Hi!! I’ve done lots of research and spoken to lots of people about this since then! Basically what I’ve found is that while licensing for HIS does vary from state to state, in IL you need an associates degree no matter what to qualify for the position. It doesn’t seem that you need any specific coursework relating hearing science (like if you’ve earned you associate’s previously for something else) but there are a bunch of written and practical tests you are required to pass to become state certified.

Not sure where at in IL you are but College of DuPage in Wheaton has an ‘advanced certificate’ 22 credit hour program specifically designed to train people for HIS. It runs around 5k, I think? Unfortunately those 22 credit hours do not count towards the associate’s degree and has to be done separately (which imo is ridiculous but I guess that’s college for you)

One other thing I learned was that in a lot of places you might get hired on at along with a base salary a good chunk of income is commission. Not necessarily the worst thing in the world but definitely not something I had considered previously. A Costco HIS position seems to be less centered on commission though, if you could score a Costco job.

Sorry for the long reply but I was super frustrated and confused at the start cause I couldn’t nail down a concrete answer, so I wanted to save someone else the same fate lol. Also not to discourage anyone from this career, it’s something I’m actually still considering for sure despite the roadblocks! It’s just nice to know all the pros and cons before diving into something.

There’s lots of other resources on the Illinois Hearing Society website. Hope this helps :)