in its own words: "Per federal regulations, direct care staff employed in a Medicaid certified nursing facility must be listed on the state's Nurse Aide Registry as a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)... A nurse aide must be certified through the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry." The document you receive is a South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry Certificate, valid twenty-four months from the date it was issued. SCDHHS warns employers not to rely on the card: "The nursing facility must contact the South Carolina Registry to confirm each applicant's status. Possession of a card alone is not an indicator of current certification."	A person who wants to work as direct care staff in a Medicaid-certified nursing facility in South Carolina.
Working as a non-certified nurse aide — a four-month allowance, not a credential	SCDHHS: "A non-certified nurse aide may work up to four months in a Medicaid-certified nursing facility if he or she is enrolled in a state-approved training program or has successfully completed a state-approved training program." SCDHHS attaches an immediate limit in the same breath: "Note: Any nurse aide candidates seeking certification must attend training at a state-approved program prior to testing." No South Carolina source read on 2026-08-16 states whether that four-month clock restarts on a change of employer.	A person hired by a Medicaid-certified nursing facility who is enrolled in, or has finished, a state-approved training programme but is not yet certified.
Certification by reciprocity (already on another state's registry)	Filed as an online Reciprocity Application through the registry contractor's platform. Two conditions, and the second catches people out: the aide must be "currently listed on another state's registry as active and in good standing", and "A nurse aide must have completed, at a minimum, a 100-hour basic state-approved nurse aide course in order to be placed on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry" — so a 75-hour federal-minimum programme from another state does not qualify. Distinctive South Carolina detail: the certification does not restart. "If you are placed on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry, your certification expiration date is retained from the state in which you were originally certified."	A nurse aide currently listed as active and in good standing on another state's nurse aide or equivalent registry.
Medication Aide — a separate South Carolina registry, named here only as a boundary	South Carolina runs a second nurse-aide-family registry alongside this one: the public registry lookup's own compiled code carries a distinct South Carolina medication-aide tenant, and switches the result-column heading from "Registration Number" to "Certification Number" for it. This record documents the nurse aide certification only, and states nothing about who may hold the medication aide credential or what it requires.	Not covered by this record.

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

South Carolina draws the boundary by WORKPLACE, not by task: the certification requirement bites on “direct care staff employed in a Medicaid certified nursing facility”, who “must be listed on the state’s Nurse Aide Registry as a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA).” That is the federal rule SCDHHS relays, and South Carolina publishes no occupational exemption list of the kind a trade licence carries. THE ONE PUBLISHED CARVE-OUT IS THE FOUR-MONTH TRAINEE WINDOW: “A non-certified nurse aide may work up to four months in a Medicaid-certified nursing facility if he or she is enrolled in a state-approved training program or has successfully completed a state-approved training program” (SCDHHS). It is a permission to work while qualifying, not an exemption from qualifying — SCDHHS adds in the same place that “Any nurse aide candidates seeking certification must attend training at a state-approved program prior to testing.” TITLE PROTECTION COMES FROM THE NURSE PRACTICE ACT AND PROTECTS THE WORD “NURSE”, NOT “CNA”: S.C. Code Ann. § 40-33-30(C) provides that “A person may not use the word ’nurse’ as a title, or use an abbreviation to indicate that the person is practicing in this State as a nurse, unless the person is actively licensed as a nurse… If the term ’nurse’ is part of a longer title, such as ’nurse’s aide’, a person who is entitled to use that title shall use the entire title and may not abbreviate the title to ’nurse’.” WHAT A SOUTH CAROLINA CNA MAY AND MAY NOT DO comes from the same Act’s unlicensed-assistive-personnel provisions rather than from the registry: a UAP is defined as a person not licensed as a nurse “who perform routine nursing tasks that do not require a specialized knowledge base or the judgment and skill of a licensed nurse”, whose tasks “must be performed under the supervision of a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, registered nurse, or selected licensed practical nurse”, and who “must not administer medications except as otherwise provided by law” (§ 40-33-20(63)); § 40-33-42 places responsibility for delegation and supervision on the nurse and requires that “Tasks that may be assigned to unlicensed assistive personnel must be stated in the employers’ policies, and the employer shall verify the training of this personnel and their competencies to perform the tasks.” WHAT SOUTH CAROLINA DOES NOT SAY: no South Carolina source read on 2026-08-16 states whether a home health aide, a hospital patient care technician, an assisted living aide or a private-duty caregiver must hold this certification — the published requirement addresses Medicaid-certified nursing facilities, and this record does not extend it further.

Fees

SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLISHES A RE-CERTIFICATION FEE AND VERY LITTLE ELSE. RE-CERTIFICATION: “Effective July 1, 2020, the fee for re-certification is $35. This fee is non-refundable and non-transferable and must be paid online with a credit card or single-use prepaid card. If you are employed by a Medicaid-certified employer, print the emailed payment receipt and give to your employer for reimbursement” (South Carolina candidate handbook, The Registry). EXAMINATION FEES: the amount is NOT published in the state-linked handbook. Its Exam Fees article says “The fees listed below have been established for the NNAAP Examination in South Carolina and are effective as of July 1, 2020” and then carries no fee table at all — the page was read on 2026-08-16 and contains no dollar figure and no table element. What the article does establish is the payment rule and who owes it: “Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable once submitted because they cover the administrative costs of registration and testing”; “Under federal and South Carolina state laws, candidates employed as nurse aides in nursing homes that participate in Medicaid/Medicare programs are prohibited from paying their examination fees. Employers must pay the examination fee and any retest fee for candidates they employ as nurse aides or candidates who have a written commitment or signed acceptance of employment on file in a Medicaid/Medicare-certified nursing home. Candidates must pay online and be reimbursed by the employer”; and “All payments must be made using a credit card or prepaid single-use card.” Accepted methods elsewhere in the same handbook: “a credit card or pre-paid credit card (American Express, MasterCard, Visa), ACH/ electronic check, or electronic voucher.” NO SEPARATE STATE APPLICATION OR CERTIFICATION FEE is published by SCDHHS — searched on 2026-08-16 across the SCDHHS Nurse Aide page, the SCDHHS Nurse Aide Training Program Policies document and the five handbook articles read — and no reciprocity fee is published either. TRAINING TUITION IS NOT SET BY THE STATE and for many candidates is not owed at all: a programme must notify trainees sponsored by Medicaid-certified nursing facilities “that they are not responsible for any costs associated with training, including deposits for textbooks and/or supplies used.”

Exam

Two parts, both required, and South Carolina puts a double deadline on them. “The two parts of the NNAAP Examination process, the Written or Oral Examination and the Skills Evaluation. You must pass both parts in order to be certified and listed on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry. You must pass both portions of the exam within two (2) years from your training completion date or within three (3) attempts, whichever comes first, in order to be placed on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry. Failure to do so will require completing a 100-hour state-approved Nurse Aide Training Program and retesting both portions of the examination.” WRITTEN: “seventy (70) multiple choice questions written in English. You will have two (2) hours to complete the Written Examination. You will be told when fifteen (15) minutes remain.” ORAL: available in place of the written test and must be requested on the application — sixty (60) multiple-choice questions, each read twice, plus ten (10) questions testing recognition of common long-term-care words, each word read three times; both parts must be passed. (The handbook describes the oral form two ways in two different articles — its Introduction says the questions are “provided on an MP3 player” and that you “follow along in the test booklet as the questions are read aloud”, while its Exam Overview describes an online proctored option for which “you will need your own wired headset”. Both are the state-linked handbook’s own words; this record reports both and reconciles neither.) SKILLS: “you will be asked to perform five (5) randomly selected nurse aide skills. You will be given thirty (30) minutes to complete the five (5) skills. You will be rated on these skills by a Nurse Aide Evaluator. You must successfully demonstrate five (5) skills in order to pass the Skills Evaluation.” The handbook adds a practical warning: “Please arrive 30 minutes early. Test times are approximate. Please plan to spend the day.” WHERE: at a test centre, at an in-facility (INF) event arranged by the candidate’s own training programme, or — for the written or oral part only — online with a live remote proctor. SCHEDULING WINDOWS: a test-centre reservation must be made online “at least two (2) calendar days prior to the test date (not including the test date)”, while “For Written (or Oral) online exams, you may schedule an exam as early as the following day depending on exam availability.”

Renewal & continuing education

Every 24 months, and the qualifying test is paid work rather than education. “A South Carolina Nurse Aide Certificate is valid for twenty-four (24) months from the date it was issued” — so the cycle runs from each aide’s own issue date, not from a statewide date. TO BE ELIGIBLE: “federal and State regulations require that in the past 24 months, prior to your certification expiration date, you have performed nursing or nursing-related services for pay for at least 8 hours.” The registry contractor’s South Carolina page states the same condition with two extra qualifiers: “you are required to work as a nurse aide at least one documented day (eight consecutive hours) for pay during the previous twenty-four (24) months, under the supervision of an RN or LPN” — eight CONSECUTIVE hours in one documented day, and under RN or LPN supervision. NOTICE: “Approximately ninety (90) days before the expiration of your certification, Credentia will email you with directions for renewing your certificate. If you have not received a Renewal email, contact 888-204-6249.” HOW: through a Credentia Platform account — “select ‘Nurse Aide Registry’ in the Resources section and then select ‘Submit Continued Enrolment Application’” — with the $35 re-certification fee paid online. ADDRESS AND NAME: “The South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry must be kept informed of your current address,” changed through the account’s Manage Profile screen; a name or Social Security number change needs a Correction Form with uploaded documentation (marriage certificate, divorce decree or other official document). NONE for re-certification. South Carolina conditions continued enrolment on paid work — at least eight hours of nursing or nursing-related services for pay in the twenty-four months before expiry — and on nothing else. Tiers searched on 2026-08-16 and finding no continuing-education or in-service requirement attached to the aide’s certification: the SCDHHS Nurse Aide page, the SCDHHS Nurse Aide Training Program Policies document (read in full), and the state-linked South Carolina candidate handbook’s Introduction, Eligibility Criteria, Application and Scheduling, Exam Fees, Exam Overview, Quick Reference and The Registry articles. Note what that silence does and does not mean: the twelve hours of annual in-service training that a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing facility must give its aides is a FACILITY duty under federal law, not a condition of the aide’s South Carolina certification, and no South Carolina source read states otherwise.

How to apply

Applications are handled by South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS), Division of Long Term Living — South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry and Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program. SCDHHS states its own role: “The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) is designated to have over-site of the South Carolina Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program. The SCDHHS must ensure that the approved Nurse Aide Training Programs and the Nurse Aide Registry is in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations as stated in 42CFR483.150-158 and with the South Carolina Core Curriculum.” No board of nursing is involved — the South Carolina Board of Nursing licenses nurses, not nurse aides. Testing, applications and registry transactions are run by a contractor: “The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) has contracted with Credentia… Credentia will develop, score, and report the results of the NNAAP® Examination for the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry. Credentia also processes applications, schedules examinations and administers the examinations.”. Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in South Carolina

Credentia, under contract to the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (published by the contractor as the “South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry Search”) publishes a public license search , searchable by first name, last name, city, date of birth, Social Security number or registration number. It covers South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry entries. The contractor’s South Carolina page states the practical requirement up front: “To conduct a search, you will need the name, city, and date of birth OR registration number of the nurse aide.” The field list above was read from the live search application’s own compiled form controls on 2026-08-16 (firstName, lastName, city, dateOfBirth, and a second card headed “Or Search By Social Security Number”), not from a description of the tool; the same code sets the result columns to first name, last name, city, state and a number column headed “Registration Number” for the nurse aide registry and “Certification Number” for South Carolina’s separate medication aide registry. TWO THINGS TO EXPECT BEFORE CLICKING. First, the lookup asks you to prove you are a person — the page carries a CAPTCHA challenge between the search form and the result. Second, the page builds itself in your browser after it loads, so a search result has no web address of its own and cannot be bookmarked, emailed or cited; you have to run the search yourself each time, and an automated watch on this address can only ever see the empty form. SCDHHS points employers at the registry rather than at the aide’s paperwork: “The nursing facility must contact the South Carolina Registry to confirm each applicant’s status. Possession of a card alone is not an indicator of current certification.”.

Records come from Credentia, under contract to the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (published by the contractor as the “South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry Search”)’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.

Frequently asked questions

Is a South Carolina CNA licensed, certified, or just on a registry?

Certified — and the certification is delivered by being listed on a state registry. South Carolina issues no nurse aide licence and no board of nursing is involved; the registry belongs to the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the state’s Medicaid agency. SCDHHS states the rule in employment terms: “Per federal regulations, direct care staff employed in a Medicaid certified nursing facility must be listed on the state’s Nurse Aide Registry as a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)… A nurse aide must be certified through the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry.” You receive a Nurse Aide Registry Certificate valid for 24 months — but SCDHHS tells employers not to trust the card alone: “Possession of a card alone is not an indicator of current certification.”

How many training hours does South Carolina require for a CNA?

100 — 25 above the federal floor of 75 — and SCDHHS specifies how they are divided: “South Carolina requires a minimum of one hundred (100) hours of training. This consists of forty (40) hours of classroom instruction, twenty (20) hours of documented skills practicum, and forty (40) hours of clinical rotation in a nursing home supervised by an approved Registered Nurse.” The clinical setting is prescribed as well as the hours — it must be a nursing home rotation — and the instructor-to-student ratio in the clinical area “must be 1:8.” The 100-hour figure follows you: reciprocity, out-of-state training and re-activation after a lapse all measure against a 100-hour state-approved programme.

Who gives the South Carolina nurse aide exam, and how many tries do I get?

Credentia, under contract to SCDHHS, administering the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program. There are two parts and you must pass both: a written examination of 70 multiple-choice questions with two hours allowed (an oral version of 60 questions plus 10 word-recognition questions can replace it if you request it on your application), and a skills evaluation in which you perform five randomly selected skills in 30 minutes for a Nurse Aide Evaluator. South Carolina puts two limits on you at once: “You must pass both portions of the exam within two (2) years from your training completion date or within three (3) attempts, whichever comes first.” Miss either and you must complete a 100-hour state-approved programme again and retest both parts.

What does it cost to become a CNA in South Carolina?

South Carolina publishes one figure clearly and leaves another unpublished. Re-certification is $35: “Effective July 1, 2020, the fee for re-certification is $35,” non-refundable, paid online by credit card or single-use prepaid card. The EXAMINATION fee amount is not published in the state-linked candidate handbook — its Exam Fees article says fees “have been established… and are effective as of July 1, 2020” but carries no fee table at all. What is clear is who owes it: candidates employed as nurse aides in Medicaid- or Medicare-participating nursing homes “are prohibited from paying their examination fees,” and the employer must pay the exam and any retest fee, with the candidate paying online and being reimbursed. Training is free to trainees sponsored by a Medicaid-certified nursing facility, who must be told “they are not responsible for any costs associated with training, including deposits for textbooks and/or supplies used.”

Can I work as a nurse aide in South Carolina before I am certified?

For up to four months, in one specific situation. SCDHHS: “A non-certified nurse aide may work up to four months in a Medicaid-certified nursing facility if he or she is enrolled in a state-approved training program or has successfully completed a state-approved training program.” That is permission to work while you qualify, not permission to skip qualifying — SCDHHS adds that “Any nurse aide candidates seeking certification must attend training at a state-approved program prior to testing.” South Carolina does not publish whether the four months restart if you change employers.

How does South Carolina CNA renewal work, and is there continuing education?

You renew every 24 months from your own issue date, and there is no continuing education. What South Carolina asks for is work: “in the past 24 months, prior to your certification expiration date, you have performed nursing or nursing-related services for pay for at least 8 hours” — stated elsewhere as “at least one documented day (eight consecutive hours) for pay… under the supervision of an RN or LPN.” The registry emails renewal directions roughly 90 days before your certificate expires, the fee is $35, and the whole transaction runs through a Credentia Platform account. Keep your address current with the registry, because that email is how the notice reaches you.

What happens if my South Carolina CNA certification lapses?

It depends on whether you ever finished a 100-hour state-approved programme, not just on how long you have been lapsed. If you never completed one, you must train at a 100-hour state-approved programme and pass both exam parts again. If you did complete one and the certificate has not been expired for more than 24 months, “you will only be required to retest” — both the written or oral examination and the skills evaluation. And if it “lapsed more than two (2) years ago, you must retrain at a 100-hour state-approved nurse aide training program and retest.” South Carolina publishes a dedicated line for re-activation questions: (800) 475-8290.

I am a CNA in another state — can I transfer to South Carolina?

Yes, by reciprocity, if you are “currently listed on another state’s registry as active and in good standing” — but check your training hours first. South Carolina applies a hard floor: “A nurse aide must have completed, at a minimum, a 100-hour basic state-approved nurse aide course in order to be placed on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry,” so a programme built to the 75-hour federal minimum will not carry you across. Two things South Carolina spells out that most states leave unsaid: your expiration date does not reset — it “is retained from the state in which you were originally certified” — and your old listing stays alive, so you will be on both registries and will renew each separately.

Can I take the South Carolina skills test if I am on light duty?

No. South Carolina publishes this rule explicitly where most states do not: “Individuals are prohibited from taking the Skills Evaluation if on restricted activity or light duty due to medical reasons. Candidates must be able to complete all required skills included in the Skills Evaluation.” You can still sit the written, oral or computer-based examination while on light duty; to take the skills evaluation, “Appropriate medical documentation stating return to full, unrestricted duty is required.”

Does a felony conviction stop you from becoming a CNA in South Carolina?

Not automatically, but it triggers a review. Every application asks two screening questions — “Have you ever been convicted of or pled guilty to a felony?” and “Have you ever been listed on the South Carolina Abuse Registry or any other State’s Abuse Registry?” — and a “Yes” to either means “your application or failing score report will be forwarded to the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SC DHHS) for review before you can be scheduled to test (or re-test).” You must answer them: “Failure to respond to these questions will cause your application to be returned to you.” South Carolina does not publish a list of disqualifying offences or the standard SCDHHS applies on review.

How do I check whether someone is on the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry?

Use the South Carolina Nurse Aide Registry Search that the registry contractor publishes for SCDHHS. You will need “the name, city, and date of birth OR registration number of the nurse aide”; a separate panel lets you search by Social Security number instead. Expect a CAPTCHA before results appear, and note that a result has no web address of its own — you cannot bookmark or forward it, so run the search yourself each time. Employers should use it rather than accepting a card: SCDHHS says “The nursing facility must contact the South Carolina Registry to confirm each applicant’s status.”

See every license and certification LicensingAtlas covers in South Carolina.

Sources & verification

Last verified against these sources: August 16, 2026.

We re-fetch every cited source on a weekly schedule: see what changed at the agencies, or every correction we have ever made.

LicensingAtlas states licensing and certification requirements categorically from official sources. It is a reference, not legal or career advice, and requirements change frequently — confirm details with the issuing board before you act.